长颈鹿和两个饲养员 - 美国大都会艺术博物馆展品查阅

品名（中）	长颈鹿和两个饲养员
品名（英）	Giraffe with Two Keepers
入馆年号	1947年，47.18.21
策展部门	亚洲艺术（Asian Art）
创作者	Unidentified artist
创作年份	公元 1600 - 公元 1699
创作地区
分类	绘画（Paintings）
尺寸	图像: 53 3/4 x 33 1/2 英寸 (136.5 x 85.1 厘米) Framed: 65 x 40 1/4 英寸 (165.1 x 102.2 厘米)
介绍（中）	1414年，孟加拉国王向永乐皇帝（1403–24年在位）赠送了一只长颈鹿，这种长颈鹿当时在中国是未知的。孟加拉国王是阿拉伯半岛和中国之间海上航线上的主要贸易中心。中国人立刻将其与麒麟联系在一起，麒麟是一种吉祥的神话生物。由于麒麟只出现在一位睿智的统治者统治期间，朝臣们创作了一些阿谀奉承的赞歌，庆祝长颈鹿的到来，以此作为使篡位的永乐皇帝统治合法化的预兆。纪念这一事件的许多几乎相同的画作证明了这件礼物对宫廷的影响。长颈鹿也影响了用于贵族的麒麟徽章的设计长颈鹿抵达中国是由于郑和（1371-1433）海军上将的非凡远征。1405年至1433年间，他指挥了七次探险，其中最大的一次由300多艘船只和37000名水手组成，远至非洲东海岸，并在整个地区树立了中国的声誉。长颈鹿成为永乐皇帝外交成功的象征。在这幅画的后期版本中，省略了沈度（1357-1434）的庆祝铭文，长颈鹿被赋予了六边形斑点的几何图案，中亚的马夫被取代了原来的南亚饲养员。
介绍（英）	In 1414, a giraffe—a creature unknown in China at the time—was presented to the Yongle emperor (r. 1403–24) from the king of Bengal, which was a major trading center on the maritime route between the Arabian Peninsula and China. The Chinese immediately associated it with the qilin, an auspicious mythical creature. As a qilin only appears during the rule of a sagacious ruler, courtiers composed a number of sycophantic encomia celebrating the arrival of the giraffe as an omen that legitimized the reign of the Yongle emperor, who had usurped the throne. The many nearly identical paintings commemorating this event attest to the impact of this gift on the court. The giraffe also influenced the design of the qilin rank badge used for nobles. The giraffe's arrival in China was occasioned by the extraordinary naval expeditions of Admiral Zheng He (1371–1433). Between 1405 and 1433, he commanded seven expeditions, the largest consisting of more than three hundred ships and 37,000 sailors, that reached as far as the east coast of Africa and established China's prestige throughout the region. The giraffe became an emblem of the Yongle emperor's diplomatic success. In this late version of the painting, a celebratory inscription by Shen Du (1357–1434) has been omitted, the giraffe has been given a geometric pattern of hexagonal spots, and central Asian grooms have been substituted for the original South Asian keepers.