In the National Palace Museum in Taipei hangs a remarkable scroll.

Created during the golden age of Chinese arts and culture nearly 1,500 years ago, the ink-on-silk painting is surmised to have originally once been part of a decorative screen at the court during the middle to late Tang dynasty, later remounted into the hanging scroll. The image invites us into a private moment of ten women living during that period. From their clothing, we can see the fashion of the day – lively and free floral patterns on a more open forms of clothing, though the chest ruqun hanfu remained a sartorial staple. Disheveled hair was considered impolite, so the correct hairstyle was important.  These ladies of the court wore their hair either in a one-directional comb called “falling topknot,” or in “side knots” in which hair was combed in two directions and tied into knots by the ears.

Several of the ladies are sipping tea, others are enjoying wine, and a few a playing music. It’s all very nice, but our particular interest is the dog under the table.

Detail of the dog under the table

In Samuel Draper’s “The Book of the Chow Chow,” he notes that this painting may be the oldest known depiction of a Chow Chow-like dog.

To find the next oldest depiction of the breed, we turn to B Griffiths who signed and dated (1881) an image of a Chow Chow seen below:

And then there was Gustav Muss-Arnolt, a painter better known for his depictions of gun dogs that were highly popular with American sportsmen. Between 1895 and 1909,  Muss-Arnolt created over 200 illustrations for the AKC GAZETTE which graced the covers of the “Event Calendar” supplements. Before that part of his career, however, Muss-Arnolt painted a Chow Chow in 1890 (which you see below). According to AKC records, this was also the year that the first Chow Chow was exhibited at Westminster KC dog show, a dog named, “Takya” entered by Miss A.C. Derby.

:

Gustav Muss-Arnolt’s portrait of a Chow Chow

Another late 19th century rendering was created by Richard S. Moseley whose portrait of a Chow Chow was signed and dated 1897. The piece is, as far as we know, part of the collection of the American Kennel Club

Richard S. Moseley’s portrait of a Chow Chow

Enthusiasts of the breed will want to visit the Hungarian based website, kutya-portal.hu, which has a post on the “dog evolution in pictures” of the Chow-Chow which you can see here.