#WorldLemurDay:
Giuseppe Castiglione (Italian, 1688-1766)
Cochin #Lemur, 1761
Qing Dynasty, China
Lemurs are of course not native to China, but rather endemic to Madagascar. This one was given to the Qianlong Emperor by the King of Vietnam, who likely got it from European traders. It was then painted by Castiglione, a Jesuit missionary who served as an artist in the Chinese imperial court. The background was likely painted by Jin Tingbiao (Chinese, d. 1767). A truly international history! (1/2)
🆔 Castiglione’s #lemur is easily identifiable as a Ring-Tailed Lemur (Lemur catta), but note the level of morphological detail - he included the antebrachial gland on the forearm (used for scent marking), and the tail appears to have suffered some loss at the tip. (2/2)
