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Subject:wisemen reverse painted on glass
Posted By: david Sun, Feb 05, 2017 IP: 2607:fea8:1d5f:fe45:
Hello, Can someone please translate the characters on this wisemen? reverse painted on glass picture? Any assistance would be greatly appreciated! Thank you! David.





Subject:Re: wisemen reverse painted on glass
Posted By: Bill H Tue, Feb 07, 2017
This looks to be a depiction of the red-faced Chinese God of War Guan Gong (關公 - AKA Guan Yu - 關羽) alongside two other heroes of the Warring States Period, Zhang Fei (張飛 - at left with halberd) and Liu Bei (劉備) at right. These three swore the Peach Garden Oath at the beginning of the 'Romance of the Three Kingdoms'. The inscription at the top of the picture is 尹帝聖關, read from the right as 'Guan Sheng Di Yin', which is a title of Guan Gong that reads to the effect of 'Lord Guan Emperor and Ruler'. These three are seen frequently pictured together as symbols of heroism; a triple dose of the right stuff for fans of Chinese classics.

The picture doesn't appear to be very old or of great intrinsic worth, but certainly makes a nice conversation piece to 'guard' a Chinese antique collection.

Best regards,

Bill H.

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Subject:Re: wisemen reverse painted on glass
Posted By: david Wed, Feb 08, 2017
Thanx allot Bill H for replying to my recent posts! David.

Subject:Re: wisemen reverse painted on glass
Posted By: Will Thu, Feb 09, 2017
@Bill H:

I think you are wrong in this case.
The guy on the left is Zhou Cang, not Zhang Fei. Both can be mixed up (and indeed are frequently it seems) due to the similar dark skin and face/beard. However holding the halberd of Guan Yu is the typical pose of Zhou Cang as he was meant to be his servant.
The person on the right is Guan Ping.

This kind of constellation is pretty much a common depiction of Guan Yu like I had written before in one of my other posts. On the other hand a painting consisting of Liu Bei, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei seems to be a lot rarer (especially if one looks for antique works - rare seems to be an understatement here).

Regards

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