Historical Reconstruciton Of Dog Breeds

[sandgrubber]

Split to new topic cause this was getting way off topic . . .

The point of departure was whether recent winning and DQ'd Pekes are true to an ancient lineage.

Some reference has been made to paintings, drawings and sculptures "of Old" in regard to the changes in certain breeds.

I really don't think "Artwork" can be used as an accurate historical record of any animal. It is very much left up to the interpretation of the artist and the style and fashions of the time.

Agree, entirely. I posted a shot of a Ming Dynasty Foo dog sculpture because Peke fanciers often, without giving evidence, state that the Peke had been the same or has been nearly unchanged since the 8th century. Artwork alone doesn't tell us what the breed looked like, but it begins to test the hypothesis breed has largely remained unchanged for 1000+ yrs.

I presented ~1900 photographs and taxadermy dismissed as evidence that the breed has changed. This was dismissed because the dogs shown are supposedly not good representatives of the court breed standard. I don't see why that should be believed unless someone provides alternative photos. I find poetry by the Dowager Empress Cixi convincing less convincing than visual art.

There are other possible useful sources for reconstructing breed / land race histories: skeletons, DNA evidence, verbal descriptions, linguistic analysis showing how the words used to differentiate dogs have changed over time. These, in conjunction with artwork, might provide a pretty good historical picture.

Btw, in looking for evidence, I found a great site -- oriented toward pugs but covering the small breeds of Ancient China generally. It uses both paintings and linguistic/literary evidence, and refers to historical documents, some of which may be available for download

http://mypugs.atwebp...ent/orient.html

This source says that in the last decades of the Chinese Empire the pug, shih tzu, and Peke were bred as palace companions "with little difference in type but with different coat length." It looks like her source was: Dogs of China and Japan in nature and art", by V.W.F. Collier ~1921 . . . out of copyright. Seems you can get it for $2 from:

http://online.getmed...f/&aid=10&sid=1 I don't have the bandwidth. Hard copy reprints available from a few sources.

Edited March 12, 2012 by sandgrubber

[~Anne~]

Thanks Sandgrubber. I hope to have the time to look at the links tomorrow. I love reading about the history of breeds. I find it fascinating.