Vulpithecine art

Vulpithecine art is the visual art of yinrih cultures. Yinrih do not rely on subtle facial structure to recognize one another, making them effectively prosopagnosic. In close quarters, musk is used to distinguish individuals. Gross visual features such as fur pattern and body shape are used at a distance or when olfaction is impractical. Emotion is also communicated primarily through pheromones rather than body language, though ear position is used as a secondary indicator.

This species-wide face-blindness has effected how yinrih depict themselves visually. Yinrih art relies much more heavily on sets of visual tropes when identifying the subject of a picture or statue. If the artistic medium incorporates color, coat pattern may be used to identify the subject. If the subject is a recent historical figure, their actual fur pattern will be used. However, as legend blends with history and the already secondary visual appearance of a person becomes less relevant with time, the artist may lean into stereotypes associated with particular fur patterns, depicting the subject with pelage that evokes those stereotypes rather than their actual coat. These associations vary from culture to culture. Examples include red fur symbolizing bad luck and black ears (with a non-black coat) representing stupidity.

Other anatomical features hold symbolic significance as well. Short claws are associated with hard work and diligence, and long claws with laziness. stereotypical racial phenotypes are also used, such as hearthsiders' larger ears and deep blue bandpass membranes, and the rotund physique of Sweetwater's surface-dwellers.

Especially in religious art, items around the subject or on the subject's person are frequently used as identifiers. For example, a ceremonial wrench is a badge of the office of hearthkeeper, so hearthkeepers are usually shown holding a wrench. A drinking bowl is associated with hedonism, and libertines may be shown with a drinking bowl in paw. Knights of the Sun are seldom shown without their mech, and missionaries are usually depicted suspended in an amnion.