Original artwork description:

"Connivance" is a painting painted in acrylic on canvas using brushes and a fine knife, set off against an antique frame that has been hunted down.

In warm tones of cinnamon, blues, red copper and light grey-brown, it evokes a tender complicity between a rider and a horse from a bygone world, off the beaten track and away from the traditional social rules that made the horse a tool before a true friend.

The rider with the Manchu braid evokes ancient China, when the Qing Empire imposed its customs on Han men, who wore a braid at the top of the head with a shaved forehead or head, allowing them to keep long hair, symbols of vital energy and filial respect.

The symbolism of long hair was deeply rooted in ancient Chinese culture, associated with spirituality and the vital breath, or ‘qi’. For traditional Chinese doctors, hair was seen as a channel for energy, and cutting it off was seen as altering the body and offending the ancestors. In the Classic of Filial Piety, Zengzi, a disciple of Confucius, declared:
‘Our whole body, down to the thinnest epidermis and hair, comes to us from our parents; making a conscience of respecting and preserving it, is the beginning of Filial Piety. ’
Under the Manchu Qing dynasty, the Chinese braid was imposed on all Han Chinese men as a symbol of Manchu domination. This obligation also included the ‘tonsure decree’, requiring men to shave the front of their heads while leaving a long braid at the back.
This rule met with strong initial resistance among the Han, but over time it was accepted under threat of the death penalty for those who refused to comply. Wearing a pigtail thus became a sign of submission to Manchu authority. This practice lasted throughout the Qing dynasty from 1644 to 1911, after which it was quickly abandoned.

Dimensions: painting W19 x H24 cm - frame W27.3 x H32.3 x D3.5 cm

Materials: canvas, acrylic paint, marine varnish

Materials used:

cotton canvas on wood, acrylic paint

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