Mirror of Morality: Chinese Narrative Illusration and Confucian Ideology

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Selfless OVspring Filial Children and Social Order in Medieval China Keith N. Knapp 2005, 312 pages Cloth isbn 978-0-8248-2866-0 Both Western and Chinese intellectuals have long derided filial piety tales as an absurd and grotesque variety of children’s literature. Selfless OVspring oVers a fresh perspective on the genre, revealing the rich historical worth of these stories by examining them in their original context: the tumultuous and politically fragmented early medieval era (a.d. 100 – 600). At a time when no Confucian virtue was more prized than filial piety, adults were moved and inspired by tales of filial children. The emotional impact of even the most outlandish actions portrayed in the stories was profound, a measure of the directness with which they spoke to major concerns of the early medieval Chinese elite. In a period of weak central government and powerful local clans, the

juli a k. mur r ay is professor of art history, East Asian studies, and religious studies at the University of Wisconsin.

key to preserving a household’s privileged status was maintaining a cohesive extended family.

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Jacket art: “Dreaming that a good minister was conferred” (Meng lai liang bi), from The Emperor’s Mirror, Illustrated and Discussed (Dijian tushuo), story 10. Qing dynasty, mid- to late 19th c. Album leaf, ink and color on silk. h: 34 cm. National Palace Museum, Taibei, Taiwan, Republic of China. Jacket design: April Leidig-Higgins

MIRROR OF MORALITY Chinese Narrative Illusration and Confucian Ideology

MIRROR OF MORALITY

used depictions of moralized stories to address concerns about political legitimacy, standards of governance, public morality, and personal cultivation. Correctly interpreted, models and cautionary examples from the past were a “mirror” that revealed the cosmic principles underlying human aVairs, and pictures made these precepts visible to all. Besides oVering new and insightful readings of familiar paintings, the work brings into discussion a number of little-known works from the later imperial period. Julia Murray’s close examination of the patronage and reception of these pictures challenges established views on the tastes and values of elite, literate men of the time. By making judicious and original connections between literary and pictorial analyses and specific historical contexts, she has written an authoritative work that not only demonstrates the continuing vitality and variety of later Confucian narrative illustration, but also points up some noteworthy changes in the political landscape of visual culture between the Ming and Qing periods.

MURRAY 

(Continued from front flap)

j u l i a k. m u r r ay

Mirror of Morality takes an interdisciplinary look at an important form of pictorial art produced during two millennia of Chinese imperial rule. Ideas about individual morality and state ideology were based on the ancient teachings of Confucius with modifications by later interpreters and government institutions. Throughout the imperial period, members of the elite made, sponsored, and inscribed or used illustrations of themes taken from history, literature, and recent events to promote desired conduct among various social groups. This dimension of Chinese art history has never before been broadly covered or investigated in historical context.   The first half of the study examines the nature of narrative illustration in China and traces the evolution of its functions, conventions, and rhetorical strategies from the second century bce through the eleventh century. Under the stimulus of Buddhism, sophisticated techniques developed for representing stories in visual form. According to well-entrenched conventional wisdom, the emergence of literati painting in the following era caused critical interest and esteem to shift from objective modes of representation to more subjective forms of personal expression. While tracing changes in the social functions and cultural positions of narrative illustration, the second half of the book argues that narrative illustration continued to play a vital role in elite visual culture.   Narrative pictures from the twelfth through early twentieth centuries are presented as case studies to show how emperors, oYcials, scholars, and private individuals (Continued on back flap)

Mirror of Morality

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Mirror of Morality Chinese Narrative Illustration and Confucian Ideology

Julia K. Murray

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University of Hawai‘i Press | Honolulu

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© 2007 University of Hawai‘i Press  All rights reserved  Printed in Canada  12  11  10  09  08  07  6  5  4  3  2  1 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Murray, Julia K.    Mirror of morality : Chinese narrative illustration and   Confucian ideology / Julia K. Murray.    p. cm.  Includes bibliographical references and index.  ISBN 978-0-8248-3001-4 (hardcover : alk. paper)    1. Narrative painting, Chinese.  2. Art and morals —   China.  3. Art — Political aspects — China.  I. Title.   ND1452.C6M87  2007  759.951 — dc22 2006020765 University of Hawai‘i Press books are printed on acid-free  paper and meet the guidelines for permanence and durability  of the Council on Library Resources. Designed by April Leidig-Higgins Printed by Friesens

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Contents

List of Illustrations  vii Acknowledgments  xi Introduction The Social Status of Narrative Illustration in China  1

Chapter 1 Redrawing the Concept of Chinese Narrative Illustration  7



Chapter 2 Early Narrative Illustration and Moral Suasion  27



Chapter 3 New Strategies for Narrative Illustration in the Post-Han Period  37



Chapter 4 Institutionalizing Narrative Illustration under the Tang Dynasty  50



Chapter 5 Turning Points and Competing Values  60



Chapter 6 Later Narrative Illustration at Court:

Legitimation, Remonstrance, and Indoctrination  74

Chapter 7 Later Narrative Illustration Outside the Court:

Persuasion, Pleasure, Prestige, and Piety  94

Chapter 8 Epilogue  119

Notes  125 Chinese Character Glossary  159 Bibliography  169 Credits for Figures and Plates  185 Index  187 Color plates follow page 84

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List of Illustrations

Figures 1 “Qin Shihuangdi tries to raise the tripods.” Left Wu Family Shrine stone-slab rubbing  8 2 “Su Shi’s outing to the Red Cliff.” Register of Painting Left Over from Poetry (Shiyu huapu), 1612 edition  12 3 Spuriously attr. Li Gonglin. “Koreans.” Detail from Ten Scenes of Foreigners  13 4 Li Gonglin. “Filial piety in lesser officials.” Detail from Classic of Filial Piety (MMA version)  13 5 Attr. Gu Kaizhi. “Women applying make-up.” Detail from Admonitions of the Instructress  15 6 Spuriously attr. Li Gonglin. “Yang Guifei cuts off a lock of her hair.” Detail from Illustrated Stories of Rulers and Ministers of Former Ages  16 7 “Paying respects to Jizha” and “Holding Zi Zhan in high esteem.” Details from Pictures of the Deeds of Confucius, 1989, Qufu stone slab  17 8 Li Gonglin. “Serving one’s sovereign.” Detail from the Classic of Filial Piety (MMA version)  18 9 Attr. Gu Kaizhi. Detail from Goddess of the Luo River (Beijing version)  19 10 Wang Kui et al. “Birth of the Buddha.” Detail from the Life of the Buddha, in the Yanshansi, Shanxi  20 11 “Śāriputra and his magic powers.” Dunhuang Cave 146  20 12 Attr. Zhang Lu. Su Shi Returns to the Hanlin Academy  22 13 “Sending off the literary official with candles” [Su Shi returns to the Hanlin Academy], The Emperor’s Mirror, Illustrated and Discussed (Dijian tushuo), Zhang Juzheng’s 1573 edition  24 14 “Jing Ke tries to assassinate the King of Qin.” Left Wu Family Shrine stone-slab rubbing  25 15 “Righteous stepmother of Qi.” Wu Liang Shrine stone-slab rubbing  31

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16 Attr. Gu Kaizhi. “The woman from Qi Shi in Lu.” Detail from Biographies of Exemplary Women  32 17 “Two peaches kill three warriors.” Lintel of Tomb no. 61 at Luoyang, Henan  34 18 “Story of Wu Zixu.” Bronze-mirror rubbing  35 19 “Ape abducting a woman.” Stone-panel rubbing  35 20 “Ape fighting with a swordsman.” Stone-panel rubbing  35 21 The Great Departure. East Gate of the Great Stūpa at Sāñchi, India  38 22 “Birth” and “Enlightenment” (defeat of Māra) from the Life of the Buddha. Gandhāran stone panels  39 23 Eight scenes from the Life of the Buddha. Sārnāth stone panel  39 24 “Filial Shun.” Painted lacquer coffin panel from Guyuan, Ningxia  40 25 “Filial Shun.” Detail from a rubbing of a stone sarcophagus panel  41 26 “Filial Dong Yong.” Detail from a rubbing of a stone sarcophagus panel  41 27 “Conversion of 500 robbers.” Dunhuang Cave 285  43 28 Scenes from the Life of the Buddha. Stele dated 471  45 29 Scenes from the Life of the Buddha. Stele dated 523  46 30 Scenes from the Lotus Sūtra. 6th c. stele  46 31 Scenes from the Life of the Buddha. Rubbing of stele dated 543  47 32 Attr. Gu Kaizhi. Detail from Goddess of the Luo River (Liaoning version)  48 33 Attr. Yan Liben. Emperor in a Sedan Chair Receiving a Tibetan Envoy  52 34 Attr. Yan Liben. Detail from Bringing Tribute  54 35 Attr. Yan Liben. Xiao Yi Obtains the Lanting Manuscript by Trickery (Freer version)  55 36 Attr. Yan Liben. Xiao Yi Obtains the Lanting Manuscript by Trickery (Taibei version)  56

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37 After Wu Daozi. Spirit of Mt. Heng. Stone-tablet rubbing  58 38 Li Gonglin. “Brocade-shouldered piebald.” Detail from Five Tribute Horses  63 39 Li Gonglin. Detail from Pasturing Horses, after Wei Yan  64 40 Li Gonglin. Detail from Guo Ziyi Receives the Homage of the Uighurs  66 41 Li Gonglin. “Filial piety in government.” Detail from Classic of Filial Piety (MMA version)  67 42 Li Gonglin. “Filial piety in high ministers and great officers.” Detail from Classic of Filial Piety (MMA version)  67 43 Attr. Li Gonglin. “Lady of the Xiang River.” Detail from Nine Songs (Fujita version)  68 44 Zhang Wu. “Lady of the Xiang River.” Detail from Nine Songs (Cleveland version)  69 45 Attr. Li Gonglin. Returning Home, section 1 (Freer version)  70 46 Attr. Li Gonglin. Returning Home, section 2 (Freer version)  70 47 Attr. Li Gonglin. “Confucius and his disciples.” Detail from Classic of Filial Piety (NPM version)  71 48 Attr. Qiao Zhongchang. Detail from Su Shi’s Second Rhapsody on the Red Cliff  72 49 Dai Jin. Yuan An Sleeping through a Snowfall  76 50 “The Khitan Liao send envoys to court to pay respects.” Detail from Four Events of the Jingde Era  77 51 Detail from The Grand Carriage and Honor Guard  78 52 Attr. Song Gaozong and Li Tang. “Triumphant return to Jin.” Detail from Duke Wen of Jin Recovers His State  79 53 Li Tang. Detail from Bo Yi and Shu Qi Picking Ferns  80 54 Attr. Song Gaozong and Li Tang. Eighteen Songs of a Nomad Flute, section 16 (MMA version)  82 55 “Wenwang inquires about his parents and checks their food in the morning.” Wang Yun of Yuan’s Summaries of the Actions of a Crown Prince, Supplemented with Pictures, Imperially Prescribed (Qinding Yuan Wang Yun Chenghua shilue butu), 1896 Wuyingdian edition  88 56 Ding Yunpeng (designer). “Inspecting food at the bedchamber door.” Cultivating Rectitude, Illustrated and Explained (Yangzheng tujie), Jiao Hong’s c.1595 edition  89 57 “Dreaming that a good minister was conferred.” The Emperor’s Mirror, Illustrated and Discussed (Dijian tushuo), Pan Yunduan’s 1573 edition  92 58 “Dreaming that a good minister was conferred.” The

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Emperor’s Mirror, Illustrated and Discussed (Dijian tushuo), Zhang Juzheng’s 1573 edition  96 “Dreaming that a good minister was conferred.” The Emperor’s Mirror, Illustrated and Discussed (Dijian tushuo), Hu Xian’s 1573 edition  98 “Begrudging the expense of an observatory.” The Emperor’s Mirror, Illustrated and Discussed (Dijian tushuo), Hu Xian’s 1573 edition  99 “Dreaming that a good minister was conferred.” The Emperor’s Mirror, Illustrated and Discussed (Dijian tushuo), Jin Lian’s 1604 edition  100 Ding Yunpeng (designer). “For food, reject salted fish.” Cultivating Rectitude, Illustrated and Explained (Yangzheng tujie), Jiao Hong’s c.1595 edition  101 Ding Yunpeng (designer). “For food, reject salted fish.” Cultivating Rectitude, Illustrated and Explained (Yangzheng tujie), Wang Yunpeng’s Wanhuxuan c.1600 edition  102 Ding Yunpeng (designer). “Enfeoffing Shu Yu with a paulownia leaf.” Cultivating Rectitude, Illustrated and Explained (Yangzheng tujie), Jiao Hong’s c.1595 edition  103 Attr. Gu Hongzhong. Detail from Night Revels of Han Xizai  107 “Confucius with his disciples.” From Pictures of the Sage Confucius’s Traces (Kongzi Shengji zhi tu). Rubbing of 1682 stones recreating Zhang Kai’s original set from 1444  109 “Han Gaozu sacrifices at the grave of Confucius.” From Pictures of the Sage Confucius’s Traces (Kongzi Shengji zhi tu). Rubbing of 1682 stones recreating Zhang Kai’s original set from 1444  110 “Queen Māyā’s dream.” From Origins and Evolution of Śākyamuni (Shishi yuanliu), c.1425 edition  111 “The birth of Confucius.” From Pictures of the Sage Confucius’s Traces (Kongzi Shengji zhi tu), 16th c., based on He Xun’s late 15th c. edition  112 “Confucius receives a red rainbow/jade tablet from the Northern Dipper.” From Pictures of the Sage Confucius’s Traces (Kongzi Shengji zhi tu), 16th c., based on He Xun’s late 15th c. edition  112 Yang Zhi (designer). “Song Zhenzong sacrifices in Lu.” From Pictures of the Sage’s Traces (Shengji zhi tu). Rubbing

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of 1592 stones in the Hall of the Sage’s Traces, temple of Confucius, Qufu, Shandong  113 Yang Zhi (designer). “Great Heaven sends down the Sage” [The birth of Confucius]. From Pictures of the Sage’s Traces (Shengji zhi tu). Rubbing of 1592 stones in the Hall of the Sage’s Traces, Temple of Confucius, Qufu, Shandong  114 “Duke Ling asks about military array” [and Confucius departs from Wei]. From The Sage’s Traces, Illustrated (Shengji tu), c.1629 edition  115 “Music is performed in the sky” [The birth of Confucius]. From The Sage’s Traces, Illustrated (Shengji tu), c.1629 edition  116 “Yuan Yuzong discusses Summaries of the Actions of a Crown Prince.” From Wang Yun of the Yuan’s Summaries of the Actions of a Crown Prince, Supplemented with Pictures, Imperially Prescribed (Qinding Yuan Wang Yun Chenghua shilue butu), 1896 Wuyingdian edition  122 “Barbarians of the four quarters come to the ruler.” From The Classic of History, Illustrated and Discussed, Imperially Prescribed (Qinding Shujing tushuo), 1905 edition  123

Plates Pl. 1 Attr. Ma Hezhi. “Enlightened and Wise” [Lady Fan of Chu]. Detail from Ladies’ Classic of Filial Piety (NPM version) Pl. 2 Attr. Gu Kaizhi. “Consort Ban refuses to ride in Han Chengdi’s palanquin.” Detail from Admonitions of the Instructress Pl. 3 Attr. Song Gaozong and Li Tang. Eighteen Songs of a Nomad Flute, section 3 and title from section 4 (MMA version) Pl. 4 Basket with portraits of paragons of filial piety (detail). Lelang, Korea Pl. 5 Detail from Biographies of Exemplary Women. Painted lacquer screen from Sima Jinlong’s tomb, Datong, Shanxi Pl. 6 “The Buddha Śākyamuni withstands the attack of Māra,” Dunhuang Cave 254

Mahāsattva jātaka. Dunhuang Cave 254 Mahāsattva jātaka. Dunhuang Cave 428 Scenes from the Life of the Buddha. Dunhuang Cave 290 “Zhang Qian’s journey to the West.” Dunhuang Cave 323 Attr. Yan Liben. “Wudi of the Northern Zhou dynasty” and “Houzhu of the Chen dynasty.” Detail from Portraits of Former Emperors Pl. 12 Attr. Yan Liben. “Wendi of the Sui dynasty” and “Yangdi of the Sui dynasty.” Detail from Portraits of Former Emperors Pl. 13 Attr. Li Gonglin. Returning Home, section 7 (Freer version) Pl. 14 “Wenji arriving home.” 12th c. From Eighteen Songs of a Nomad Flute (Boston version) Pl. 15 Welcoming the Imperial Carriage. 12th c. Pl. 16 “The future Gaozong dreams of Qinzong handing him the imperial robe.” 12th c. Detail from Auspicious Omens for Dynastic Revival Pl. 17 Breaking the Balustrade. 12th c. Pl. 18 Protesting the Seat. 12th c. Pl. 19 Spuriously attr. Liu Songnian. “Enfeoffing Shu Yu with a paulownia leaf.” Pictures of Cultivating Rectitude, section 1 (Freer version) Pl. 20 Admonishing in Chains. 15th c. Pl. 21 “The birth of Confucius.” 16th c. From The Life of Confucius (Qufu album) Pl. 22 “Duke Ling asks about military array and Confucius departs from Wei.” 16th c. From The Life of Confucius (Qufu album) Pl. 23 “Music is performed in the sky” [The birth of Confucius]. 17th – 18th c. From Pictures and Eulogies of Confucius’s Entire Life, scene 5 (Idemitsu handscroll) Pl. 24 Leng Mei. “Enfeoffing Shu Yu with a paulownia leaf.” From Pictures of Cultivating Rectitude (Beijing album) Pl. 25 “Dreaming that a good minister was conferred.” 19th c. From The Emperor’s Mirror, Illustrated and Discussed (Dijian tushuo) (NPM album) Pl. 7 Pl. 8 Pl. 9 Pl. 10 Pl. 11

Illustrations  |  ix

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Acknowledgments

For almost as long as I have studied Chinese art, I have been intrigued by pictures that illustrate stories and by the issues that multiple versions raise. Early on, as a graduate-student intern looking through the Chinese painting collection at the Metropolitan Museum, I happened upon Raising the Alms-bowl, a colorful and lively painting depicting the conversion of Hāritī, the “Mother of Demons.” My after-hours research on that subject introduced me to the fascinating realm of popular narrative art, far removed from the literati painting and calligraphy of my academic curriculum. Later, my dissertation on Southern Song illustrations of the Shijing not only further engaged me with the problem of multiple versions but also led me to explore the political considerations involved in imperial patronage of art on classical themes. The opportunity to participate in the Latter Days of the Law exhibition and catalog started me on a systematic exploration of Buddhist narrative illustration and its impact on depictions of other kinds of subject matter. A chance encounter with a printed edition of the pictorial biography of Confucius stimulated a major shift in my interests, not only to the plethora of illustrations on that subject but also to other pictures on overtly moralistic and exemplary themes. In journal articles and anthology chapters written over the years, I have presented detailed research on specific narrative illustrations and explored some of the larger issues that are central to the present book, which I intend as an overview and synthesis. Along the way I have been fortunate to enjoy generous support for my research from the University of Wisconsin Graduate School and the H. I. Romnes Faculty Fellowship, as well as from external funding. Postdoctoral fellowships from the American Council of Learned Societies and the Smithsonian Institution enabled me to spend a memorable and productive year at the Freer and Sackler Galleries in Washington, where I examined a large number of little-known handscrolls in the collections and had the leisure to read widely in scholarship on narrative in art and litera-

ture. Research grants from the Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation, Metropolitan Center for Far Eastern Art Studies, and Asian Cultural Council facilitated my worldwide investigation of the pictorial biographies of Confucius and late Ming illustrated anthologies made for imperial instruction. I was able to write much of a first draft for this book while spending a year in Paris at the École pratique des hautes études, IVe Section (Sciences historiques et philologiques). A fellowship from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation provided another year of precious time for research and writing, enabling me to produce most of the final manuscript. Rewarding discussions and interactions with various colleagues over the years have greatly sharpened my thinking and stimulated my understanding. I have learned much about the cult of Confucius from conversations or scholarly collaborations with Tom Wilson, Mark Csikszentmihalyi, Deborah Sommer, Lionel Jensen, and Hans van Ess; about woodblock printing and book culture from Cynthia Brokaw, Lucille Chia, Sören Edgren, and Nancy Norton Tomasko; about forms and functions of narrative art from Gene Phillips, Vidya Dehejia, Cédric Laurent, and Emmanuelle Lesbre; and various historical or sinological issues from Peter Bol, Joe Cutter, Bill Nienhauser, Sue Naquin, Stephen Allee, Tim Barrett, Lü Zongli, and Kong Xurong. I thank past and present Wisconsin graduate students Noelle Giuffrida, Mike Farmer, Michelle Yunju Huang, and Park Jae-Suk for teaching me with their research papers and classroom presentations. I wish also to express my gratitude to the many curators and librarians who facilitated access to their collections, and to the scholars who helped me with the necessary contacts. Among them I am particularly indebted to Yang Xin, Yu Hui, Meng Sihui, Sun Liping, Zhang Lijuan, Shen Naiwen, Li Chaoying, Li Shiyu, and Wu Shuping in Beijing; Kong Xianglin in Qufu; Shih Shou-ch’ien, Lin Po-t’ing, and Chen Pao-chen in Taibei; Kohara Hironobu and xi

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Satō Kazuyoshi in Kyoto; Oki Yasushi and Kunigo Hideaki in Tokyo; Jean-Pierre Drège, Michèle Pirazzoli, Alain Thote, Francis Macouin, Monique Cohen, Wingfong Leung, Laure Feugère, Vĕra Linhartová, Vincent Durand-Dastès, and Michela Bussotti in Paris; Jessica Rawson, Carol Michaelson, and Anne Farrer in London; Mike Hearn in New York; Cary Liu and Martin Heijdra in Princeton; Tom Lawton, Jan Stuart, and Lily Kecskes in Washington; Ben Bronson in Chicago; and Thomas Hahn and Victoria Chu formerly in Madison. Freda Murck, Zhang Hongming, and Philip Hu also generously shared their excellent guanxi at crucial points. It is enormously gratifying to see interests that go back nearly thirty years coming together between the covers of a book published by the University of Hawai‘i Press. I am grateful to Susan

Nelson and Oliver Moore for reading the initial version of the manuscript and contributing insightful suggestions for improving it. Executive Editor Patricia Crosby provided expert guidance throughout the publication process. Ann Ludeman’s efficient production management and Margaret Black’s copyediting skills also made important contributions to the book’s final form. Wisconsin graduate students Michelle Craig and Laura Mueller lent essential assistance in preparing photographs, and Laura also helped with final proofreading. Finally, I wish to thank my husband, Andy Reschovsky, for his unfailing encouragement and support over the years. His parenting skills also ensured that daughter Nina never lacked for attention, despite growing up with a mother who traveled a lot and worked too much. I dedicate this book to them.

xii  |  Acknowledgments

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Introduction

The Social Status of Narrative Illustration in China

I

n traditional China, as in many other cultures, the visual representation of stories served as a medium for creating, expressing, disseminating, and affirming cultural values. Starting around the second century BCE, Chinese pictorial art frequently portrayed human beings and deities with some relation to moralizing texts, whether written down or orally transmitted. Eminent artists painted such subjects, historical accounts recorded them, and critics praised them for inspiring viewers to greater moral awareness and attainment. Such pictures are rarely identified as a separate category by premodern writers, who are more likely to classify paintings by subject matter. It is largely due to Western art-historical concepts that “narrative illustration” has become part of the taxonomy of Chinese pictorial art.* From the late eleventh century onward, influential critics such as Su Shi (1036 – 1101; jinshi [hereafter js] 1057), Mi Fu (1051 – 1107), Deng Chun (fl. mid-12th c.), Tang Hou (fl. early 14th c.), Xia Wenyan (fl. mid-14th c.), and Dong Qichang (1555 – 1636; js 1589) articulated a more subjective approach to painting that was congenial to scholar-artists seeking to express their own thoughts and feelings in a visual medium.1 According to a long-dominant interpretation of the history of Chinese painting, this “literati” or “scholar-amateur” aesthetic offered such a compelling alternative to more objective modes of painting that the best creative artists turned their efforts toward self-expressive landscape and nature themes.2 Painters and paintings that represented different values were slighted or ignored by the prominent critics, who championed the literati aesthetic. In consequence, all kinds of figure painting, including later narrative illustrations as well as religious icons and commemorative portraits, declined in critical esteem. * Throughout this book I will use the terms “narrative illustration,” “narrative painting,” and “narrative representation” interchangeably.

After the eleventh century, practitioners of narrative painting rarely were artists of renown, and most of their names are lost to history, sometimes literally effaced in favor of famous “old masters,” whose signatures might be forged to give a work greater cachet.3 Conversely, most of the painters accorded critical acclaim in recent centuries are not known for narrative pictures, which is not to say that they never painted such works.4 Even today, many Chinese and Western scholars tend to regard later narrative paintings and other figural representations as the province of lowbrow professional painters catering to unsophisticated tastes. Although traditional Chinese critical assessments of the various genres of painting have their own validity, a dismissive view of later narrative illustration obscures its considerable social and political significance. Among other things the medium was congenial for promoting or affirming Confucian morality, a configuration of social and political values accepted at least nominally throughout Chinese society by the late Ming period. Many themes to pictorialize were selected from history, literature, and contemporary events by emperors, officials, scholars, and others, who used pictures in dealing with their concerns about such issues as political legitimacy and governance, social harmony (or disorder), group solidarity, and personal morality. Despite a critical discourse that relegated pictorial images to the humble role of instructing nonelite audiences of “stupid men and women” (yufu yufu), ample evidence suggests that many members of the literate elite also valued visual representation. Intriguing parallels can be drawn with Christian images in the West, which were conventionally called the “bible of the illiterate” but served other important functions as well.5 In the late imperial period, eminent officials and literati still sponsored, collected, or favorably commented on narrative illustrations of morally uplifting or culturally prestigious subjects. Oc1

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casionally their comments suggest an explicit rejection of the values espoused by more sophisticated connoisseurs. For example, the renowned Hanlin academician Zhuang Chang (1437 – 1499; js 1466) wrote a colophon in 1495 for the handscroll Illustrated Stories of Parental Love and Filial Piety (Cixiao gushi tu), purportedly by Li Gonglin (c.1049 – 1106; js 1070).6 Focusing on the familial virtues treated in the eight scenes, Zhuang praised the scroll’s presentation of “correct models” and expressed indignation that the preceding colophon, by Zhao Mengfu (1254 – 1322), had discussed only Li Gonglin’s artistry and Zhao’s response to it.7 Even in the late Ming period, when aesthetic preoccupations so thoroughly dominated colophon discourse, some writers criticized the prevailing convention of describing paintings as evocations of favored Song and Yuan literati masters. In a colophon on Lin Zihuan’s (14th c.) Illustrations of the Odes of Bin (Binfeng tu), a classic Confucian subject, Gu Ningyuan (c.1585 – after 1645) compared contemporary “connoisseurs” (jianshangjia) unfavorably with Shen Shixing (1535 – 1614; js 1562), an eminent official who had inscribed Lin’s scroll in 1566.8 Gu suggests that because Shen was a “noted practitioner of moral philosophy” (lixue mingjia), he had grasped the true significance of the didactic illustrations, even though he had not deeply investigated the principles of painting.9 For good measure Gu also disparaged contemporary painters who had learned just enough to be able to claim that their works were after Song master so-and-so or Yuan master such-and-such, thereby “cheating ordinary people” (qi suren). A member of the educated elite might associate himself with pictures of appropriate themes in order to gain a good reputation or become better established within a social network. As Kathlyn Liscomb recently observed of illustrious literati who commissioned documentary paintings in the fifteenth century, such patronage might serve various purposes, such as “self-promotion, defining elite identity, and promoting ‘inter-elite solidarity.’ ”10 Her research on the profusion of illustrations of a possibly apocryphal incident, in which the great Tang poet Li Bai (701 – 762) humiliated a powerful court eunuch by forcing him to pull Li’s boots off, shows how a multivalent theme could serve several functions in literati culture of the Song through late Qing periods.11 Among other uses, the boot story was an appropriate subject for paintings and other objects given as gifts to aspiring poets, as well as to talented men whose careers had been thwarted by petty men at

court. Representations of this and related anecdotes on stage, as well as in the decorative arts, also made Li Bai’s persona familiar to nonelite and even illiterate viewers. All too acquainted with predations by rogue authorities, popular audiences particularly relished the spectacle of a talented poet mortifying an illegitimate strongman. Scarlett Jang has found a surge in sixteenth-century literary and visual depictions of poor scholars who overcame great obstacles to pass the civil service examinations and achieve office.12 The popularity of these representations coincided with a shift in the official recruitment system to emphasize merit-based examinations on the Confucian canon, rather than recommendations based on a candidate’s character and connections. Comparing allusive paintings by the educated Suzhou professional artist Xie Shichen (1487 – c.1560) with anonymous and more plainly expository woodblock prints of several decades later, Jang concludes that there were “varying degrees of visual sophistication within the same social class.”13 Xie’s luxuriantly painted hanging scrolls matched the poor scholars with landscapes of the four seasons, whose brief titles alluded to contemporary dramas about the men’s tribulations and ultimate success, while the woodblockprinted pictures recapitulated and explained events in the plays. The contrast between allusiveness and exposition in these works suggests that their intended audiences had different tastes and levels of cultural knowledge, but shared an interest in attaining official power and prestige through the examination system. Some viewers might well have experienced its ardors firsthand, while others might only have aspired to make the attempt. Cédric Laurent also has argued that highly literate viewers in sixteenth-century Suzhou appreciated a kind of pictorial narrative that required them to recognize poetic allusions and decode visual metaphors.14 He credits Wen Zhengming (1470 – 1559), Suzhou’s most eminent artist, with inspiring a revival of interest in a long-dormant Song tradition of literati narrative. After the Suzhou art market churned up an old handscroll purporting to contain Zhao Bosu’s (1124 – 1184) illustration of Su Shi’s “Second Rhapsody on the Red Cliff” (“Chibi houfu”), Wen made a number of freehand as well as faithful copies of it.15 Not only did his students and other Suzhou artists paint many versions of the Red Cliff theme, they also applied its subtle and harmonious integration of story and setting to other subjects. Laurent’s case in point

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is a 1565-dated handscroll, now called Jade Dew in the Crane Forest (Helin yulu), commissioned by a retired official named Shen Ruizheng (dates unknown) from two members of Wen’s circle, Qian Gu (1508 – c.1574) and Peng Nian (1505 – 1566).16 To accompany Peng’s transcription of an autobiographical essay by Luo Dajing (? – c.1252; js 1226), called “The Mountains Are Peaceful and the Days Are Long” (“Shanjing richang”), Qian depicted a series of scenes from the life of a cultured hermit, artfully sequencing them within a continuous mountain landscape. Because the painting was addressed to highly educated viewers, he did not illustrate many of the text’s literal details, but conveyed its themes through visual tropes that were based on poetic allusions. Peng’s postscript indicates that Shen Ruizheng enjoyed showing the scroll to his guests. Literati viewers not only would have appreciated the picture’s multilayered references to the cultivated pursuits of retired gentlemen in times past, they also were likely to make a flattering connection between the work’s protagonist and their genteel host. These case studies briefly reviewed above demonstrate the continuing vitality and variety of Confucian-themed illustrations at all social levels in the late-imperial period. In this book, I will focus on the educated elite, examining how men of high status were involved in making, sponsoring, inscribing, and otherwise using narrative pictures that conveyed or affirmed values associated with Confucian ideology. By connecting literary and pictorial analyses with specific historical contexts, I will argue for the continuing artistic and cultural significance of narrative representation and trace changes in its social functions and cultural positions over time.

The Efficacy of Pictures From the early dynastic period onward, advocates for pictures repeatedly claimed that images conveyed something that words could not, making them complementary to writing and equal in importance. As the prominent essayist Lu Ji (261 – 303) stated: For making things widely known, nothing is greater than words; for preserving their forms, nothing is better than painting.17

In an essay entitled “On the Origins of Painting” (“Lun hua zhi yuanliu”), Zhang Yanyuan (fl. 847) constructed a thoughtful

history of the relationship between writing and painting, which served as the introduction to his monumental compilation Rec­ ord of Famous Paintings of Successive Dynasties (Lidai minghua ji, preface dated 847).18 Recounting the emergence of writing and painting from initially undifferentiated origins, he wrote: The image system had just been created and was still cursory, with nothing to transmit its ideas, and then there was writing; with nothing by which to manifest its forms, and then there was painting.19

In a later section of his discussion, he elaborated on this point: Records and biographies recount the deeds [of the ancients] but cannot convey their appearances; rhapsodies and odes sing of their beauty but cannot provide their images. The institution of pictures and paintings is the means by which these are added.20

The Southern Song scholar Zheng Qiao (1104 – 1162) pursued the complementarity of picture and writing through a series of analogies: Picture (tu) is the warp (jing), and writing (shu) is the weft (wei); one warp and one weft are inserted into each other to produce a pattern (wen). Picture is the plant and writing is the animal; one animal and one plant need each other to produce transformation (bianhua). To see the writing but not the picture is [like] hearing a sound but not seeing the form. To see the picture but not the writing is [like] seeing a person but not hearing his words.21

Here Zheng describes a mutually reinforcing relationship between text and image, portraying them as separate modes whose combination is essential to convey an idea completely.22 This endorsement introduces a long list of illustrated works with historical, philosophical, or political significance, some of which have extant versions.23 However, Zheng also implied that pictures could be considered inferior to texts: Pictures are very brief (yue), and writing is very extensive (bo). With pictures, one seeks what is easy; with writing, one seeks what is difficult.24

In later centuries a bias against images in favor of texts became increasingly prominent in the critical literature. Moreover, by the late Ming, connoisseurs of the rare and elegant were disparaging most forms of mimetic representation, perhaps in reaction to Introduction  | 

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its profusion in contemporary visual culture.25 The cognoscenti particularly abhorred the idea of being associated with common practices or tastes, such as an appreciation for pictures that told or invoked a story. As Xie Zhaozhi (1567 – 1624; js 1592) observed: When women and eunuchs see someone painting, they always say, “What’s the story?” Those who relate such discussions often ridicule these people.26

Although Xie himself had a high regard for didactic illustrations of worthy subjects and deplored the kind of sketchy ink paintings that some literati painters tossed off without much thought, he recognized that most art critics had nothing good to say about narrative representation. The unnamed pundits to whom he refers shared the presumption that women and eunuchs were incapable of truly appreciating fine art. If such benighted viewers expected pictures to tell a story, then narrative painting perfectly suited their taste and obviously was “vulgar.” One reason why illustration persisted in later centuries despite increasing hostility from critics is that visual representations were thought to be capable of stirring the viewer’s response in the same way that the “real thing” would, so pictures could serve as a means of influencing thoughts and actions. Ming officials who sponsored illustrated biographies of Confucius (Kongzi) asserted that the images would enable their peers and even superiors to “see” the ancient sage in action and be inspired by his example.27 Grand Secretaries Zhang Juzheng (1525 – 1582; js 1547) and Lü Tiaoyang (1516 – 1580; js 1550) presented the newly enthroned Wanli emperor (r. 1572 – 1620) with a sumptuous album of annotated pictures/ illustrated stories about good and bad rulers from earlier history, entitled The Emperor’s Mirror, Illustrated and Discussed (Dijian tushuo, 1573). In their accompanying memorial they claimed: Seeing will arouse feelings; therefore we availed ourselves of images in red-and-blue [i.e., painting]; we only selected the bright and clear, which are easily understood, therefore they will not be rejected as vulgar.28

Anticipating that critics would find their illustrated compendium “vulgar” (lisu), Zhang and Lü proactively defended it by emphasizing the suasive power of images; elsewhere in the memorial, they alluded to the use of pictures for didactic and admonitory purposes in antiquity. Fang Ruhao (17th c.) took a similarly de-

fensive stance in his general guidelines (fanli) to Chanzhen’s Anecdotal History (Chanzhen yishi, c.1625): Illustrations might seem a childish thing, since the various weighty matters of history are all drawn with words. Yet what cannot be conveyed in words may yet be drawn in pictures.29

Such endorsements did not necessarily imply that illustrations merited further appreciation in an aesthetic sense. Even when praised for their efficacy, representational images might not reward extended contemplation. For example, Feng Ruzong’s reading instructions for his Compendium of Models for Women (Nü fan bian, 1603) relegates pictures to a supporting role at best: When the images are set up, the idea is complete. When you grasp the idea, you can forget the images.30

While claiming that pictures were important for conveying meaning, Feng believed that they had no other merits. Late Ming moralists also realized that pictures could be read the wrong way, subverting whatever lofty intention had engendered them. In a 1593-dated commemorative inscription for a pictorial biography of Confucius displayed at the primordial temple in Qufu, Shandong, Shao Yiren (js 1580) suggested that pictures were irrelevant or even misleading for transmitting the Way; instead, it was better to study the Classics.31 Li Weizhen (1547 – 1616; js 1568) lamented in 1604 that the Wanli emperor often imitated the bad role models in The Emperor’s Mirror, Illustrated and Discussed, rarely the good ones.32 Indeed, the creative and varied forms of immoral conduct depicted in the cautionary section seem far more engaging than the repetitious scenes of virtuous rulers and diligent officials in the exemplary part. In addition, as Carlitz has noted of late Ming books of illustrated stories about virtuous women, the pictures for instructive texts were made by the same people who illustrated works of drama and fiction, genres for which visually attractive or entertaining images were desirable and appropriate.33 Viewers who were accustomed to savoring pictures of beautiful women and enjoying depictions of melodramatic conflict brought their viewing habits and expectations to illustrated stories of female virtue. Male viewers in particular might easily ignore the didactic content while looking at portrayals of women defending moral principles in circumstances that sometimes were entertainingly dire. Similarly, apart from a few

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emperors who were supposed to learn about proper role models from The Emperor’s Mirror, Illustrated and Discussed, most viewers could simply enjoy the compendium as a pictorial history that offered voyeuristic access to the fabled world of palace intrigue. The popularity of ostensibly didactic illustrations suggests that their allure owed more to their ability to provide visual entertainment than to their efficacy for encouraging moral introspection. Moralists may well have had reason to worry that pictures could lead people astray.

Reconstructing the Evolution of Confucian Narrative Illustration The main purpose of this book is to examine how certain sectors of elite society used narrative illustration in support of Confucian values, and to demonstrate that it was not delegitimized by the rise of the “literati aesthetic.” To put my arguments into proper perspective, I survey the development of visual-narrative traditions in China from their origins in the early imperial period. I begin by considering various ways to define narrative illustration more precisely, then examine methods and conventions that Chinese artists initially used for depicting stories. Despite my focus on pictures that conveyed or affirmed values associated with Confucian ideology, I include some discussion of Buddhist illustration in tracing the development of narrative sequencing techniques and modes of conceptualization, which owed much to the stimulus of Buddhist narrative traditions. Chapters 2 through 5 survey the history of narrative illustration in China, exploring it as a component of early Chinese pictorial art and tracing the emergence of its classic forms. Iconic portraits that evoked the biography of an exemplary figure and single-scene illustrations of stories that demonstrated the workings of virtue are the main types that became established in the Han period (206 BCE – 220 CE). After the Han, the more discursive narrative techniques and approaches associated with Buddhism expanded the range of conventions, conceptual modes, and compositional structures available for didactic representation. During the Tang dynasty (618 – 907), the most prestigious artists made narrative paintings for the emperor and for the Buddhist and Daoist religious establishments. Much acclaimed by critics, the styles and conventions of Tang narrative illustration became

a classical standard. With the emergence of literati theories of painting as a medium of self-expression, however, narrative depictions gradually lost prestige in the critical discourse, although they continued to be produced. Because I see the Song as a watershed in the history of narrative illustration, I end my chronological survey with this period and turn my attention in Chapters 6 through 8 to several types of pictures that promoted high ideals of conduct for rulers and officials in the Song through Qing periods. Even if later didactic illustrations were insignificant to the critical discourse of art and the most discriminating collectors took little interest in them as objects for delectation, many paintings and prints were made for stories about exemplary individuals and cautionary tales of conduct to avoid. The production of such pictures highlights the fact that some members of the educated elite who were concerned about improving morality and governance believed that pictorial representation had the potential for making a strong impression on viewers and influencing their behavior. Although some writers questioned whether pictures could be as effective as texts for stimulating moral cultivation, particularly among the literate, it is significant that they did not simply dismiss illustrations as aesthetically or formally deficient. Unlike aesthetes, these skeptics took representational images seriously and evaluated them as agents of moral transformation. Colophons of the late Ming and Qing periods suggest that paintings of well-known narrative subjects also appealed to neophyte collectors. Such works often bore impressive but spurious attributions to famous artists, as well as fake seals and colophons of eminent connoisseurs and literati. Whether forged or genuine, the colophons attached to these pictures typically affirmed the didactic merit of the representations and validated them as works of art. To authenticate the paintings, colophon writers often borrowed the discourse of connoisseurship, recounting the purported artist’s biography, characterizing his painting style, and relating the present work to his larger oeuvre. The combination of accessible, familiar, and often venerable subject matter with such prestige-enhancing documentation suggests that many later narrative paintings were collected by people who believed them to be works of art, with the potential to establish the owner as a person of taste. Although sophisticated connoisseurs would recognize the attributions as false, most people, even scholars, did not have Introduction  | 

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the opportunity to develop specialized expertise for evaluating painting. Many narrative illustrations that originated in a genuinely instructive or admonitory context subsequently entered wider circulation, sometimes in significantly altered form. In the late imperial period, such pictures achieved their widest circulation and greatest impact in the medium of woodblock printing. As people of different backgrounds appropriated didactic pictures, the images acquired new meanings, connotations, and functions. For example, the Wanli emperor’s large and sumptuously painted album The Emperor’s Mirror, Illustrated and Discussed was quickly reproduced and widely disseminated as a small woodblock-printed book.34 Some editions circulated among officials and served primarily symbolic purposes, while others were commercially published for the diverse and increasingly numerous consumers of late Ming visual culture. Viewers who were not particularly concerned about morality in statecraft undoubtedly found the illustrations of stories about model rulers and ministers entertaining. Printed illustrations not only offered access to remote people and places, but also spread elite views of history and culture across a broader social spectrum. The sheer quantity of later narrative Chinese illustration on Confucian themes provides justification enough to study it as a social phenomenon. Furthermore, persuasive arguments can be made for recognizing certain pictures as masterpieces, whose high

artistic quality makes them worthy of art-historical investigation. In fact, recent scholarship has already expanded the canon of later Chinese painting beyond the literati tradition, creating a place for great works of narrative illustration. However, I would go a step further and argue for seriously investigating a larger range of pictorial production, not just the exquisite but also the ordinary, and even the crude or clichéd. The diversity of later narrative illustration reflects the varied interests and needs of its patrons, collectors, and viewers. To gain insight into the ways that pictures expressed their concerns and functioned as historical agents, we must sometimes suspend our preoccupation with aesthetic excellence and look at a broader spectrum of pictorial works. Taking this approach does not mean that artistic quality is unimportant or irrelevant; rather, it defines the high end of a large and diverse body of visual production. Below this rarified level, however, there are many uplifting or engaging narrative subjects that held considerable appeal for a great variety of viewers. Rather than scorning their interest or using it as a foil to demonstrate the superior taste of sophisticated connoisseurs, we should explore the meanings and significance of such pictures. To begin to address this enormous topic, I examine numerous cases of Confucian narrative illustration whose patronage and reception challenge conventional views concerning the tastes and values of elite, literate men in the late imperial period.

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Chapter 

C

Redrawing the Concept of Chinese Narrative Illustration

hinese narrative illustration” is an elusive concept. In modern Chinese the term most often used to mean “narrative illustration” or “narrative painting” is gushi hua, which literally means “ancient-matter painting” or “story painting,” depending on which shi character is used.1 Although Ming writers occasionally mention paintings with the word gushi in the title, referring to illustrations of specific stories,2 gushi hua as a formal classification dates only to the early eighteenth century. The category first appears in Chen Bangyan’s Classified Poems Inscribed on Paintings throughout the Ages, Imperially Prescribed (Yuding Lidai tihua shilei) of 1707, a large collection of poems about paintings compiled at the behest of the Kangxi emperor (r. 1662 – 1722). In a section called gushi lei (“ancient-matter” category), Chen placed poems that had been written for paintings whose titles referred to people of earlier ages, usually in the context of some action or event. Although Chen does not explain his criteria, his selections suggest a categorizing principle that combines the ideas of depicting “ancient matters” and of portraying a “story.” Moreover, he lists the painting titles in chronological order according to the lifetimes of the people depicted, ranging from legendary antiquity to the early Southern Song period (1127 – 1279). Accordingly, even the most recent example was nearly five hundred years earlier.3 Because Chen refers only once to a specific Yuan artist and otherwise does not mention even the dynasties in which the gushi were painted,4 the reader infers that the genre itself belongs to antiquity. Indeed, this assumption would be consistent with the well-known dictum of the late Northern Song critic Mi Fu: “People nowadays absolutely do not paint gushi [stories].”5 Although Chen Bangyan’s criteria for categorizing paintings as gushi initially appear to be simple and straightforward, his apparent consistency is an illusion. In fact, poems in other sections of his massive compendium also refer to paintings of ancient people

engaged in some action. For example, the Human Affairs section (renshi lei) includes a poem about a painting of the legendary recluse Yang Pu moving house. There are even cases in which paintings on the same subject are divided between gushi and some other classification. Such an overlap occurs between gushi and the Old Sites category (guji lei). Both contain poems written for paintings of places that were made famous by the events that took place there. For instance, both sections have entries for the Orchid Pavilion (Lanting), where the calligrapher Wang Xizhi (c.303 – 361) and his friends held a celebrated gathering in 353. Similarly, poems for paintings of Su Shi’s outings to the Red Cliff are also divided between the two categories. These ambiguities and overlaps make it difficult to use Chen’s gushi category as the basis to define narrative illustration for the purposes of this book. Conceptions of narrative representation in recent scholarship on Chinese art in European languages are equally confusing. Not only is the term applied to a great variety of pictures, it is used in both a narrow technical sense as well as in a broadly metaphorical one. Although many scholars call any painting that refers to a story a “narrative illustration,” others would insist that the picture itself visually portray the development of the story. A “narrative” designation is often given to pictures that are related to any kind of text, even a moral treatise, philosophical tract, religious scripture, lyrical poem, or catalog record.6 In addition, numerous writers describe generic scenes of livelihood and amusement as narrative, and some extend the term to landscape compositions that suggest passage through time and space.7 An especially widespread idea is that narrative illustration is an objective, third-person mode of representation, no matter what the subject.8 Divergent understandings of narrative are not confined to discussions of Chinese art, because similar inconsistencies can be found in writings on European art. As Marilyn Lavin has pointed out, the meaning of 7

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“narrative” seems to vary according to what is being set in opposition to it, ranging from devotional portrait icons to Abstract Expressionism.9

Definitions of Chinese Narrative Illustration A rudimentary but influential taxonomy of Chinese narrative painting originated with John Hay’s 1972 article about the tenthcentury handscroll Early Snow on the River (Jiangxing chuxue tu) by Zhao Gan (fl. c.961 – 975). As a background to his analysis of the painting, Hay offered a few comments on narrative, which he prefaced with the observation that treatments of the theme of the fisherman in literature [emphasis mine] could be divided into three categories that had “approximate equivalents in painting”: moral, literary, and genre narrative.10 Apparently not intending to discuss categories of narrative painting in a systematic way, Hay did not define the three types but simply mentioned an example of each one. The paintings he cited suggest that “moral narrative” has a didactic purpose, “literary narrative” embodies poetic symbolism or is based on a literary source,11 and “genre narrative” depicts the everyday activities of the humbler classes of Chinese society. In other words, moral narrative is associated with an instructive function, literary narrative with expressive qualities or rhetorical devices, and genre narrative with a particular subject matter. Because function, expressive quality, and subject are three different kinds of criteria, the categories are not mutually exclusive, and the same painting may well fit into more than one. Nonetheless, other scholars have accepted Hay’s suggestion that there are three kinds of narrative illustration, and his terms have been used, sometimes slightly modified, to characterize a broad array of works. Wu Hung distinguishes narrative representations from images that directly engage the viewer, using the terms “episodic” and “iconic” to emphasize a contrast between the two modes.12 In his definition, episodic compositions are asymmetrical and self-contained, and the figures are represented in profile or in a three-quarter view (as in Figure 1). The depicted action belongs to a specific place and time and stays within the bounds of the picture. Because the viewer is a detached witness, Wu characterizes the episodic mode as “narrative.” Moreover, he argues that while the episodic mode was an indigenous tradition of representation

Figure 1. “Qin Shihuangdi tries to raise the tripods.” 2nd c. CE. Rubbing of incised stone tablet from the Left Wu Family Shrine (Offering Hall no. 2) at Wuzhaishan, Jiaxiang, Shandong.

in early China, the iconic mode emerged under the influence of Buddhist imagery during the second century CE.13 In contrast to episodic scenes, iconic images are frontal and hieratic, and action is not strongly suggested (Figure 7 is a good example).14 Icons engage the viewer directly and are “completed” by his/her active participation, whether through worship or some other response. Wu’s analysis of a viewer’s experience of episodic as opposed to iconic representation in pictorial art offers an interesting parallel to Dore Levy’s characterization of a reader’s experience of narrative as opposed to lyrical poetry in literature: The intended response of the reader of narrative is quite different from the intended response to lyrical experience. Narrative poetry is conceived in terms of empathy for rather than integration with [italics hers] the experience described in the composition. No matter how sympathetic or enthralling the subject matter [of narrative poetry] may be, the reader cannot, finally, preserve the illusion of having participated in its events.15

In both types of narrative experience, in other words, the reader/ viewer is a spectator who remains outside the actions that are presented. Other writers focus their attention on the artist, rather than

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the viewer, in setting narrative representation in opposition to self-referential, lyrical expression, which is associated with the ideals of literati painting. For example, Wen Fong contrasts the ostensibly objective depictions of an observable human world, often by anonymous artisans, with paintings that embody the private thoughts and experiences of the scholar-artists who made them.16 In a narrative picture, brushwork is subordinate to representation, serving only to delineate external appearances; in a literati painting, just as in calligraphy, the line itself articulates the artist’s inner qualities to viewers who can appreciate his “heart-print.” Fong proposes that the scholar-artists’ subjective, calligraphic painting dominated Chinese pictorial art after the Northern Song period, completely eclipsing the older narrative mode of representation. He and others emphasize the role played by Li Gonglin in developing painting into a vehicle of personal expression almost as elevated as poetry.17 A late Northern Song artist whose paintings were admired by literati critics from his own time onward, Li sometimes painted illustrations of stories and classical texts, but his idiosyncratic styles and techniques infused these pictures with a subjectivity unprecedented in ordinary narrative representation. Although Li’s evocative approach demonstrated that painting could be used as a medium of personal expression, literati ideals did not replace older objective modes or even significantly influence them at first. Nonetheless, the emergence of literati painting did cast narrative painting into sharper definition, clarifying the latter as a functional art that is made to serve the need to document, show, explain, teach, affirm, or assert something. In a comparative study of Chinese and Japanese handscrolls, Kohara Hironobu offers some provocative generalizations about narrative illustration, focusing on storytelling as the defining element of the category.18 Finding Chinese examples less satisfying than Japanese ones, he asserts that Chinese handscrolls evince far less “narrative interest” and rarely depict the scene-by-scene development of a story. Instead, he argues, Chinese artists preferred to symbolize the story in a single (sometimes long) scene, a conceptual approach he does not find among Japanese handscrolls. Kohara attributes this fundamental difference to a Chinese emphasis on Confucian morality and a disdain for fiction and fantasy, which discouraged the production of illustrations that provided only action and entertainment. Moreover, he maintains that

narrative paintings in China were made by and for a learned elite, who did not require detailed pictorialization because most themes were based on written texts. The writings would have been familiar to the highly educated viewer and could also be transcribed to accompany the painting. Although Kohara does not discuss the possibility that a painting might illustrate an orally transmitted story, the familiarity of an oral tale might also make a detailed depiction unnecessary. In Japan, by contrast, Kohara claims that not only were fiction and inventiveness more highly esteemed, but also that the audience for handscroll illustrations included the uneducated. Both conditions favored the development and continued use in Japan of techniques to pictorialize action sequences in a vivid way. Kohara concludes that these very different circumstances account for “the choice of topics in Japanese and Chinese narrative painting and . . . differences in their conventions of representational form and method.”19 All of these scholars have a conception of Chinese narrative representation that is useful for their specific purposes, which are varied. However, without a more precise, common definition, it is difficult to make meaningful distinctions among various types of narrative illustrations or to trace their evolution. In other systems of symbolic communication, particularly literature and film, a small army of scholars has engaged the issue of defining narrative and its workings (known as “narratology”) over the past several decades. This body of work offers some insights that are useful for defining visual representations of narrative. In drawing upon it, I am not suggesting that the pictorial repertoire is necessarily dependent upon, secondary to, or explained by verbal narration. Moreover, literary scholarship does not exhibit consensus on a definition of narrative or its technical qualities; thus the art historian cannot simply adopt and apply literary paradigms. Nonetheless, a brief consideration of literary analysis will set the stage for definitions that I will propose later, as well as introduce certain points to which other chapters will return.

Literary Theories of Narrative Most writers agree that a fundamental marker of narrative is action (some would say conflict), which results in change, thus distinguishing narrative from a description of a state of being. The element of time may be present in description as well as in narrative, Redrawing the Concept of Chinese Narrative Illustration  | 

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but in description, time is continuous (termed “duration-time” by Tzvetan Todorov20), while in narrative it is broken into discontinuous units (“event-time”). Moreover, a narrative’s discontinuous moments occur in a sequence, sometimes with causal links between units of time. Although a nonnarrative “exposition” may also present its elements in a sequence, as in a list, Nelson Goodman observes that exposition lacks the underlying coherence of purpose that characterizes a narrative sequence.21 An analogy of exposition in painting might be the depiction of successive figures in a procession (as in Figure 51). Some writers emphasize the role of a teller who presents the events. Hayden White asserts that to “narrate” means to impose a structure and meaning on a sequence of events.22 He characterizes narration as a universal human impulse to organize and give coherence to experience. It is this coherence that, for White, distinguishes “history” from “annals” and “chronicles,” neither of which situates the events within an interpretive framework. Depending on the value system that underlies the narrative, the events may be endorsed, censured, or presented neutrally. White further suggests that the process of shaping real events into the form of a story (“narrativizing”) tends to support orthodox and politically conservative social systems. His insights are suggestive for China, where the central government directed the writing of history, and even “annals” were formulated within an ideological framework. As Sheldon Lu demonstrates, Chinese historical writing purported to be simultaneously objective and normative.23 The very forms used to present historical data reflect the presumption that all events embodied the workings of a moral cosmos. Traditional Chinese historians believed that Confucius himself, in editing the Spring and Autumn Annals (Chun qiu), had selected and carefully worded its entries to illuminate the function of this morality. Structuralist critics, including Goodman and Seymour Chatman, stress a distinction between the time-sequence of events in a story and that of their recounting, a distinction that is captured by the terms “story-time” and “discourse-time,” respectively.24 Thus the events may be presented in a different order from that in which they “actually” happened, as in a flashback, or they may occupy different amounts of time, as when a narrator elaborates a fleeting occurrence into an extended account or collapses hundreds of years into a single sentence. In Chatman’s formulation, narrative

can be actualized in any medium capable of communicating the two time-orders, and it can be “converted” from one medium to another. The divergent properties of these media — for example, oral tale, novel, or movie — cause the different renditions of the same story to vary in form, content, and impact. Surprisingly enough, Chatman explicitly excludes painting from the group of media that he considers to be capable of communicating a sense of time. This oversight is remedied by Goodman, who demonstrates the variety of relationships that may exist between the order of events in a story and their representation in paintings. He points out that a painting may present its events simultaneously to view, without disclosing any obligatory or obvious order of reading. However, Goodman proposes that if a picture illustrates a single moment of the story, then the telling (that is, its representation in painting) takes no (discourse-)time, ignoring the fact that the viewer requires time to scan the image. Perhaps, in the context of painting, scanning-time or “representation-time” should be considered the analog of “discourse-time.” The structuralist notion that primal core stories underlie all manifestations of a particular narrative is challenged by Barbara Herrnstein Smith, who also criticizes the distinction between “story” and “discourse” for being artificial and misleading.25 Such a division is premised on an unstated belief that it is possible for the two time-orders to correspond exactly, thus implying that all other relationships represent deviations by discourse-time. Arguing that the ideal of a one-to-one correspondence is a false premise, Smith proposes that the story itself is an ever-changing entity; there is no Platonic core underlying all the manifestations of a narrative. Instead, she posits that there are only versions (or “retellings”), which are constructed in relation to other versions, for various specific purposes, and within particular social contexts. None of these retellings is more basic than the others. The features of any one version are determined by the interests, functions, and circumstances for which it was created, which depend to a large degree on the narrator and the audience — their backgrounds, expectations, and motivations to participate in this particular transaction.26 Smith suggests that even a plot summary is not a core story, but just another version, one created by a scholar for the purpose of analyzing related stories within the context of academic discourse. Scholars of Chinese literary theory have also written extensively

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on narrative, stimulated to a considerable degree by theorists writing about Western traditions.27 It is frequently observed that although narration is “as common in China as it is in the West,” it was not considered a genre.28 The Chinese identified their major categories of writing as classics (jing), history (shi), philosophical discourse (zi), and belles lettres (ji). With minor modifications, this “four-part” (si bu) system of bibliographic classification has been in use since the seventh century. Although Western definitions of narrative would fit a large number of Chinese literary works from each of the four traditional bibliographical divisions, and narrative technique is found across a broad spectrum of writings, there is no traditional term or separate category for “narrative” in Chinese literature, as literature specialists have long recognized.29 Moreover, narrative is not closely linked with epic in the Chinese tradition, unlike the European, not because Chinese literature is defective but because the Western model is not universally valid.30 Instead, historiography provided the paradigm for all kinds of Chinese narrative writing, and stories were expected to convey human experience with verisimilitude.31 Premodern Chinese literary critics devoted their attentions to history and to poetry (a subcategory of belles lettres), which they regarded as the primary genres of writing. Poetry was for the lyric expression of inner experience, although on occasion a lyric vision might be presented within a narrative framework.32 To the realm of history belonged the transmission of external events, which were narrated according to conventions that reflect a belief in a moral universe and were intended to serve as a guide to later ages. Historiography and fiction were not sharply separated in Chinese conceptions, unlike in Western theory. Instead, historical fact and invented fiction form two ends of a spectrum, along which lie works that have common conventions of structure, rhetoric, authorial stance, character delineation, and so forth. Even the same names were used for similar literary forms in history and fiction, such as zhuan (biographical account), zhi (treatise), and ji (record), which shared conventions of writing and of commentary.33 Thus, whether or not an account was objectively “true” by Western criteria, it was expected to transmit human experience by exemplifying the workings of a moral cosmos, even if clearly fantastic elements made it necessary to interpret the story as an allegory.34 Moreover, the delineation of character emphasized an individual’s moral quality and performance of social roles, instead of idiosyncratic

personality traits.35 Character types and exemplars, formulated from the variables of morality and social status, helped to signal the didactic thrust of a story or historical account. Studies of narrative modes and techniques in Chinese literature also stress that the same story-material could be enacted in a great variety of forms, both written and oral, producing great diversity in emphasis and effect. For example, accounts related by their content may take the form of scattered entries in a chronicle, a chapter in a dynastic history, an extended and fictionally elaborated “popular history” (such as the “plainly told” [pinghua] or “extended meaning” [yanyi] types), a prosimetric “transformation text” (bianwen) or “precious scroll” (baojuan), a classical or vernacular short story, a drama (in a variety of types), a novel, and so forth. As a case study of such transformations, David Johnson has analyzed several early versions of the story of Wu Zixu (d. 484 BCE), a loyal minister in the state of Wu who became a river god after his martyrdom in the early fifth century BCE.36 The accounts differ considerably, not only in the style and difficulty of their language, but also in the number and nature of episodes included, the amount of detail given for each event, and the degree to which separate incidents are integrated into a coherent story. Although Johnson is more interested in reconstructing the evolutionary relationships between the extant early versions and their possible missing links (both oral and written), the immense variation among versions in both content and form also provides evidence that the intended audiences and their interests were highly diverse.37 The point that stories are tailored to the perceived tastes of the audience has also been made by Eugene Eoyang, particularly in connection with oral performance.38 His memorable example is a Dunhuang bianwen version of the story of Wang Zhaojun (1st c. BCE), the Han palace lady who was chosen (because of a maliciously inaccurate portrait) to be married to a Xiongnü chieftain, as an assurance of peaceful border relations. In contrast to most other renditions, the Dunhuang bianwen describes the customs of non-Chinese people in sympathetic detail, rather than merely delineating a barbarian “other” as a means of highlighting the heroine’s noble self-sacrifice out of love of China and loyalty to the emperor. Eoyang explains this adaptation as the storyteller’s way of accommodating the interests and sensitivities of his ethnically diverse audience in the cosmopolitan desert oasis.

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Narrative in Pictorial Art The preceding review suggests that the essential characteristic of narrative is that something happens. There is a story, which means that one or more events occur in a sequence of time and bring about a change in the condition of a specific character.39 In terms of visual art, narrative illustration might then be defined as a picture that relates to a story. Further distinctions and groupings can be made according to various criteria: the exact nature of the relationship between the picture and a written or oral text; the degree to which the story is overtly constructed (that is, fictional) or purports to be a simple statement of fact; the involvement of an individually identified protagonist (as opposed to some generic type or group) in the action; the social position and point of view of the narrator, whether clearly specified or merely implicit; and so forth.40 Another important characteristic of narrative illustration is its function within society, how it affects or is meant to affect the viewer. Just as verbal storytelling may serve a variety of purposes, so too may narrative illustrations be variously intended to document, profess, inform, instruct, indoctrinate, proselytize, propagandize, or amuse. These functions are not mutually exclusive but may coincide, as in illustrations that simultaneously teach and entertain the viewer. On the other hand, narrative illustrations differ from paintings that perform other functions, such as cultic icons that are intended to provide a focus for the performance of rituals and worship; portraits that commemorate or consolidate social relationships; and decorative paintings that are made to create a pleasing, impressive, or auspicious environment. For the purposes of this book I will use the term “narrative illustration” primarily to refer to pictures whose content can be related to an oral or written story in which something happens, and whose representation evokes that story to produce some kind of transformative effect on the viewer. To “illustrate a narrative” may imply as little as adding a thematically appropriate picture to embellish a self-contained story-in-words or as much as presenting the story through pictures.41 If the picture itself does not portray specific action, its identification as a narrative illustration depends on the viewer’s ability to recognize the connection to a verbal story. For example, without some familiarity with Su Shi’s account of his outing to the Red Cliff, it would be hard to recog-

Figure 2. “Su Shi’s outing to the Red Cliff.” From Shiyu huapu (Register of Painting Left Over from Poetry). 1612. Woodblock-printed book.

nize the work reproduced in Figure 2 as something more than a generic depiction of men in a boat. By contrast, a composition that conveys its story pictorially is easily recognized as a narrative illustration, even if the viewer is not familiar with the tale. Without knowing that Plate 9 is a detailed representation of the life of the Buddha, the viewer would still deduce that some story is unfolding in the eighty-odd tightly linked scenes, where certain figures reappear again and again.42 In addition to discussing pictures that accord with these criteria for narrative illustration, I will also refer to certain expository

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Figure 3. Spuriously attr. Li Gonglin. “Koreans.” From Ten Scenes of Foreigners, section 3. 18th or 19th c. Handscroll, ink on silk. H: 30 cm. Freer Gallery of Art.

Figure 4. Li Gonglin. “Filial piety in lesser officials.” From the Classic of Filial Piety, chap. 5. Late 11th c. Handscroll, ink on silk. H: 21.9 cm. Metropolitan Museum of Art.

pictures that were made to promote various ideologies or social norms without being based on specific stories with individual actors and events. Such images may fulfill many of the same functions as narrative illustrations and share many conventions of representation. For example, numerous handscrolls and albums depict various non-Chinese peoples, based on descriptive texts that catalog the purportedly exotic appearances and livelihoods of these populations (Figure 3).43 The generic “otherness” of the nonChinese peoples may be invoked visually to contrast with the “normal” appearance and customs of the Chinese. There are also many expository illustrations that are based on prescriptive texts in which action does not take place, such as the Classic of Filial Piety (Xiaojing).44 Such works teach the principles on which familial and social relationships were based, and they

were important in molding traditional values. If an illustrator portrayed a social encounter in order to convey a point of morality, the picture would be visually indistinguishable from the depiction of a story. Illustrations of the fifth chapter of the Classic of Filial Piety show a man in official garb offering a feast to his parents (Figure 4), but it is not a specific event in some particular family; rather, the scene symbolizes the hierarchical ideal of filial devotion: as the son serves his father, so the official serves his ruler. On the other hand, some prescriptive texts incorporate narrative elements in the form of parables or biographical anecdotes that clarify and substantiate points of discussion. For example, illustrations of the ninth chapter of the Ladies’ Classic of Filial Piety (Nü xiaojing) invariably depict the embedded story of Wise Lady Fan (fl. late 7th c. BCE), which was included to demonstrate an apRedrawing the Concept of Chinese Narrative Illustration  |  13

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propriate way for women to use their intelligence (Plate 1).45 Pictures that focus on these embedded stories meet my criteria for narrative illustration. In any event the similarities between narrative and expository illustrations suggest that they both are meant to affirm the sociocosmic order. The well-known handscroll in the British Museum, Admonitions of the Court Instructress (Nüshi zhen tu) attributed to Gu Kaizhi (c.344 – c.405), offers an excellent case of a work that combines narrative and nonnarrative exposition into a visually consistent whole.46 The scroll features a continuous series of nine essentially separate and self-contained illustrations of excerpts from a text by Zhang Hua (232 – 300) entitled “Admonitions of the Court Instructress” (Nüshi zhen).47 Composed in 292 to remonstrate obliquely with the domineering Empress Jia (c.257 – 300) of the Western Jin dynasty, Zhang’s admonition is couched as a lesson on ideal conduct for the ladies of the palace and presented in elegant epigrams.48 To make his cautionary advice more authoritative and compelling, Zhang begins by affirming the female role in creating social and cosmic harmony, then alludes to the admirable deeds of four palace ladies of earlier eras, who had exerted their influence in appropriate ways. Drawn from the Biographies of Exemplary Women (Lienü zhuan) by Liu Xiang (c.79 – 6 BCE), these historical examples provide irrefutable proof that the general principles are sound.49 The British Museum handscroll opens with pictures of two of these stories, while a version in the Beijing Palace Museum includes all four. In the first section of the British Museum scroll, the selfless Lady Feng confronts an escaped bear in order to protect Han emperor Yuandi (r. 49 – 33 BCE); in the following scene, the virtuous Consort Ban (Ban Jieyu) declines to ride in the imperial palanquin with Emperor Chengdi (r. 33 – 7 BCE) (Plate 2). Labeled with an appropriate excerpt from Zhang’s text, each illustration is a single scene that displays the essential figures and props, without indicating a sequence of events in the story. Visually, these narrative compositions are no different from the pictures that accompany Zhang Hua’s more general maxims on female conduct. For example, the fourth section treats the lines inscribed at right (Figure 5): People all know how to embellish their faces, But no one knows how to embellish their character.



A character that is not embellished, May be faulty in ritual and propriety. Cut it, adorn it; And you can think of becoming a sage.50

Although there is no particular story in this aphorism, the artist personifies it by showing aristocratic ladies at their toilette, as if acting out the first line of the passage. One applies cosmetics, and another has her hair combed while she watches in a mirror. Like Lady Feng and Consort Ban, these ladies are doing something mentioned in the text, but they are not specific individuals whose actions bring about changes. Most of the pictorial images that I would label as narrative illustrations, as well as many expository pictures, would have been categorized in pre-eighteenth-century histories of Chinese painting under Figures (renwu), Buddhist and Daoist Subjects (variously fo dao, dao shi, or xian fo), Ghosts and Spirits (gui shen), and Customs (fengsu).51 Some catalogs implicitly subdivide these genres into more specific types, such as Beautiful Women (shinü), Peasants (tianjia), and Barbarian Tribes (fanzu). Because the main criterion for classifying pictures is by major motif, the traditional categories also include works that do not refer to any kind of story. In a sense any purportedly objective pictorial assertion of “things that are” or “things that should be” has the same status as an illustration of a story whose resolution reaffirms the order of things. Whether depicting generic themes or particular stories, expository illustrations provide visible embodiments of core values in Chinese culture. The apparent lack of interest in discriminating between story and generality may help to explain why “narrative illustration” is not constructed as a critical category in traditional texts on Chinese pictorial art.

Three Aspects of the Visual Presentation of Narrative Leaving aside purely stylistic variations, such as in brushwork or the use of color, there are three major variables whose interaction determines the way a story is communicated in painting and related pictorial media: conceptual approach, compositional structure, and format. By conceptual approach, I mean the most general kinds of relationship between a story and its pictorial

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Figure 5. Attr. Gu Kaizhi. “Women applying make-up.” From Admonitions of the Instructress, section 4. Date uncertain. Handscroll, ink and color on silk. H: 25 cm. British Museum.

treatment; compositional structure is the term I use to indicate the spatial arrangement of the pictorial elements; and format refers to the physical surface on which the representation is made.

Conceptual Approaches Of the three elements that govern the visual representation of narrative illustration, the most elusive is the conceptual relation between the picture and an associated story. Visual images may allude to or symbolize a story by representing its main character or characters, its setting, significant props, and so forth, without suggesting any particular narrative moment. For example, Figure 2’s portrayal of men in a boat near a cliff evokes Su Shi’s entire account of his excursion to the Red Cliff with his friends, without specific reference to its many anecdotal details. Alternatively, the depiction may summarize or epitomize the story by depicting a single episode or scene that serves to recall the whole. Figure 6 shows Yang Guifei (719 – 756), the beautiful consort of the Tang emperor Minghuang (Xuanzong, r. 712 – 756), cutting off a lock of her long hair and giving it to a messenger. The image refers to a crucial event in a story about her tempestuous relationship with the emperor.52 When Yang aroused Minghuang’s anger by

misbehaving, she was banished from the palace in disgrace. Later the emperor sent an envoy to check on his former favorite, who responded by offering some of her hair as a sacrifice to be taken back to the emperor. Fearing that she was about to kill herself, the emperor pardoned her and reinstated her in the palace. The illustration of her dramatic gesture accordingly stands for the whole tortuous tale, and possibly for the entire romance, which led to national disaster. Both of these conceptual approaches visually evoke a story and its conventional interpretation without actually recounting its plot. If more than one event is represented in pictures, the scenes are likely to be highlights excerpted from the story. For example, the several different versions of the Rhapsody on the Goddess of the Luo River (Luoshen fu) present varying numbers of scenes showing the evolution of the poet’s ill-fated romance with the goddess (see Figures 9 [Beijing version] and 32 [Liaoning version]).53 The more detailed and complete the pictorial account, the closer the approach to what is often called “pictorial narration,” in which the story develops scene by scene in pictures (Plate 9).54 In practice, apart from pictorial biographies or hagiographies, Chinese paintings are rarely so detailed, and such exhaustive pictorialization perhaps is more Redrawing the Concept of Chinese Narrative Illustration  |  15

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Figure 6. Spuriously attr. Li Gonglin. “Yang Guifei cuts off a lock of her hair.” From Illustrated Stories of Rulers and Ministers of Former Ages, section 6. 17th c. Handscroll, ink on paper. H: 24.1 cm. Freer Gallery of Art.

frequent in woodblock-printed illustrated books. The conceptual approach selected for illustrating any particular subject is related to the picture’s intended function and the nature of the space in which it is to appear.

Compositional Structures The second element, compositional structure, is the aspect of illustration most often treated in scholarship on non-Chinese art, resulting in a welter of terms and subcategories. Here I use a slightly modified version of the classifications developed by Vidya Dehejia for analyzing the spatial arrangement of Indian Buddhist narrative illustrations.55 The simplest kind of picture is a monoscenic composition, which represents a single moment within one

structural frame. For example, Figure 6 shows Yang Guifei giving her severed lock of hair to the emperor’s messenger. A picture may also portray multiple moments in the story, resulting in a conflated composition if no characters are repeated within a unified pictorial space, or a synoptic one if there is repetition without an indication of temporal sequence.56 There are actually very few clear-cut examples of conflated compositions in Chinese pictorial art, because temporal discontinuities tend to be conveyed with great subtlety. In Plate 1, two events are depicted to illustrate the story of Wise Lady Fan, the exemplar of the female intelligence invoked in chapter nine of the Ladies’ Classic of Filial Piety. A consort of King Zhuang of Chu (d. 591 BCE), Lady Fan admonished the king to engage worthy men as his advisers, instead of

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Figure 7. “Paying respects to Jizha” and “Holding Zi Zhan in high esteem.” From Pictures of the Deeds of Confucius (Kongzi shiji tu). 1989. Incised limestone tablets. Temple of Confucius, Qufu, Shandong.

relying on his small-minded favorite, the chief minister Yu Qiuzi (late 7th – 6th c. BCE). Whereas she herself had unselfishly recommended the best women for the king’s harem, Lady Fan pointed out, Yu Qiuzi had promoted only his relatives and cronies, rather than men who would make Chu prosper. Chastened by her criticism, the king invited the sage Sun Shu’ao (late 7th – 6th c. BCE) to court, and Sun’s counsel subsequently enabled Chu to achieve hegemony over the other states. The right half of the illustration shows Lady Fan addressing her husband, who is surrounded by other beautiful women, presumably those she has chosen for him. At left, the carriage sent for Sun is traveling through a misty distant landscape, which doubles as a visual backdrop to the closeup scene of confrontation.

By contrast with conflated illustrations, synoptic presentations are more easily recognized because they contain multiple depictions of the same person. One type is exemplified by a section of an anonymous Ming album depicting the Life of Confucius, which unmistakably shows Confucius twice in a single scene (Plate 22).57 At right, he is seated in discussion with Duke Ling of Wei, and at left, he is returning to his ox-drawn cart to resume his search for an enlightened ruler, after becoming disgusted with the duke’s questions about military strategy. In a 1989 pictorial biography of Confucius, every frame is a synoptic composition juxtaposing several different events, all of which include his image (Figure 7). Another kind of synoptic construction tends to be used when the content of a dream or thought is portrayed in the same compoRedrawing the Concept of Chinese Narrative Illustration  |  17

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Figure 8. Li Gonglin. “Serving one’s sovereign.” From the Classic of Filial Piety, chap. 17. Late 11th c. Handscroll, ink on silk. H: 21.9 cm. Metropolitan Museum of Art.

sition with the dreamer or thinker. In this type, the mental image is bordered by a cloud billow that separates the subscene from the main part of the picture. The two moments thus may seem to coexist in different realms, rather than occupying a shared space on equal terms. For instance, to illustrate a chapter in the Classic of Filial Piety about serving one’s lord, Li Gonglin portrayed the same man sitting pensively at home in the lower part of the picture, and bowing to a seated ruler at upper left (Figure 8). Divided diagonally by a meander of thick clouds, the composition captures the idea that a superior man is diligent when he is at court,

and he thinks about how to correct his deficiencies when he is at home. More common than depictions of waking thoughts are representations of dreams, which often play an important role in fiction and drama. An early instance appears in the last illustration of Auspicious Omens for Dynastic Revival (Zhongxing ruiying tu).58 It shows Prince Kang, the future Song Gaozong (1107 – 1187; r. 1127 – 1162), dreaming that Emperor Qinzong (r. 1125 – 1126) hands him the imperial robe, and by implication, the Song throne (Plate 16). On the run from the invading Jurchen army, the future

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Figure 9. Attr. Gu Kaizhi. Detail from the Goddess of the Luo River. 12th c. Handscroll, ink and color on silk. H: 27.1 cm. Palace Museum, Beijing.

emperor lies asleep in a tent at left. A hard-edged cloud emanates rightward from his head, extending to envelop a hall in which he appears again, receiving the robe. This kind of synoptic structure became a stock device in the woodblock-printed illustrations of novels and plays of the late Ming period. Sequential compositions present multiple episodes in a linear series, whether arranged in a continuous flow or segmented into more or less distinct units, which in turn may be uniform or irregular in size.59 Successive events may be depicted one after another on a common background, repeating the figures as needed, as shown by handscrolls illustrating the Rhapsody on the Goddess of the Luo River.60 In the section reproduced here from a version in the Beijing Palace Museum (Figure 9), a stage-prop-like landscape provides a continuous setting for the multiple apparitions of the lovely goddess, who performs the various alluring actions described in the rhapsody. More typically, sequential scenes are separated to some extent. In some illustrations the individual episodes are marked off unambiguously by intervening passages of text. This approach is used in most handscrolls illustrating the Eighteen Songs of a Nomad Flute (Hujia shiba pai) (Plate 3), a suite of poems in which the poet Liu Shang (fl. 773) assumes the voice of the Eastern Han

lady Cai Yan (c.177 – c.239), also known as Lady Wenji.61 Preceded by the text of the corresponding song, each picture presents a successive stage in the twelve-year saga of her abduction and captivity by Xiongnu invaders from the North and her eventual ransom and return to China in 207 CE. In depictions of other subjects, the divisions may be more subtly conveyed by strategically placed landscape elements, architecture, furniture, or empty space. This way of structuring a long series of events is used in a mid-sixth-century illustration of the Life of the Buddha (Bensheng tu), painted in six narrow registers on the pitched ceiling of the antechamber of Dunhuang Cave 290 (Plate 9). The repetition of the segmentation device, whether it is a text or a pictorial motif, creates an overall visual consistency that reinforces the fundamental coherence of the “whole story.” One last category of compositional structure consists of large planar compositions, especially pictures painted on walls.62 A large surface permits the artist to arrange multiple episodes in a variety of ways, not just a simple linear sequence based on relative chronology. For example, episodes that occur in the same location but at different points in the story may be grouped together to create a more integrated overall visual effect. This “geographical” principle underlies a mid-twelfth-century mural of the Life of the Buddha, Redrawing the Concept of Chinese Narrative Illustration  |  19

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Figure 10. Wang Kui et al. “Birth of the Buddha.” From the Life of the Buddha. Jin dynasty, c.1167. Detail of painting on west wall of Yanshansi monastery, Fanzhi, Shanxi.

Figure 11. “Śāriputra and his magic powers.” From the Competition between Raudrāksa and Śāriputra. 10th c. Detail of painting on west wall of Cave 146 at Dunhuang.

which occupies the entire west wall of the Yanshansi monastery in Shanxi. Instead of sequential events in a series of compartments, as in Dunhuang Cave 290 (Plate 9), the composition is organized around the grand palace of the Buddha’s father, King Śudhodhana. Depicted here are several unrelated episodes that took place in or near the palace at different times in the Buddha’s life, including his mother’s sacrifice to obtain a son, and the young man’s encounter with a dead man. Because Queen Māyā was away from the palace when the Buddha was born, his birth and first bath appear in the upper left corner of the mural (Figure 10).

Another way of structuring a large rectangular composition is to cluster several events that involve the same people, as seen in illustrations of the competition between the Buddha’s disciple Śāriputra (Figure 11) and the heretic Raudrāksa.63 Most murals of the subject emphasize the theme of opposition by dividing the pictorial space laterally between the large figures of the two opponents, one dominating each half of the wall. Arranged around each protagonist, generously spaced in a harmonious layout, are the weapons or forces he conjured up in the six contests of magic power.

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Formats The third element of a narrative illustration to consider is its format, perhaps the most concrete and readily classified of the three variables. In China, narrative subjects appeared on walls, tablets, screens, scrolls, fans, albums, and books. Archaeological finds and documentary sources both suggest that up to the end of the Han period, the most important formats were the walls of buildings and tombs, screens, and tablets. Eventually these were eclipsed by the handscroll, whose virtually unlimited horizontal extension is ideally suited to depicting temporal and/or spatial progression in a clear linear sequence. Although initially used primarily for writing, the handscroll rose to prominence for painting under the Southern Dynasties (317 – 589), probably in connection with Buddhism. Artists of the Tang, Five Dynasties, and Song periods developed sophisticated ways of structuring and presenting narrative imagery in the handscroll format, some of which were perpetuated by later painters. The handscroll offers the possibility of integrating “story time” and “representation time” more perfectly than any other format. Temple walls also served as surfaces for representing religious narratives (Figures 10 – 11), continuing into modern times. From the late Tang period onward, hanging scrolls offer a related option, a means of changing the decoration on the wall and redefining the surrounding space.64 Hanging scrolls depicting secular narratives could be hung on walls or screens for temporary display for some particular occasion, or unrolled and held up by hand to show to others at a gathering. Finally, fans, albums, and books emerged in the Song period as additional formats for narrative illustration, rising to prominence and becoming more fully developed in the late Ming era. On occasion, even vessels and furnishings were decorated with narrative themes. Each kind of format presents a particular set of possibilities and limitations, which are determined by the size, shape, material properties, and general configuration of the pictorial space.65 Besides setting constraints on the production of a picture, the format also influences the work’s reception by viewers, who infer meaning and significance from the circumstances in which they encounter the image. As mentioned in the Introduction, Liscomb has identified a wide range of meanings and functions associated with depictions of the Tang poet Li Bai having his boots re-

moved by the notorious eunuch Gao Lishi (683 – 762).66 The story was illustrated in a wide range of forms from the Southern Song through Qing periods. In addition to appearing in paintings, woodblock prints, and incised stone tablets, the tale also inspired decoration on ceramics, lacquer, and jade, and even architecture. Drawing inspiration from Carlo Ginzburg’s concept of “iconic circuits” to describe the circulation of images through a variety of pictorial media and social contexts, Craig Clunas analyzes four different depictions of the same theme, Su Shi’s return to the Hanlin Academy after an audience with the Song Grand Empress Dowager Gao (1032 – 1093).67 As regent for the young Emperor Zhe­zong (1077 – 1100; r. 1085 – 1100), the empress dowager had brought Su and other members of the anti-reform faction out of exile to serve in positions at the capital. One night, when Su was the Hanlin official on night duty in the palace, she summoned him and told him that the late Emperor Shenzong (r. 1067 – 1085) had admired him but had been prevented by petty men from employing him. Upon hearing this, Su wept, and the empress dowager permitted him to sit. After giving him tea, she had her attendants escort him back to the Hanlin Academy, with golden-lotus candles to light the way. All four Ming depictions reproduced and discussed by Clunas are unsigned works, by definition not the most highly esteemed type of visual representation. Nonetheless, the considerable differences among them suggest that the illustrations were seen and used by various kinds of people in diverse contexts. Two of the works are paintings: one is a handscroll executed in calligraphic brushwork and pale colors, whose pristine condition suggests that its viewers were familiar with the conventions for handling and appreciating works of art (Figure 12);68 the other is a large and gaudily colored silk panel, suitable for creating an exotic, fauxopulent ambiance when displayed on a wall or screen. The third example is a carved lacquer panel from a table screen, an expensive luxury object that would provide a prosperous owner with an emblem of the cultural brilliance epitomized by Su. The fourth is a woodblock-printed illustration from a popular anthology containing selections by all the famous authors of earlier literature, a publication that embodies the late Ming commodification of culture for a growing market of literate urbanites. In addition to the four examples discussed by Clunas, another illustration of the episode appears in The Emperor’s Mirror, Illus-

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Figure 12. Attr. Zhang Lu. Su Shi Returns to the Hanlin Academy. 16th c. Handscroll, ink and slight color on silk. H: 28.7 cm. Sarah Cahill collection.

trated and Discussed (Figure 13). Although this compilation was initially created to instruct a young Ming emperor on his responsibilities, it also circulated as a woodblock-printed book among high officials, ostensibly to stimulate ruminations on the ideal of mutual respect between ruler and minister.69 Its illustration of the Su Shi episode differs from Clunas’s examples in ways that emphasize the Confucian propriety attributed to its intended audience, downplaying the sensuality of other versions. It portrays Su as he takes respectful leave of Grand Empress Dowager Gao and Emperor Zhezong, rather than on his return with the imperial escort, and the attendants are male courtiers instead of young women. Individual representations of Su Shi’s audience with the empress dowager were appropriate gifts for officials who had unjustly suffered career setbacks because they visually express the hope for eventual vindication or acknowledge a reinstatement al-

ready achieved. As part of a larger compendium of exemplary and cautionary illustrations, the story’s specific lesson blends with the collective symbolism of the whole. Although compositional structure, conceptual approach, and format can be discussed separately, and each encompasses a range of possibilities, it is through the interaction of these three variables that the major visual modes of Chinese narrative illustration were produced. In theory, many combinations are possible, but in practice, most narrative depictions belong to relatively few modes of presentation: monoscenic compositions that symbolize or epitomize the story in the handscroll (Figure 6), hanging scroll, and fan formats; sequential compositions that present key events from the story or narrate it pictorially in the handscroll, album, and book formats (Figure 9 and Plate 3); and planar compositions that excerpt the highlights of the story in the mural format (Figures 10 – 11).

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Some Conventions of Visual Presentation Certain visual features and technical conventions are typical of the works I characterize as narrative illustrations. As suggested previously, some of these features also are often found in paintings that are expository but not explicitly narrative, and the common elements may point to similar purposes or functions. Indeed, just as traditional Chinese fiction shares many conventions of literary presentation with historiography and was valued for transmitting experience that seemed true to life if not true to fact,70 the illustration of stories follows the pictorial conventions of paintings that purport to document people or things. Most importantly, narrative representations require actors of some sort. Many stories involve human beings, who become the focus of the illustrations. Divine, demonic, and animal charac-

ters also may be depicted. Within a composition containing more than one figure, the protagonist often is visually more prominent than other characters. This individual may appear at the center of the picture or at the convergence of lines implied by compositional elements, where he or she is likely to draw attention (Figure 12). Other characters may be gazing toward the main figure, which encourages the viewer to look in the same direction. The lead character is often rendered with greater individualizing detail or brighter colors, and sometimes is even depicted on a larger scale than others (Figures 7, 12, and Plate 6). Such differential treatment guides the viewer’s eye to the main figure within the illustration. Nonetheless, all figures usually are rendered as generic social types, rather than being strongly individuated. Their features and attributes are those appropriate to their gender and social position, which are evoked through stereotypes.71 Such eleRedrawing the Concept of Chinese Narrative Illustration  |  23

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Figure 13. “Sending off the literary official with candles” (Su Shi returns to the Hanlin Academy). From Dijian tushuo (The Emperor’s Mirror, Illustrated and Discussed), p. 209a, detail of story 81. Zhang Juzheng’s edition, 1573. Woodblock-printed book. Frame H: 20 cm.

ments as costume, posture, and associated objects are the visual elements by which a person’s social status is established, and beyond that, idiosyncratic facial features or attributes may convey some particular individual identity (for example, Su Shi’s wispy beard in Figures 12 and 13). Another characteristic of narrative illustrations is that the dynamic forces generated by interactions among figures or between

figures and objects typically stay within the compositional frame, rather than extending beyond it to engage spectators. Rarely does anyone look out of the picture, and in the exceptional case it is typically a subsidiary figure or even an animal, not a primary actor, who seems to gaze directly at the viewer (Figure 12 and Plate 22). As Wu Hung notes, the viewer is an uninvolved observer who witnesses the action represented in the picture, rather than being invited to interact with it.72 Nonetheless, an illustration that leaves something to the imagination allows the viewer to participate by “completing” it. Huang Tingjian (1045 – 1105), a poet and calligrapher in Su Shi’s circle, praised Li Gonglin for achieving this quality, which he called resonance (yun).73 Over the centuries the amount of space and degree of detail devoted to a story’s physical setting vary greatly. Particularly in early periods there may be little or no background to compete with the figures for the viewer’s attention, except for objects or settings that are instrumental to the plot.74 For example, in Han depictions of Jing Ke’s attempt to assassinate the king of Qin (Figure 14), the pillar with a dagger lodged in it refers to a crucial detail of the story; only incidentally does it also serve to articulate the space. A column with a dagger stuck into it is the emblem of the Jing Ke story, distinguishing this assassination scene from any other. In general, action is illustrated primarily by portraying its participants, without specifying a location. In later centuries, after sophisticated techniques for integrating figures into panoramic architectural and landscape settings had become well established, artists sometimes drew large figures on spare grounds in order to infuse the picture with a classical aura (Figure 6). In illustrating events happening at different places or times, the Chinese artist typically uses pictorial or compositional devices that simultaneously suggest both the different scenes of activity and their relationship to one another. When one of the actions occurs in the mental realm of dreams and thoughts, it is portrayed in the same composition with the dreamer or thinker but is set apart by a billow of clouds, sometimes emanating from the protagonist’s head (Figure 8 and Plate 16). Although the two moments coexist in the same picture, such a structure suggests that the realm of dreams and thoughts is subordinated within that of “real” life. By contrast, European and Japanese artists tended to place dream content in a separate scene following immediately after the dreamer’s appearance.75

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Figure 14. “Jing Ke tries to assassinate the King of Qin.” 2nd c. CE. Rubbing of incised stone tablet from the Left Wu Family Shrine (Offering Hall no. 2) at Wuzhaishan, Jiaxiang, Shandong.

Sequential events in a story usually are depicted one after the other, depending on the conventions of the particular format. In a handscroll, action generally develops from right to left, drawing the viewer’s eye forward through the composition in the same direction that the scroll is unrolled. Compositional movement proceeds in the opposite direction only for a good reason; perhaps because someone is returning home or parting from the protagonist (Figure 52 and Plate 15). In a hanging scroll, the order of separate scenes usually goes from top to bottom, perhaps also alternating from side to side.76 Mural compositions are more variable because there are several ways of organizing a sequence on a large surface. A wall treated as a unified background may have separate scenes arranged in a roughly circular, clockwise progression, usually with one or two that seem to be out of order (Plate 7). Alternatively, the events may be represented in the locations where they occurred, a geographical approach that does not indicate temporal order (Figure 10). Stories that involve a series of actions by one or two protagonists may be depicted by clustering vignettes around a large image of the relevant figure (Figure 11). Yet other murals are subdivided

into rectilinear compartments organized into columns and rows, but their sequencing schemes vary from one example to another. When the compartments occupy a limited area, the sequence may run horizontally and change direction in each row (Plates 8, 9). In illustrations that occupy an entire large wall, the scenes may be organized like a written text, reading from top to bottom in columns that proceed from right to left, as in the first half of the fourteenthcentury pictorial biography of Lü Dongbin in the Yonglegong Daoist temple.77 A vertically organized sequence without compartments may flow from bottom to top, as in the fifteenth-century illustrations of the life of the Buddha at the Jueyuansi monastery in Sichuan.78 The order of events is usually unambiguous in albums of multiple leaves as well as in bound books, where the format itself imposes a consistent direction of reading, sometimes reinforced by numbering schemes. Nonetheless, most formats do not prevent the viewer from perusing the separate scenes in a random order, ignoring the logic behind their layout. The major exception is the handscroll, which has to be rolled in one of two directions. Redrawing the Concept of Chinese Narrative Illustration  |  25

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Despite all these generalizations about narrative illustration, which are intended to set the stage for more detailed discussion, I do not mean to imply that Chinese narrative illustration was a monolithic and unchanging tradition. Not only are there many variations and exceptions to what I describe as usual or typical, these characteristic features themselves also emerged over a pe-

riod of centuries. Moreover, Chinese writers express conflicting ideas about the qualities that an illustration should convey, the purposes it should serve, and the esteem in which it should be held. Practices and expectations relating to the illustration of stories and texts continuously evolved, providing multiple options to artists and patrons alike by the late imperial period.

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Chapter 

T

Early Narrative Illustration and Moral Suasion

he practice of displaying pictures based on didactic narratives reflects a belief, promoted by followers of Confucius, that historical events embody moral lessons. Properly interpreted, the past could serve as a guide for the present.1 present. Just as instructive stories conveyed moral precepts more vividly than vague homilies, depictions of exemplary individuals might also impress the viewer forcefully and stimulate him or her to appropriate action. The occasional references to pictorial representations in late Zhou and Han writings imply that pictures were deemed capable of influencing people’s conduct. Of course, this effect depended on the viewer’s ability to identify the image and interpret its significance. When Confucius visited the ancestral temple of the Zhou dynasty and saw wall paintings portraying good and evil men and women of ancient times, he was inspired to think about the lessons of the past. Gazing at a depiction of the Duke of Zhou carrying young King Cheng while in audience with the Zhou officials, Confucius declared that the scene embodied the virtue that had enabled the dynasty to survive for hundreds of years.2 His well-known complaint in old age that he no longer dreamed of the Duke of Zhou3 suggests that visual representations of his role model had helped inspire him to cultivate the Way. Between 154 and 129 BCE, in the same area that Confucius had lived and taught three centuries earlier, the Han Prince of Lu, Liu Yu, built the Hall of Numinous Light (Lingguangdian) and had its walls covered with exemplary images. According to the “Rhapsody on the Hall of Numinous Light” (“Lingguangdian fu”), by the Eastern Han poet Wang Yanshou (fl. 163), the murals presented an ordered array of beings from cosmic creatures to legendary and historical figures, including paragons of both good and evil: “Worthies and fools, the failed and the accomplished; none have gone unattested. The wicked are warnings to the world; the good

are examples for posterity.”4 Apart from occasionally mentioning an attribute or detail of clothing, Wang says little about the visual appearance of the different types of figures, which he enumerates by category and position on the walls. The form of his recitation suggests an assumption that viewers would already be familiar with the various kinds of exemplars. Rather than responding just to representational details, they would bring prior knowledge to bear in identifying and reacting to individual images. Moreover, Wang implies that the mere presence of the murals created beneficial effects. In his preface to the rhapsody, he notes that of all the buildings in the Lu palace complex, only the Hall of Numinous Light had survived intact during the turbulence of the late Western Han period, a sign that its loft y contents were protected by heaven.5 More homogeneous groups of role models appeared in portraits of worthy statesmen and generals, which were displayed on the walls of palace and official buildings in the two Han capitals and in provincial centers.6 Particularly well known for such exemplary images are two memorial halls that were attached to the Han imperial palaces, the Unicorn Pavilion (Qilin’ge) in the Western Han palace at Xi’an and the Cloud Terrace (Yuntai) in the early Eastern Han palace at Luoyang.7 In the ninth-century historian Zhang Yanyuan’s pithy characterization: “All who acted with loyalty and filial piety gained a place in the Cloud Terrace, and all who were heroic and meritorious ascended the Unicorn Pavilion.”8 These Han models also provided precedents for later dynasties, as in 643, when Tang Taizong established the Reaching the Clouds Gallery (Ling yan’ge) to house the portraits of meritorious statesmen and warriors who had helped him consolidate power.9 Whether or not such a portrait fully captured a man’s likeness, it stood for his life and achievements, which contemporary viewers would know and think about as they contemplated his image. 27

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In the late Western Han period, exemplary figures also came to be depicted on the screens (pingfeng) that were placed behind the emperor’s throne to emphasize his grandeur and to articulate the space in which he received his officials. Such a screen was submitted in 16 BCE to Emperor Chengdi by Liu Xiang, who compiled the Biographies of Exemplary Women as an admonition to the emperor.10 The women’s biographies were grouped into chapters corresponding to specific feminine virtues, with a chapter reserved for women who were notorious for vice and depravity. According to his own account, Liu portrayed some of the women on a fourpanel screen, perhaps with passages of text to identify them.11 This screen or a similar one played a central role in an encounter between the emperor and the minister Ban Bo, reported in the History of Former Han (Han shu).12 The screen showed the last Shang ruler, King Zhou (c.1100 BCE), and his notorious consort, Daji, drinking at night. Scrutinizing this unbecoming spectacle, Chengdi inquired whether the king had really been as depraved as the picture suggested. Ban Bo responded that, according to the Book of Documents (Shangshu or Shujing), King Zhou had allowed himself to be influenced by a woman’s words and had fallen into a host of evil practices, the most serious of which was the one illustrated on the screen. When Chengdi asked what specific vice that was, Ban replied that it was excessive drinking, which led to debauchery and disorder. Ban concluded his lesson by reminding Chengdi that the Book of Documents and Book of Odes (Shijing) contained many cautionary tales about rulers who had proven themselves unfit to govern by giving in to such indulgence. The idea that pictures of the ancients promoted moral awareness must have been generally accepted by the Eastern Han period, because Wang Chong (27 –  c.97) argues strenuously against it in Doctrines Evaluated (Lun heng): People like to contemplate paintings because exemplary men of old are represented in the pictures. But how can seeing the faces of these men be compared with contemplating their words and deeds? Painted on the bare wall, their figures and faces are preserved in detail, but people are not inspired because they do not see the words and deeds. The writings left by the ancient sages are borne brilliantly on bamboo and silk. Why [emphasize] only paintings on walls?13

Pointing out that painted images are inherently nondiscursive, Wang asserts that written texts are far more effective for trans-

mitting the wisdom of the ancients and stimulating people to emulate lofty models. Even for informed audiences who know what they are looking at, Wang doubts that a picture can convey all that is truly significant about an exemplary individual. Although viewers will enjoy scrutinizing the details of his physical appearance, they will not be moved to emulate him. However, Wang is not oblivious to the power of visual images. Elsewhere in his text, Wang acknowledges and indeed deplores the ability of pictures to influence the viewer. In debunking the notion that the loyal martyr Wu Zixu could be responsible for tidal waves in the Wu region, Wang writes: “Popular legends, though not true, form the subjects of paintings, and by these pictures, even wise and intelligent men allow themselves to be mystified.”14 His misgivings about the insufficiency of images for inspiring moral cultivation seem justified by an incident involving the Han emperor Guangwudi (r. 25 –  57), who had a screen painted with portraits of exemplary women of antiquity placed near his throne. The screen was intended to remind the ruler of lofty morality, but his chief minister Song Hong noticed that the emperor seemed to be enjoying looking at the beautiful women. When Song tactfully pointed this out, the emperor got rid of the screen.15 Although Wang Chong’s objections to the use of pictures to promote moral development resonated with late Ming moralists,16 his views were not immediately influential, and images that referred to morally instructive subjects continued to be made as models for their viewers. Portraits of Confucius and his disciples came to be displayed in schools, such as a series painted by Cai Yong in 178 CE on the walls of the Hongdumen school, part of the Eastern Han palace in Luoyang.17 Images of exemplary women also remained popular. As described by He Yan (d. 249) in the “Rhapsody on the Palace of Luminous Prosperity” (“Jingfudian fu”), the theme was depicted on the walls of Wei Mingdi’s (r. 227 –  240) palace: Our sovereign commands the Masters of Works to have paintings    made, And ensure that the five pigments are clearly applied. They paint forms from the ancient past, To serve as warning and [ad]monition. For ladies of the pepper rooms [harem], These are examples, these are models.

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By viewing the comportment of Lady Yu, They understand how a fawning minister governs a state. After seeing how Queen Jiang removed her girdle pendants, They realize what was honored in ages past. They deem worthy the forthright words of Zhongli, Admire the self-abnegation of Lady Fan, Extol Lady Ban for declining the cart, [And] praise Mother Meng’s choice of neighborhood. [By] day viewing, [by] night perusing, How compare they with “writing on the sash”?18

Although Liu Xiang had originally compiled and illustrated the anecdotal biographies of exemplary women for the emperor, perhaps to help him choose appropriate women as consorts,19 these morally charged stories later were thought to be meant for women. Thus it was the ladies of the Wei palace who were to be guided to more principled conduct by encountering the painted images of paragons such as Consort Ban, who refused a ride in Han Chengdi’s sedan-chair in order to encourage him to keep company with worthy advisers (Plates 2, 5), or Lady Fan of Chu, who not only persuaded King Zhuang to give up hunting but also unselfishly recommended good women for the king’s harem and risked punishment in order to help him find a worthy minister (Plate 1). The use of pictures for didactic purposes may have seemed particularly appropriate for women, who were unlikely to be highly educated and might find painted images helpful for reminding them of instructive stories that they had heard. However, later commentators disagreed about the meaning of the last two lines of He Yan’s stanza. Li Shan (d. 689), whose interpretations of pre-Tang literature were memorized by the Tang educated elite along with texts themselves, took the couplet to mean: “How can viewing paintings from dawn to dusk be as good as the act of writing maxims on one’s sash?” echoing Wang Chong’s skepticism about the efficacy of visual images for moral cultivation. However, another early Tang commentator, Lü Yanji (8th c.), paraphrased the lines as: “Why bother writing on one’s sash, for these paintings provide a sufficient warning?” Their contradictory interpretations appear together in Song and later editions of the Selections of Refined Literature (Wen xuan), the anthology containing He Yan’s rhapsody.20 The association of painting with moral instruction became

ever stronger in the late Han and afterward, perhaps as an antidote to turmoil in political affairs and public life. One of the most emphatic and often-quoted affirmations of this relationship was made by Cao Zhi (192 – 232), the author of the “Rhapsody on the Goddess of the Luo River.” Cao’s comments are particularly striking because he was the son of the ruthless Cao Cao (Wei Wudi, 155 – 220), the controversial usurper of the Han throne, who was retroactively recognized as the founder of the kingdom of Wei. Cao Zhi wrote: As for looking at pictures: seeing the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors, no one would not look up in reverence; seeing the three bad last rulers [of Xia, Shang, and Zhou], no one would not be moved to sadness; seeing usurping ministers who stole the throne, no one would not gnash his teeth; seeing lofty and principled scholars, no one would not forget to eat; seeing loyal ministers dying for their principles, no one would not harden his own resolve; seeing banished ministers and persecuted sons, no one would not heave a sigh; seeing a licentious husband or jealous wife, no one would not avert his eyes; seeing a virtuous consort or an obedient empress, no one would not praise and value them. From this we may know that pictures are the means by which events are preserved to serve as models [of good] and warnings [against evil].21

Carrying this theme to its logical conclusion, the painter and critic Xie He (fl. 500) began his introduction to the Painters of Antiquity Classified and Recorded (Guhua pinlu) by claiming that all paintings are fundamentally didactic: “[As for] pictures, none does not elucidate exhortations and warnings, or show risings and fallings. A thousand years of solitudes and silences can be seen, as in a mirror, by opening a picture.”22 Nonetheless, early writers also recognized that pictorial representations were an important means of invoking supernatural beings or channeling cosmic forces, as well as influencing living viewers.23 Even Wang Chong endorsed the well-entrenched belief that paintings were effective for dealing with the spirit world: The duke of She in Chu had a penchant for dragons — on walls, panels, vases, and goblets he had pictures of dragons painted. A genuine dragon heard of it and came down. Dragons, clouds, and rain are of the same fluid, wherefore they can mutually affect each other, following their species. By making pictures, the duke of She succeeded in Early Narrative Illustration and Moral Suasion  |  29

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bringing down a real dragon. Why should it not be possible now to attract rain and clouds?24

In funerary art the purpose of images was not to provide moral instruction but to protect and support the deceased in the afterlife. Pictorial decoration on Han tombs, sarcophagi, and offering shrines was created to fulfill the deceased’s needs and assure the well-being of his or her family.25 Appropriate motifs and symbols were efficacious in the spirit world regardless of whether or not the living could see them and interpret them. Even though people viewed offering shrines when they came to the cemetery on ritual occasions, the decorations on the walls might well have been hard to see. As for pictures inside a tomb, they became completely inaccessible when it was sealed after the funeral. However, such obstacles posed no problem to the primary “audience” of cosmic forces, supernatural beings, and ancestral spirits.

Pre-Buddhist Narrative Illustration: Major Features and Examples The texts quoted above suggest that practices of using narrative pictures for moral edification became well established in China during the Han period, the same time that modified versions of Confucius’s teachings were being incorporated into state ideology. After the fall of the Han empire, the spread of Buddhism inspired important developments in the modes, techniques, and uses of narrative illustration in China, as I discuss in Chapter 3. Nonetheless, the pictorial conventions of earlier art did not disappear. In order to distinguish them from the features of Chinese narrative illustration that developed under the stimulus of Buddhism, I characterize as “pre-Buddhist” any pictures that were made before the religion became well established, as well as later ones that use the same visual conventions. The following discussion examines some extant early images in light of the textual accounts discussed above, in order to identify the characteristics of pre-Buddhist narrative illustration. Although the murals of exemplary figures in Han palace buildings described by ancient historians are long lost, they are evoked in miniature by the idealized portraits on the so-called Lelang basket (Plate 4).26 Excavated by Japanese archaeologists in 1931 from the tomb of an Eastern Han official near modern Pyong-

yang, Korea, this small box of lacquered basketry depicts ninetyfour legendary and historical rulers and exemplars of filial piety. Seated figures appear in narrow bands on the lid and on the upper part of the box, and standing figures occupy the four outside corners. Typically posed as if engaged in conversation with one another, the paragons mostly appear in profile or three-quarter perspective, with a few portrayed in an iconic frontal view. Depicted as a limited number of stock types, varying by age and amount of facial hair, most of the men are identified by inscribed name-labels. The miniature portrait gallery includes well-known figures and may reflect some larger mural version, or at least a recognized group of morally inspiring individuals. Given the limited surface on which so many figures are painted — the box is only thirty-nine centimeters long — the decoration is a technical tourde-force. The fine quality and style suggest that the basket was made in Chengdu, where private lacquer workshops imitated the products made at the Western Workshop for the Han palace.27 Closer to the scale of the long-lost didactic murals are the pictures incised on stone slabs belonging to the so-called Wu Family Shrines, three open-sided structures in a much-studied cemetery in Jiaxiang, Shandong (Figures 1, 14, 15).28 As Wu Hung points out, the slabs scenes recall Wang Yanshou’s description of the murals in the Hall of Numinous Light, which was not far away. The incised pictures in the Wu Liang shrine (Stone Chamber no. 3) suggest a coherent, Confucian iconographical program made up of several types of compositions.29 Arranged in separate compartments along the upper walls are idealized portraits of model rulers in three-quarter profile, some of them holding distinctive objects. Wu Hung suggests that these legendary emperors and ancient rulers could be depicted as timeless icons because they symbolized human excellence in a general sense.30 Following this portrait gallery come lively narrative scenes illustrating anecdotes about virtuous men, women, and children.31 Famous because of their virtuous conduct in a specific situation, these exemplary individuals are shown reenacting it, with dramatic poses or vigorous gestures that allude to the crucial events in their stories. For example, Figure 15 shows the Righteous Stepmother of Qi (Qi yi jimu), who denounced her own child in order to protect her husband’s firstborn son by another wife from being executed on charges of murder, a scene I analyze below. In both the iconic and narrative compositions, inscribed labels identify

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Figure 15. “Righteous stepmother of Qi”. Mid-2nd c. CE. Rubbing of incised stone tablet from the Wu Liang Shrine (Offering Shrine no. 3) at Wuzhaishan, Jiaxiang, Shandong. H: 158.2 cm. Princeton University Art Museum.

the people represented, and several of the scenes of virtuous conduct also bear quotations from texts attributed to Liu Xiang.32 In the lower portion of the shrine’s walls, a few larger and visually more prominent scenes without inscriptions appear to be ahistorical, emblematic representations. An “homage scene” in the middle of the center wall shows men bowing ceremoniously to the occupant of a grand building. The visual rhetoric suggests that the composition symbolizes the filial piety of the deceased’s family, who will serve him as an ancestor for all eternity.33 The Wu Liang shrine’s illustrations of stories about virtuous men and women recall the freestanding screen depicting the Biographies of Exemplary Women, which Liu Xiang presented to Han Chengdi in 16 BCE.34 Even closer to Liu’s long-lost screen in physical appearance is one that was unearthed from the tomb of Sima Jinlong (d. 484), near Datong (Plate 5).35 Painted with lac-

quer on wood, the excavated screen is decorated with illustrations from the Biographies of Exemplary Women and stories about filial sons and virtuous ministers. The scenes are arranged in four registers on both the front and back sides of the screen’s five panels. Each of the selected narratives is portrayed in a single, visually discrete illustration, which includes inscribed name-labels as well as a longer passage of text. As in the Wu Liang shrine, the compositions range from isolated figures to scenes of lively interaction among several people in a rudimentary setting. For example, the second row of the rightmost panel contains imaginary portraits of three Zhou royal consorts (Taijiang, Tairen, and Taisi), who were celebrated as model mothers of early rulers. Functionally equivalent, the three figures are virtually identical in appearance and are simply presented one after another in three-quarter profile. By contrast, the representation of virtuous Consort Ban on Early Narrative Illustration and Moral Suasion  |  31

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Figure 16. Attr. Gu Kaizhi. “Woman from Qi Shi in Lu.” From Biographies of Exemplary Women. Date uncertain. Handscroll, ink and color on silk. H: 25.8 cm. Palace Museum, Beijing.

the fourth register centers on the story of her refusal to ride in Emperor Chengdi’s litter. Standing in a dignified posture, the palace favorite resists the beseeching gaze of the emperor seated in his palanquin, a large contraption that articulates a three-dimensional space and visually dominates the scene. This illustration of the story is decidedly more prosaic than its later rendition in the British Museum’s Admonitions to the Palace Ladies (Plate 2), which depicts comical grimaces on the sedan-bearers’ faces and includes another palace lady inside the palanquin to suggest that Chengdi really was an immoral ruler. In addition to appearing on screens and walls, selected anecdotes or entire chapters from Liu Xiang’s Biographies of Exemplary Women were also illustrated in handscrolls (juan). A single handscroll probably corresponded to a chapter of Liu’s compendium, judging from the titles of works listed by Zhang Yanyuan under the names of nine artists of the late Han dynasty or the Period of Disunion (222 – 589).36 Although these recorded illustrations have not survived, their appearance may be inferred from an extant handscroll in the Beijing Palace Museum that illustrates eleven of the fifteen stories in the chapter entitled “Benevolent and Wise”

(“Ren zhi”) and bears a traditional attribution to Gu Kaizhi (Figure 16).37 The composition presents a series of large figures and is divided into separate scenes by transcriptions of Liu Xiang’s eulogistic summaries (song), which appear to the left of each scene and mark its end. In addition, name-labels identify the individuals portrayed, including husbands and the occasional child, in addition to the featured women. Most of the illustrations present the figures on a background of blank silk, providing props only when significant in the story. In the detail reproduced here, the Woman from Qi Shi in Lu is so overwhelmed by thinking about the catastrophes that were about befall the state that she has to lean against a pillar of rock. The only other scene with props depicts the chariot of a virtuous minister heard by the wife of Duke Ling of Wei while conversing with her husband, who sits in front of a three-paneled screen. Wu Hung has observed that the interactions between the women and other figures are less vividly articulated in the Beijing handscroll than on either Sima Jinlong’s screen or the Wu Liang shrine wall, a disparity that he suggests is partly due to the biographies themselves.38 The handscroll illustrates anecdotes about women who were famous for benevolence and wisdom, qualities that are inherently less dramatic than those featured in the stories depicted on the screen or the shrine. The latter come from the “Chaste and Obedient” (“Zhen shun”) and “Chaste and Righteous” (“Jie yi”) chapters, which celebrate women who went to great lengths to preserve their virtue, sometimes even disfiguring or killing themselves. However, the choice of format may also contribute to the differences in visual intensity. The larger surfaces of screen and shrine wall are appropriate for broader and more dramatic treatments because they may be viewed from some distance. By contrast, handscrolls are meant to be examined at much closer range, and their more intimate scale permits the artist to paint with greater subtlety and restraint.39

Early Handscrolls Originally introduced as a substitute for the inscribed bamboo or wooden strips that were tied together and rolled into a bundle (ce), handscrolls of silk or paper offer an unbroken horizontal surface that could readily accommodate pictures. Ban Gu records several Western Han handscrolls containing some kind of illustrative matter (tu) mounted separately from their companion texts,

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which mostly are works on military strategy, weaponry, battle array, martial arts, and yin yang lore.40 Handscrolls that juxtapose a text with a picture on the same surface began to be made in the Eastern Han period. According to Zhang Yanyuan, Han Mingdi (r. 57 – 75) ordered court scholars to compile episodes from the Confucian classics and histories for the court artists to illustrate, and this resulted in fifty handscrolls.41 Wu Hung suggests that the illustrated “omen catalogs” of this era also were made in handscroll form. Such works enabled Han scholars and courtiers to interpret heavenly signs of the emperor’s moral fitness to rule and take appropriate measures when these portents appeared.42 The ceiling of the Wu Liang shrine features heavenly omens that are similar in conception to those in the catalogs, perhaps even based on them.43 The numinous phenomena are rendered as diagrammatic images on a blank background, and each is accompanied by an explanatory text. In the handscroll format, a picture and its explanation would form a self-contained unit that could be linked in a series with several others, a configuration seen in a later omen scroll from Dunhuang, reproduced by Wu Hung.44 Didactic figural subjects also are presented in early handscrolls in compositions that are organized as a series of separate units of illustration and text. The physical appearance of such scrolls is preserved in later copies, including the Beijing Biographies of Exemplary Women discussed above (Figure 16). Although the stories selected for illustration come from the same chapter of Liu Xiang’s book, each scene is conceived separately and epitomizes a single account. Another traditional attribution to Gu Kaizhi, the Admonitions of the Court Instructress discussed in Chapter 1 (Plate 2 and Figure 5), also presents a sequence of annotated monoscenes that are conceptually isolated from one another, even though they illustrate successive passages of a single text. Despite the visual continuity implied by the continuous background of blank silk, neither scroll displays any kind of temporal development from one scene to another, nor any within a single scene.

Complex Compositions in Pre-Buddhist Illustrations The apparent preference for summing up a story in a monoscenic illustration is not limited to early handscrolls but is characteristic of Chinese pre-Buddhist illustration more generally. Early Chinese artists were able to convey even a complex historical, biographical or mythological narrative in a single, visually uni-

fied composition. A representative example is Qin Shihuangdi’s (d. 210 BCE) attempt to recover the ancient bronze tripods cast by the semilegendary Emperor Yu of Xia, which symbolize the mandate of heaven (Figure 1).45 According to the story, the vessels had sunk into the Si River when the Zhou dynasty declined, and Qin Shihuangdi tried to dredge them up. His inability to retrieve and possess these emblems of legitimate rule implied that the selfstyled First Emperor did not enjoy heaven’s sanction as the rightful successor to the Zhou, even though he wielded unprecedented power. The illustration on a slab from the Left Wu Family Shrine (Stone Chamber no. 2) shows a heavy vessel falling into the water, the rope attached to it having snapped and sent the men hoisting it tumbling backward. The illustration depicts the climactic moment of the story and symbolizes the entire account. This kind of conceptual approach, in which a single scene stands for the whole story, is typical of early narrative illustration in China. A few Han illustrations have been interpreted as conflated narratives because they include figures or objects from different points in the story or show the main characters making gestures that signify separate events in the plot. One is a scene in the Wu Liang shrine that portrays the virtuous action of the Righteous Stepmother of Qi, based on the account in the Biographies of Exemplary Women (Figure 15).46 As noted above, the Righteous Stepmother volunteered her own son to be executed on charges of murder, instead of her husband’s eldest son by another wife. The investigating official so admired her unselfish virtue that he spared both youths. The illustration shows five figures, all of them identified with inscribed labels: the dead man is lying on the ground, the official is interrogating the two half-brothers, and the mother/stepmother is pointing at her own son. In Wu Hung’s analysis, the first four belong to the moment when the official is trying to learn which of the two youths killed the man lying on the ground, while the Righteous Stepmother’s presence suggests the later moment of the story, when the official abandons his interrogation and goes to ask her which son committed the crime. However, the formal structure of the composition does not suggest this plot development and is easily read as a unified picture. Its visual coherence allows the illustration to symbolize the whole story. Another composition that has been called conflated narrative is the illustration of Jing Ke’s attempt to assassinate the king of Early Narrative Illustration and Moral Suasion  |  33

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Figure 17. “Two peaches kill three warriors.” 1st c. BCE. Detail of painting on hollow-tile lintel, Tomb no. 61 at Luoyang, Henan. H: 25 cm.

Qin, the future Qin Shihuangdi (Figure 14), which appears in two of the Wu family shrines.47 Pao-chen Chen identifies five stages of the story that are included in the picture: (1) the open box refers to the moment when Jing Ke, posing as an envoy from Yan, attempts to gain the king of Qin’s trust by showing him the severed head of General Fan, who had fled to Yan from Qin seeking refuge; (2) the torn sleeve signifies the king of Qin’s struggle with Jing Ke, after Jing’s dagger fell out of the rolled map he carried to conceal it; (3) the king’s raised sword signals his successful escape and readiness to defend himself; (4) Jing Ke’s capture by guards indicates the thwarting of his plan; and (5) Jing’s dagger impaled in a column marks the failure of his last desperate attempt to kill the king.48 Nonetheless, as Chen notes, the composition itself does not indicate the sequence of events, and none of the figures is repeated. Accordingly, the illustration can also be interpreted as a unified scene that epitomizes the entire incident by showing the moment when Jing Ke has decisively failed to assassinate the tyrant. Even though the major motifs refer to different details of the plot, their combination represents the whole. Chen also proposes that a scene painted on a lintel inside Tomb 61 at Luoyang is a Han example of “continuous” [or in my terminology, sequential] narrative (Figure 17).49 The illustration is identified as the story “Two Peaches Kill Three Warriors,” from Master Yan’s Spring and Autumn Annals (Yanzi chunqiu). In Chen’s reading, the painting depicts three sequential scenes: (1) at left, two of the three warriors are humiliating Yanzi (? –  498 BCE), the diminutive prime minister of Qi; (2) in the middle, Yanzi plots with the marquis of Qi to cause the three warriors to kill themselves; and (3) at right, the three warriors quarrel over the two peaches sent by the marquis as awards for the two bravest. The rightmost scene is the most straightforward because it contains highly specific motifs: one warrior is reaching toward a dish of round objects on the adjacent low table, and all three figures

are expressing agitation with flailing gestures and bulging eyes, which are outlined in red. The other two sections are more ambiguous because there are no identifying props or name-labels, and it is not at all certain that the short figure in each one even represents the same person, Yanzi. Indeed, other scholars suggest that the scene at left depicts a totally different story, about Confucius’s encounter with the boy-sage Xiangtuo.50 Nonetheless, even without the figures at left, those that remain might still belong to two different stages of the “Two Peaches” account; that is, minister Yanzi conspiring with the marquis, and the three warriors arguing over the peaches he sent to incite them to kill one another. This structure would be a conflated narrative because no figure is repeated, and the sequence of events is ambiguous. On the other hand, the very absence of repetition makes it equally possible to read the picture as a monoscenic composition, one that shows all the main characters in their most characteristic guise, thereby symbolizing the whole story. Eugene Yuejin Wang shows how, in the Eastern Han and Three Kingdoms periods, even the small round surfaces of mirrors could be used to represent a story, specifically the complicated saga of Wu Zixu (Figure 18).51 During the Spring and Autumn period (770 – 475 BCE), Wu Zixu was a loyal minister of King Fu Chai of Wu (d. 473 BCE). When Gou Jian (d. 465 BCE), the ruler of the rival kingdom of Yue, offered a gift of two beautiful women to Fu Chai, Wu Zixu urged his lord not to accept them. Rejecting Wu’s advice, Fu Chai ordered him to commit suicide and welcomed the women. Just as Wu feared, however, they so distracted Fu Chai from his duties that Yue succeeded in conquering his kingdom. Vindicated by this catastrophe, which proved that his death was unjust, Wu Zixu became a powerful and vengeful spirit who caused floods, unless propitiated by sacrifices. The mirror backs that refer to the story are divided into four quadrants containing the main characters: Wu Zixu, King Fu Chai of Wu, King Gou Jian of Yue with

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Figure 19. “Ape abducting a woman.” 2nd c. CE. Rubbing of reliefcarved stone coffin-panel. H: 61 cm. Sichuan Provincial Museum.

Figure 20. “Ape fighting with a swordsman.” 2nd c. CE. Rubbing of relief-carved stone coffin-panel. H: 63.5 cm. Sichuan Provincial Museum. Figure 18. “Story of Wu Zixu.” 3rd c. CE. Rubbing of bronze mirror. D: 20.7 cm. Shanghai Museum.

his minister Fan Li, and the two beauties. Eugene Wang calls this arrangement four “scenes” because the characters entered the story at different times, but the mirrors themselves do not suggest any temporal sequence.52 Accordingly, Wang concludes that the presentation is intended to symbolize the whole story, simultaneously invoking the pathos of the wronged loyal minister’s suicide, the devastating consequences of women’s interference with affairs of state, and the tragedy of dynastic collapse. Moreover, Wang suggests that late Han viewers would have interpreted these images as an admonition for their own time, seeing history as a mirror both literally and figuratively.53 To draw the appropriate conclusions, the viewer does not need to be strongly aware of the sequence of figures, but merely to recognize them. Finally, the possibility that at least one multiple-part illustration existed by the late Eastern Han is suggested by Wu Hung, who describes four different scenes relating to a story about an ape who abducted and cohabited with human females until it was

hunted down and killed by aggrieved men.54 All of Wu’s examples are pictures carved in relief on stone slabs that are found at sites in or near Chengdu, Sichuan. Made for installation in tombs, the reliefs were part of larger assemblages of imagery provided to the deceased for the afterlife. One slab shows the ape carrying a woman on its back and running toward a mountain, with two warriors in hot pursuit (Figure 19). Another depicts two men chasing an unencumbered ape, who hurries toward a building in which two women sit facing each other. A third example portrays a fight between an ape and a noble swordsman, which is being observed by an attendant and a woman seated in the mouth of a cave (Figure 20). In the fourth stone an ape writhes on the ground after being struck by the swordsman standing over him; the warrior’s demonic attendant brandishes his own sword, and the woman in the cave leans forward with arms outstretched. Wu’s characterization of the four scenes makes it almost feasible to connect them into successive stages of a single plot: the ape carries off a woman Early Narrative Illustration and Moral Suasion  |  35

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to a stronghold in the mountains, where there are other captives, but the pursuing warriors catch up with the ape and kill it. Recognizing that the four pictures were made by different artists, Wu speculates that they are based on copybooks that illustrated the tale episode by episode; in other words, a lost prototype with multiple scenes.55 His reasoning is reminiscent of Kurt Weitzmann’s argument that multiple-scene narrative cycles must have existed in Greek art of the Hellenistic period because tablets and bowls of a slightly later period were decorated with scenes clearly referring to different events in the same story.56 However, Wu also relates the four ape scenes to several different stories about ape abduction that are recorded in early literature. Thus it seems equally possible that the different pictures simply epitomized variant accounts. There is no textual evidence to affirm or deny the possibility that the four stones depict excerpts from a larger cycle. In any event, each picture itself is a single unified composition, whether it emphasizes the ape’s predations or its defeat. All these examples suggest that even for complex narratives Chinese artists and patrons found their purposes adequately served by monoscenic compositions that symbolized or epitomized the accounts portrayed. There is no unambiguous evidence in preBuddhist illustration that stories were depicted in sequential modes that visually conveyed the development of the plot. The pictures that have been proposed as examples of extended narration are at most just variations on the monoscenic mode, and their appearance is quite different from the extensive and detailed narrative cycles that emerged in China during the Period of Disunion.

tion, even when it contains figures or gestures that could be interpreted as belonging to different moments of the story. If the format offers multiple registers or compartments, as on walls and screens, the separate areas are used for depicting different stories that support a larger ideological or rhetorical program, rather than for illustrating several events in the same account. Similarly, multiple illustrations in a handscroll treat separate stories, rather than successive scenes from a single tale. Regardless of medium or format, pre-Buddhist narrative illustration encapsulates the essentials into a monoscenic tableau of the main actors and paraphernalia, often providing inscriptions to aid in their identification. Because pre-Buddhist illustrations are pictorially terse, they are intelligible only to an informed viewer who can decode visual references to elements of the plot. Accordingly, words play an important role in conveying an edifying message. Viewers may already have read or heard the story, it may be recounted while they look at the picture, or a text inscribed on it may provide the crucial information. Some surviving pictures include labels that name the individuals who are depicted, and occasionally there are longer texts that summarize the story. Such writings provide important clues for identifying and interpreting the significance of idealized or generic figures who are portrayed in isolation. Even when the scene is more detailed or idiosyncratic, and thus more likely to be recognized without a label, inscriptions serve to confirm the identification and remind the viewer of ideas associated with the story. The visual elements typical of preBuddhist illustration in the Han period could be used by later artists to invoke a “classical” alternative to the narrative strategies that emerged in the Period of Disunion.57

Conclusion To summarize the preceding discussion, what I term pre-Buddhist narrative illustration is a visually unified monoscenic composi-

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Chapter 

T

New Strategies for Narrative Illustration in the Post-Han Period

he introduction of Buddhism from India brought a wealth of ideas and cultural forms into China, including a large body of stories and new kinds of visual representation. representation.1 Although the first signs of Buddhist presence in China date to the first century BCE, many years passed before Buddhist teachings took root in this new setting.2 During the Eastern Han period, a small community of Buddhists translated Indian scriptures into Chinese in the capital at Luoyang, but the religion become widely known only after the collapse of the dynasty in the early third century. As Wu Hung has shown, the earliest Chinese images with Buddhist iconography are isolated depictions of a seated or standing man wearing a voluminous cloak that appear in funerary art.3 Incorporated into non-Buddhist iconographical programs, such motifs suggest that the Chinese initially perceived the Buddha as a Western deity who might aid in the pursuit of immortality. Buddhist elements became deeply absorbed into the content and forms of Chinese pictorial art only after the fall of the Han, when Buddhist communities became more widespread and attracted large numbers of adherents, as well as ruling-class patronage. The new religion was rich in narratives, which illuminated its core precepts and also aided in proselytizing and encouraging donations. In addition to legends about the last earthly life of the Buddha, some 547 jātaka tales recount his experiences in earlier incarnations. Stories called avadāna explain how the karma generated by actions in a person’s previous lives may affect his or her current existence. Other accounts describe the deeds of lesser beings in the Buddhist pantheon, some of them identified as folk gods who became protectors after submitting to the superior power of the Buddha. Stories and parables that help to explain doctrinal principles or demonstrate their power figure in many

sūtras, which purport to be the sermons preached by the Buddha and recorded by his followers. As Buddhism with its abundance of narratives became increasingly entrenched in post-Han China, new ways of illustrating stories also gradually emerged there. Although Chinese artists did not abandon monoscenic illustration, they began to explore modes of pictorial narration that offer possibilities for portraying multiple stages of an advancing plot in a series of related scenes. This approach to illustration is fundamentally different from simply combining a story’s personnel and characteristic motifs into a single epitomizing composition. Multiple-scene narrative illustration appeared earlier in India than in China, and its early manifestations in Chinese art suggest a creative interaction between imported ideas and established indigenous practices.4 Techniques of pictorial narration may have entered China along with the Buddhist stories, or perhaps they evolved there as an means of attracting converts, teaching the doctrine, and celebrating its power.

Narrative Illustration in Early Indian Buddhist Art In India, narrative pictures helped to decorate structures that were built at places associated with the physical relics of the Buddha.5 Pilgrims and devotees came to worship at these sites, which centered on a hemispherical stūpa mound, surrounded by railings and gates that defined the sacred precincts. These architectural elements were decorated with various kinds of imagery. Episodes from the Buddha’s previous incarnations and last earthly life had become part of the decorative program by the second century BCE, when stone panels were carved in bas relief for the railing and gates of a now-destroyed stūpa at Bhārhut. Narrative

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Figure 21. The Great Departure. 1st c. BCE. Carved stone, central section of the middle architrave on the front side of the East Gate of the Great Stūpa at Sāñchi.

scenes might also be inset on the stūpa mound itself.6 When a devotee performed ritual circumambulations, he or she would see the pictures and accumulate religious merit and blessings while processing past them. By the first century BCE, Indian artists had developed several types of compositions for depicting the jātaka stories and hagiographical accounts. One is a long and continuous composition that presents successive events in an undivided linear sequence, repeating figures and other motifs as needed. This approach is used in the illustration of “The Great Departure,” an episode from the life of the Buddha, on the middle architrave of the East Gate of the Great Stūpa at Sāñchi (Figure 21). Recounting how Prince Siddhārtha, the future Buddha, abandoned his royal palace to seek enlightenment, the story traces the prince’s journey into the wilderness and his parting from his companions. Successive scenes are carved in an undivided sequence, from left to right, across the horizontal surface of the stone beam. Although the future Buddha’s figure does not appear, his presence is clearly implied.7 First, his horse and groom are shown leaving the royal city of Kapilavāstu, accompanied by devas, and the royal parasol above the horse refers to its unseen rider. The group is repeated three times to indicate the progress of Siddhārtha’s journey. Finally the horse and groom turn back toward the city, away from the parasol and a pair of giant footprints, which also symbolize the Buddha. The riderless horse is pictured five times in all. Another way that Indian artists portrayed a sequential narrative is with a series of single-event scenes separated by frames or by zones of empty space. First seen at Bhārhut,8 the segmented sequence became common in Gandhāran depictions during the

Kushān era (50 – 320) and remained popular into the Gupta period (320 – 647). Artists often used segmented compositions to illustrate events in the life of the Buddha, particularly after he began to be represented in anthropomorphic form. The pictorial hagiographies vary in the number of scenes they include, according to the desired degree of detail and thematic emphasis. A series of panels carved in the Kushān period in the Freer Gallery of Art presents only the birth, enlightenment (defeat of Māra), first sermon, and death (Figure 22). A Gupta-period panel in the Sārnāth Archaeological Museum augments these four major events with four others that refer to his career as an itinerant preacher (Figure 23). Each scene occupies its own space and is enclosed in a frame, yet together the compositions also form a visually consistent sequence with a rhythm that links the subdivisions. This dual character serves both to underscore the succession of separate events and to suggest the unity and coherence of the Buddha’s life as a whole.

The Emergence of New Narrative Modes in Post-Han Art In China, comparable techniques of sequential narrative illustration came into use well after the Han period, as the documentary record and surviving visual evidence both suggest. The earliest extant examples belong to the later part of the Northern Wei dynasty (386 – 535), when Buddhism had become well established among the ruling elite. They include a lacquer-painted wooden coffin of c.470, excavated at Guyuan, Ningxia, whose decoration features the illustration of five stories about filial sons (Figure 24).9

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Figure 22. Two scenes from the Life of the Buddha. Left: “Birth.” Right: “Enlightenment” (defeat of Māra). Kushān period, 2nd c. Relief-carved stone panels from Gandhāra (Pakistan/Afghanistan). H: 67 cm. Freer Gallery of Art.

Although the filial-son theme suggests obvious continuities with Han funerary art, the execution displays many non-Han elements. The coffin is of a shape associated with the Xianbei people, who lived in the region at that time, and the figures portrayed on it wear Xianbei clothing. Moreover, the decoration of the scene-dividing triangles and the dark red background reflect Central Asian and Persian tastes. This cultural fusion seems unremarkable for an object made in an area far to the northwest of the metropolitan centers of the Han heartland.10 However, even in the Central Plain, foreign styles and forms were encouraged by non-Han patrons, such as the Tuoba rulers of the Northern Wei dynasty, whose ancestors came from the mountains of what is now Inner Mongolia.11 Chinese civilization and culture evolved by incorporating elements from many sources. The filial-son narratives on the Guyuan coffin are depicted in the topmost of the three registers into which the long sides are divided. The stories of Shun and Guo Ju appear on one side, and those of Cai Shun, Ding Lan, and Yin Boqi on the other. Although now severely damaged, the paintings can be easily identified from their iconographical details, and the scenes are accompanied by inscriptions that say what is happening. Each story is illustrated in several stages. The main events of the plot are laid out one after

Figure 23. Eight scenes from the Life of the Buddha. Gupta period, 5th c. Relief-carved stone panel. H: 95 cm. Sār­ nāth Archaeological Museum.

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Figure 24. “Filial Shun.” c.470. Panel from a painted lacquer coffin excavated at Guyuan, Ningxia.

another in a friezelike band of separate scenes, which are punctuated by decorative triangles and inscribed cartouches. For example, the story of filial Shun, who later became the second of the Three Sage Emperors, unfolds in seven scenes (Figure 24).12 Despite Shun’s virtue, his father, stepmother, and half-brother tried to kill him by various means. First they burned down a granary when Shun was working inside, then they covered a well into which he had descended. Shun’s dramatic escapes, his marriage to the two daughters of Sage Emperor Yao, and his reconciliation with his parents are all depicted on the coffin. Because each scene of the story is illustrated in a separate space, the figures are repeated several times. The hybrid nature of the work symbolizes the melding of Han and non-Han elements in the evolution of pictorial narrative modes. Stone sarcophagi from the vicinity of the late Northern Wei capital at Luoyang also depict stories of filial sons using techniques of pictorial narration that are not found in pre-Buddhist Chinese art. The much-studied “Nelson” sarcophagus, probably made for Lady Yuan (d. 522), is illustrated with six such stories, three on each of the long sides.13 Although the decoration appears at first glance to be a single, continuous composition of figures in landscape, the three themes on each side are separated by elongated, slant-topped rocks and identified by the name of the filial son in a cartouche at the top (Figures 25, 26). Each illustration is a synoptic composition in which the filial son appears twice, and successive events are divided by a centrally placed tree, whose trunk is divided in two.14 The landscape envelops the action in a three-dimensional setting, which seems unusually spacious because of the mountains and clouds depicted in the background.

Like the Guyuan lacquer coffin (Figure 24), the stone sarcophagus includes the story of the filial Shun, but in a more compressed form that juxtaposes two nonsequential events from the narrative (Figure 25). At left, Shun’s stepmother and half-brother hurl rocks down their well, while Shun escapes by climbing out through a neighbor’s well. To the right of the central tree, Shun stands arrayed in glory, marking his apotheosis as the second of the Three Sage Emperors. Surrounded by attendants holding a canopy and two large fans, he faces his two illustrious wives, the daughters of Yao, whose fluttering scarves suggest feminine allure. In contrast to the before-and-after presentation of the filial Shun, the story of Dong Yong is illustrated with two successive scenes (Figure 26). Dong was a humble man who went deeply into debt in order to support his father in comfort.15 Unable to repay the loan, he was about to default and be made a bondservant when a goddess appeared. She became his wife and miraculously wove enough silk to pay off his debt quickly. Upon revealing her true identity, she informed Dong that heaven had sent her to help him as a reward for his filial piety. The left side of the illustration on the sarcophagus shows Dong Yong laboring in a field while his father watches from a carriage, enjoying food and drink. To the right of the central tree, Dong pauses in his digging to marvel at the approach of the lovely goddess, whose sashes flutter as fetchingly as those of Yao’s daughters.

Varieties of Narrative Illustration in Early Buddhist Murals at Dunhuang Paintings in the Mogao caves near Dunhuang offer the largest body of early pictorial evidence for studying the impact of Bud-

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Figure 25. “Filial Shun.” 520s. Detail of incised stone sarcophagus. H: c.62.2 cm. Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art.

Figure 26. “Filial Dong Yong.” 520s. Detail of incised stone sarcophagus. H: c.62.2 cm. Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art.

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dhism on narrative illustration. Several fifth- and sixth-century caves contain murals portraying stories that had come from India and Central Asia, primarily drawn from the jātaka tales of the Buddha’s previous incarnations, stories about his last earthly life as Prince Siddhārtha, parables from various sūtras, and accounts of miscellaneous other beings.16 In addition to this profusion of new subjects that were unknown in Han art, the Dunhuang murals also display far greater variety in structural modes of illustration, some of which are clearly related to types seen in early Indian Buddhist examples. Hsio-yen Shih suggests that narrative depictions in the early caves were intended to remind the monks of “the fundamental ideal of bodhisattvahood so exemplified in Siddhārtha, and the steps necessary to spiritual advancement.”17 The very presence of these images on the walls and ceilings of a cave-chapel energize the ritual space and continually generate merit to benefit all who entered, not just the laymen, monks, and artisans responsible for excavating and decorating the grotto. Although the early narrative murals are not likely to have functioned as visual aids for religious instruction inside the caves, portable works made from similar designs could have served such a purpose. The Dunhuang narrative illustrations are conceived in a variety of ways, which range from epitomizing a story in a single picture to recounting it pictorially in a series of related consecutive scenes. Moreover, the single compositions are not necessarily monoscenic. For example, a large mural in the antechamber of Cave 254 illustrates the “Attack of Māra” (Plate 6), an episode from the life of the Buddha. Demonstrating his readiness for enlightenment, the Buddha withstands the overtures of Māra, the king of demons, remaining steadfast under the onslaught of demon soldiers and the attempted seduction by Māra’s lovely daughters.18 The late fifth-century mural depicts these various efforts in vignettes that surround a large image of the meditating Buddha, creating a synoptic narrative.19 The configuration recalls an illustration of the “Dīpankara Jātaka” on a Gandhāran stone panel of the second or third century, discussed by Dehejia.20 It shows Dīpankara, the Buddha who presided over a past epoch, as he receives offerings from the Brāhmin devotee Sumedha and predicts that Sumedha will achieve enlightenment in a future life. In both scenes, several events of the story are portrayed in an unspecified sequence, requiring an informed viewer to interpret it.

Moreover, the protagonists are depicted once and in large, iconic form: the seated Buddha in Cave 254, and the standing Dīpankara in the Gandhāran panel. By contrast, some other figures are repeated: Māra’s daughters in Cave 254 and Sumedha in different postures on the Gandhāran stone panel. The subtlety of the repetition suggests that the cumulative result of the events is more important than their temporal sequence. The illustration of the “Prince Mahāsattva (or “Starving Tigress”) Jātaka” in the same cave shows a greater emphasis on the progressive unfolding of the story (Plate 7). The painting portrays an earlier incarnation of the Buddha as a prince who gave his life to feed a starving tigress and her cubs, when he encountered them while hunting with his two brothers.21 Although represented in a single large synoptic composition, like the “Attack of Māra,” the pictorial details of the Mahāsattva tale are more clearly divided into seven phases, with multiple repetitions of key figures and motifs. Nonetheless, the successive events do not follow a simple linear progression. Instead, the scenes begin in upper center with the introduction of the prince and his two brothers and flow roughly clockwise, as the men encounter the starving tigress and Mahāsattva sacrifices himself. At left, his family mourns and gathers his remains. The sequence ends in the upper left corner, with the pagoda built in his memory. The large size and brilliant white surface of the pagoda make it visually the most prominent element in the entire composition, emphasizing the prince’s selfsacrifice for the benefit of others. In Cave 285, which is datable to the mid-sixth century, the parable of the “Conversion of 500 Robbers” forms the subject of a sequential narrative (Figure 27).22 Proceeding from left to right across the south wall, successive events in the tale are illustrated at various heights on a common background, separated by pockets of space. At far left, five figures who stand for the five hundred bandits first appear in fierce combat with the soldiers sent to subdue them; further to the right, they have been defeated, bound as captives, disrobed, and blinded. In the following scenes, still further to the right, the captured robbers call upon the Buddha for aid, and he causes the mountain peaks to emit a healing perfume that restores their eyesight. The men dash about joyfully waving their arms, then kneel before the Buddha in repentance for their former ways. At the right end of the composition, the converts are shown taking the tonsure to become Buddhist monks and appear

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Figure 27. “Conversion of 500 robbers.” Mid-6th c. Painting on south wall of Cave 285 at Dunhuang.

for the last time meditating in a bamboo grove. As Pao-chen Chen points out, an angled building divides the large composition into two visually contrasted halves.23 The left half depicts chaotic activities in close proximity on a common ground, suggesting the bandits’ agitation and suffering before their conversion. By contrast, the right side underscores the peace that comes with the Buddha’s mercy by displaying the later events in individual spacecells and the converted robbers in orderly echelons. Sequential narratives with a common baseline for a series of separate scenes also appear in early caves at Dunhuang. The linear sequence may run in a single, continuous strip or be divided among two or more registers. In Cave 428, attributed to the third quarter of the sixth century (Northern Zhou dynasty), the “Mahāsattva Jātaka” is illustrated in three horizontal bands, one on top of another (Plate 8).24 The sequence flows from right to left along the top register, from left to right in the middle register, and once more from right to left along the bottom, forming a boustrophedon. Successive episodes are laid out one by one, repeating the main characters and elements of the setting as often as necessary. Each scene depicts a single event within an irregularly shaped pocket of space, which is partially separated from the adjacent scenes by angled rows of colored triangles and, frequently, blank cartouches. Visually balancing the “Mahāsattva Jātaka” on the other side of the cave door is an illustration of the “Sudhāna (Vessantara) Jātaka,” which recounts the altruistic deeds of another previous incarnation of the Buddha.25 The composition follows exactly the same conventions of layout, except that its three registers are read in the opposite direction, so that the two structures are the mirror reverse of one another. As Hsio-yen Shih points out, the omission of the last episodes of the “Sudhāna Jātaka” not only helps to achieve this symmetry but also makes the story itself more parallel to that of Prince Mahāsattva.26 The “Life of the Buddha” painted on the ceiling of the ante-

chamber in Cave 290 (Plate 9), offers an exceptionally detailed example of sequential narrative illustration from the same period as Cave 428.27 Containing some eighty-seven separate scenes, many with blank cartouches, the hagiographical events are laid out in six horizontal registers, three on each slope of the pitched ceiling. If the six bands could be placed end to end, they would extend 27.5 meters (over 91 feet). The three strips on the eastern side are right side up for a viewer standing in the antechamber and facing east, toward the cave entrance, while those on the western side are right side up for someone facing toward the Buddha icon inside the sanctuary. The pictorial sequence starts at the right (south) end of the top register on the eastern slope, just below the ridge, and it ends on the bottom register of the western slope, at left (south) end, changing direction with each successive row. Beginning with events preceding Queen Māyā’s conception, the scenes in the first row proceed leftward (north), through Siddhārtha’s birth, his declaration of identity, first steps, and first bath. Changing direction, the story resumes on the middle register with a leftto-right presentation of numerous miracles that coincide with his birth. In the third register, the visit of the seer Asita to examine the infant and related events are laid out from right to left. To see the second half of the pictorial hagiography, the viewer must turn 180 degrees to face west and begin once more at the right (now north) end of the top register, adjacent to the ridge. Again, the second and third registers each change direction, and the account concludes at the left (south) end of the third register. From a normal standing position it is difficult to see the relatively smallscale pictures on the ceiling, which suggests that they were not intended for close scrutiny. More likely their presence fulfilled ritual or symbolic functions, as well as accruing religious merit for their donors, artists, and viewers. In the seventh-century Cave 323, large sections of the north and south walls form a continuous landscape backdrop for eight New Strategies for Post-Han Narrative Illustration  |  43

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stories from a mythologized version of the history of Buddhism in China.28 Ning Qiang has argued that the murals were created to promote the interests of the Buddhist establishment as it competed with the Daoists for imperial favor.29 In his reading, the illustrations document the legitimacy of the foreign religion in China and demonstrate its superiority over Daoism. The illustrated account begins at the left end of the north wall with Zhang Qian’s (d. 114 BCE) mission to the West in the Han period (Plate 10). Although the official history states that Zhang’s charge was to forge alliances against the Xiongnu, the annotated pictures assert that the Han emperor Wudi (r. 140 – 87 BCE) worshiped the Buddha and sent Zhang to seek Buddhist teachings.30 In the first scene, visible in Plate 10, Emperor Wudi and his attendants are worshiping two standing images of the Buddha in a grand building, which is shown in a hieratic frontal perspective. The second scene depicts Wudi bidding farewell to a kneeling Zhang, and the journey itself winds upward through the hills, toward a walled city labeled “Great State of Xia” (Da Xia guo). The accompanying cartouches explain that after Wudi defeated the Xiongnu in battle, he obtained the golden statues and set them up in the Ganquan Palace to worship as great deities. Wanting to learn what their names were, Wudi dispatched Zhang Qian to the country of Da Xia (India) in the western regions. Other stories on the north wall depict Indian and Central Asian missionaries who were active in North and South China during the Period of Disunion. The south wall illustrates tales of miracles. Some describe Buddha images that mysteriously appeared in South China during the Eastern Jin (317 – 420) regime, and others treat wondrous deeds performed by the monk Danyan for Sui emperor Wendi (r. 581 – 604), who accepted the Buddhist prohibitions and patronized eminent monks. On both walls, the events are recounted pictorially through a series of vignettes that are set in a continuous backdrop of lightly painted hills and plains. Core groups of figures appear several times, becoming progressively smaller in the scenes that are higher on the wall. Rectangular cartouches of uniform color and variable size punctuate the composition, giving prominence to the texts that explain the pictorial scenes. Some of these verbal accounts end with the word shi (time), dramatizing the narrative moment within a larger sequence of events: “This is when [X happens].”

Victor Mair has argued that the use of such narrative markers reflects Indian traditions of picture-recitation.31 Although writings about the Dunhuang caves typically discuss these and other early paintings as “Chinese” art, the religious art made at the oasis in the fourth through seventh centuries reflects the ethnic diversity of its inhabitants and visitors.32 Some elements of early Dunhuang paintings came from Indian and Central Asian traditions, and other aspects evoke Chinese practices of areas much further east. Diverse styles even coexist inside the same cave, reflecting patronage by different groups or the involvement of artists from different regions. For example, in Cave 285 the figures of Vishnu and guardians on the western wall are clearly Central Asian in physical type, costume, and coloring.33 By contrast, the “Conversion of 500 Robbers” on the south wall (Figure 27) displays Chinese styles of architecture, figures, and colors. The modes of narrative illustration seen in the Buddhist paintings of cosmopolitan Dunhuang are so much more varied than those of pre-Buddhist Chinese illustration as to demand an explanation in which Buddhism itself is an important element. The evidence of early Buddhist art in India suggests that techniques of pictorial narration were part of the cultural apparatus of the religion itself. Perhaps Indian Buddhism’s early emphasis on the gradual accumulation of good karma through meritorious deeds34 was conducive to pictorial forms that expressed a sense of progression. More complex modes of depicting narrative may also have evolved as the religion spread to groups who required more detailed explanations and extensive illustrations. Textual sources suggest that by the fifth century, Buddhist temples in south China were commissioning painters to illustrate Buddhist stories in long handscrolls.35 For areas of China other than Dunhuang, the earliest surviving examples of extended pictorial narration mostly appear on votive stone stelae, which preserve a variety of compositions from paintings or drawings in perishable media.

Narrative Illustrations on Buddhist Votive Stelae of the Period of Disunion Fifth- and sixth-century stone stelae incised with scenes from the life of the Buddha or parables from various sūtras display sev-

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Figure 28. Scenes from the Life of the Buddha. 471. Back of carved stone stele from Xingpingxian, Shaanxi. H: 87 cm.

eral strategies for illustrating successive events. On a stele dated 471 that was found near Xi’an, the pictorial hagiography follows a zigzag path from bottom to top, through six registers that are subdivided by plain vertical bands into compartments of varied widths (Figure 28).36 The narrative sequence begins at lower right, above a row of seated Buddhas, with events from the “Dīpankara Jātaka.” The scenes relating to Prince Siddhārtha’s conception,

birth, and childhood occupy the top two rows. Queen Māyā’s dream appears at the right end of the second register, portrayed by juxtaposing her sleeping chamber with a large halo that contains a bodhisattva riding on an elephant. The next scene to the left illustrates the interpretation of the queen’s dream. Sitting in the palace, the king and queen listen to the Brāhmin prognosticator, Asita, who makes an emphatic gesture. Somewhat compressed at the left end of the row is the depiction of Siddhārtha’s birth, which shows Queen Māyā grasping a branch from an unseen tree as the baby shoots forth from her side, his halo and mandorla already in place. The sequence culminates in a large and grand composition in the arched top register that combines the infant Siddhārtha’s first seven steps, his proclamation of identity, and his first bath, provided by heavenly creatures. The child’s iconlike stance on a low dais, with mandorla and halo behind him, signal his godly character. Symmetrically flanked by kneeling attendants, his large, frontal figure is framed by a semicircle of dragons overhead. Two stone stelae from Chengdu, Sichuan, present other ways of arranging sequential scenes. A stele dated 523 displays a continuous pictorial surface, not one divided into separate horizontal registers or compartments (Figure 29).37 Although the hagiographical scenes are now incomplete, because the top of the stele is missing, enough is preserved to show that the significant events are loosely arranged over the back. The scenes of conception and birth extend from right to left across the midsection of the stele, above a line of trees separating them from the processions of male and female donors and the iconic seated Buddha in the lower section. Later events in the Buddha’s life probably appeared higher up, as on the stele dated 471 (Figure 28). Another, more intact early sixth-century stele uses a visually unified setting of trees and rolling hills to organize a series of illustrations from the Lotus Sūtra, rather than the life of the Buddha (Figure 30).38 Parables that are recounted in the sūtra are portrayed in the lower half of the stele, and their flow leads the eye upward, toward the Pure Land Paradise in the upper section. One final example whose compositional structure is particularly worth noting is an Eastern Wei stele dated 543 from Henan, now preserved only in a rubbing (Figure 31).39 The surface is tightly organized into horizontal registers, which are separated

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Figure 29. Scenes from the Life of the Buddha. 523. Back of carved stone stele from Chengdu, Sichuan. H: 35.8 cm.

Figure 30. Scenes from the Lotus Sūtra. 1st half of 6th c. Lower section of back of carved stone stele from Chengdu, Sichuan. H (overall): 121 cm.

by very narrow borders and subdivided into compartments. Labeled by vertical columns of text, the sections begin with three scenes from the “Dīpankara Jātaka” and then portray excerpts from the life of the Buddha. The sequence reads from right to left in each register, starting at the top and proceeding downward. The images associated with Siddhārtha’s birth and infancy occupy three-quarters of the second row. At far right, Queen Māyā is dressed in voluminous Chinese-style robes and stands under a tree. As she grasps a branch overhead, the haloed baby emerges from under her right arm. To the left and continuing below, subsequent scenes show the infant proclaiming his identity and receiving his first bath, the seer Asita holding the baby to examine his bodily signs, and the simultaneous births of a yellow lamb and a white colt. The consistent direction of the narrative sequence, regular alternation of picture and text, and absence of architectonic elements such as those on the stele dated 471 (Figure 28) suggest that the composition could have been reproduced directly from a handscroll.40

handscroll format. In a handscroll, the combination of a restricted height with a virtually unlimited horizontal surface enables or even encourages an illustrator to organize multiple scenes into a single linear sequence. The handscroll’s long and continuous surface is thus ideal for sequential narrative illustration. However, as discussed in Chapter 2, pre-Buddhist painting in the handscroll format is both monoscenic and closely linked to text. Although several text-and-picture units based on the same book might occupy a single scroll, as in the Biographies of Exemplary Women (Figure 16) and Admonitions of the Court Instructress (Plate 2 and Figure 5), each section of the scroll has a different subject. There is no progression from one picture to another, nor any within a single scene. In other words, even though the handscroll’s horizontal extension makes it easy to portray a series of events, the pre-Buddhist approach of using text-and-picture units does not fully exploit this storytelling potential. The experience of illustrating Buddhist stories sequentially and in detail appears to have encouraged painters to explore the handscroll’s advantages for depicting temporal or spatial progression in a variety of subjects. The dramatic difference between pictorial allusion and visual explication is readily demonstrated by comparing the emblematic monoscenes of the Beijing Exemplary Women handscroll (Figure 16) with the extended pictorializations

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Figure 31. Scenes from the Life of the Buddha. 543. Rubbing of back of carved stone stele of unknown provenance.

of Cao Zhi’s Rhapsody on the Goddess of the Luo River (Figures 9, 32).41 As previously noted, the Exemplary Women scroll contains a series of single-scene illustrations of different stories from Liu Xiang’s anthology. Each anecdote is encapsulated in the portrayal of its main characters, whose identification depends on the accompanying inscriptions. The horizontal surface of the handscroll neutrally accommodates the visual enumeration of these different stories. By contrast, for the Goddess of the Luo River, the handscroll’s horizontal progression helps to portray the stage-bystage development of the story. The pictorial presentation closely adheres to the text and translates its chronological logic into a continuous linear sequence, which is subtly punctuated by elements of landscape. Successive events in the tale of the poet’s illfated romance with the lovely goddess are organized into a series

of space-cells, and the images of the two lovers and their attendants appear again and again. From the evidence of surviving copies of the Goddess of the Luo River, all of which are incomplete, Pao-chen Chen hypothesizes that the original composition portrayed imagery from the entire rhapsody, including its preface, main text, and epilogue. In the Liaoning Museum’s version (Figure 32), which Chen considers to be closest to the lost prototype, the plot is divided into five major episodes, each with two or more component events, for a total of eleven scenes.42 An opening illustration, now missing in the Liaoning version, depicts the poet on his journey home from the court and establishes the context for all that follows.43 Subsequent scenes portray his initial encounter with the beautiful goddess and their various dalliances; then their disagreement, the goddess’s New Strategies for Post-Han Narrative Illustration  |  47

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Figure 32. Attr. Gu Kaizhi. Detail from Goddess of the Luo River. 12th c. Handscroll, ink and color on silk. H: 26.3 cm. Liaoning Provincial Museum.

departure, the poet’s search for her by boat, and finally his evening meditation on love lost. Kohara has pointed out how literally the artist pictorialized rhetorical images for the goddess’s beauty, inserting the motifs of birds, dragons, chrysanthemums, pines, the sun, the moon, and lotus flowers in the same order that they occur in the text.44 As Kohara suggests, the visual representations merely translate the verbal metaphors into pictorial form and fail to convey the elusive qualities of feminine allure intended by Cao Zhi. Rather like the Admonitions scroll’s depiction of women applying makeup to illustrate the importance of internal cultivation (Figure 5), the literalness of this approach seems primitive and uncertain. Early catalogs record illustrations of the Goddess of the Luo River attributed to Sima Shao (a.k.a. Jin Mingdi, r. 323 – 326) and Gu Kaizhi, two painters active in the fourth-century southern capital at Nanjing.45 Both artists played an important role in expanding the modes of narrative illustration, and it is significant that they were involved with Buddhism. According to Zhang Yanyuan, Sima Shao’s Buddhist images were considered his best

work.46 Nonetheless, most of Sima Shao’s paintings that survived into the Tang period were illustrations of Confucian classics and other morally instructive themes, including the poem “Seventh Month” (“Qi yue”) in the “Odes of Bin” chapter of the Book of Odes.47 As for Gu Kaizhi, one of his most celebrated paintings was a mural in the Waguan temple, depicting the debate between Vimalakīrti and Mañjuśrī. Upon its completion, the mural attracted so many paying viewers that Gu was able to fulfill his pledge to contribute a fantastically large sum of money to the Buddhist monastery.48 Like Sima Shao, Gu’s reputation in later periods centered on paintings of classical or literary themes, such as the Biographies of Exemplary Women.49 These examples suggest that in the Period of Disunion, artists who interacted with the Buddhist establishment and painted Buddhist subject matter experimented with novel techniques and approaches in depicting other subjects. Early writers occasionally offer suggestive comments about such painters, besides listing their works, which included both Buddhist and non-Buddhist themes. For example, Xie He writes that early painting had been

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“summary” (lue) until the time of Wei Xie (4th c.), when it became “detailed” (jing).50 Such a distinction may refer to Wei’s use of a visually more discursive, blow-by-blow approach to illustration. Perhaps Wei’s pictorial biography of Wu Zixu, for instance, portrayed separate events in a linear sequence, an approach totally unlike the terse representations on late Han mirrors (Figure 18).51 In any event, textual references and surviving attributions support a view of the Period of Disunion as a time when new conceptual approaches and methods developed in Chinese narrative illustration. These practices did not supersede or replace the Han modes and conventions that I characterize as pre-Buddhist. Instead, old and new together offered a larger range of possibilities to the illustrator. Large numbers of handscrolls were painted during the later years of the Period of Disunion, as artists adopted the format for depicting a variety of subjects.52 Because handscrolls are small and portable, their paintings are not fixed in one place, like murals. Nor are they viewed passively, like screens, which essentially are decorated furniture.53 Instead, paintings in handscrolls require the same kind of deliberate manipulation as books, which also were scrolls in this period.54 Moreover, handscrolls can be readily circulated and collected. It seems no coincidence that handscroll painting became widespread just when the names of painters were beginning to be noted, and attributions of authorship were becom-

ing an important aspect of a work’s value.55 A seventh-century inventory of nearly three hundred scrolls that survived into the early Tang period includes only a few anonymous paintings, and most of the works are attributed to famous artists of the Period of Disunion.56 In addition, it is significant that virtually all of the painting titles refer to figural subjects, many of which appear to have been illustrations of stories.

Conclusion In the centuries following the collapse of the Han dynasty, the stimulus of Buddhism encouraged artists to diversify existing practices of narrative illustration in China and create new conceptual approaches, compositional structures, and formats. Although initially introduced and exploited in the religious context, these developments soon enriched secular practice as well. Particularly important for narrative illustration was the adoption of the handscroll as a format for painting. Not only was it well suited for visually presenting successive events in a story, the handscroll’s collectibility also contributed to the emergence of “name” masters and individual styles. Following political reunification, figure painting and narrative illustration would flourish at the highest level.

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Chapter 4

T

Institutionalizing Narrative Illustration under the Tang Dynasty

he period from the late sixth century to just after the middle of the eighth has long been considered a “golden age” of Chinese history and civilization. The reunification of the Chinese empire by the Sui and Tang dynasties enabled the diverse innovations of the Period of Disunion to come together into an integrated and coherent culture.1 Early emperors drew upon a widespread devotion to Buddhism and Daoism to unify regions that had long been ruled by separate regimes and gained the support of the religious establishment. At the same time, the imperial court and the central government consolidated statist conceptions of Confucian ideology and projected official doctrines by many means, including compilations of orthodox learning and projects involving the visual arts. Tang rulers established enduring patterns of public, official patronage that not only provided a model for later dynasties, but also served as an important foil for the literati formulation of painting as a private and subjective mode of expression. Influential critics writing in the mid-ninth century identify the outstanding artists of this golden era as masters of figure painting, an essential element of narrative illustration.2 Figural representation takes precedence over all other categories in the hierarchy of genres discussed by Tang writers. As Zhu Jingxuan (fl. 840) observes in his preface to Record of Famous Painters of the Tang Dynasty (Tangchao minghua lu): “Painters give priority to the human figure, and thereafter rank in descending order birds and beasts, landscapes, and architectural subjects.”3 Moreover, the concept of painting as an instrument of moral cultivation was so well entrenched that Zhang Yanyuan could open his monumental Record of Famous Paintings of Successive Dynasties (Lidai minghua ji, preface dated 847) by proclaiming: “Painting achieves a civilizing influence, supports human relations, penetrates divine transformations, and fathoms the dark and subtle.”4

Further on, Zhang quotes Cao Zhi’s emphatic statement about the didactic power of images and ridicules Wang Chong’s objections to using pictures to promote moral awareness.5 Concerning the exemplary statesmen and generals who were portrayed in the Unicorn Pavilion and Cloud Terrace, memorial halls in the Han palaces at Xi’an and Luoyang respectively, Zhang asserts: “Seeing the good is sufficient to warn against evil; seeing the evil is sufficient to [make people] long for wisdom.”6 By the late Tang period, when Zhu Jingxuan and Zhang Yanyuan were writing, the efficacy of figure painting in official and religious contexts had become well established through innumerable paintings produced for the court and for the great monasteries and temples. Unfortunately, most of the works that survive from the Sui-Tang period are anonymous murals in tombs and in the Dunhuang caves, and very few of the painters that Zhang and Zhu discuss are associated with extant attributions. However, one of the most prominent artists in the early Tang court was Yan Liben (d. 673), for whom later catalogs list many narrative or expository paintings on themes of an official nature. A few of these works or faithful later copies of them exist today, offering a coherent body of material for analyzing early Tang narrative representation and its uses in furthering official ideology. Another painter particularly acclaimed by Zhang Yanyuan and active in the later part of the “golden era” is Wu Daozi (c.689 – after 755), who is credited with developing the expressive potential of the brushline. Because Wu was primarily a painter of Buddhist and Daoist temple murals, genuine works from his hand did not long survive him. However, his disciples and later followers perpetuated his manner, and literary testimonials immortalized him as a genius who wielded the forces of Creation itself. I use these two artists to represent alternative modes of figure painting that evolved during the Tang and contributed to the repertoire of techniques and

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styles of narrative illustration. Moreover, in later periods, when these modes of representation became the antithesis of the private literati mode discussed in Chapter 5, their adoption signaled a painter’s intention to present his subject in a public, official “voice.”

Yan Liben and the “Objective” Mode Yan Liben came from an old, distinguished family, one with a tradition of governmental service stretching back several generations.7 His father, Yan Bi (563 – 613), was an official at the Sui court as well as a painter. Yan Liben and his older brother, Yan Lide (d. 656), were raised in the capital and learned to paint from their father. Both served in the Tang central government, rising high in the service of Tang Taizong (r. 626 – 649) and his successor Gaozong (r. 649 – 683). In 668 Yan Liben attained the position of Minister of the Right. Despite being one of the most prominent men in the central government, he was obliged to paint upon the emperor’s command, and imperial patronage probably dictated much of Yan’s artistic production throughout his career. His social and political eminence added luster to his painting, making him an influential model during and after his lifetime. In later centuries his name came to stand for a conservative mode of illustration that connoted propriety and authority, qualities that could be visually appropriated by others. The handscroll Portraits of Former Emperors (Gu diwang tu), in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, is the classic example both of Yan Liben’s own work and of official Tang documentary painting in general (Plates 11, 12).8 Even so, there is no signature or contemporary record of Yan’s authorship, which the scroll’s eleventhcentury colophons are first to assert.9 Unusually tall for a handscroll, it presents thirteen separate groups of dignified figures, mostly in three-quarter profile, one after another, on a blank silk ground.10 The emperor is the largest and grandest-looking figure in each group and has between one and eight smaller attendants, most of whom are male. The inscriptions identify rulers from the Han through Sui dynasties, although they are not placed in strict chronological order.11 The expository clarity of the array suggests that the portraits are important visual counterparts and complements to textual history. Numerous inscriptions of high officials in the Northern and Southern Song courts are still attached to

the scroll, and it was in the palace collection during the Southern Song and Yuan periods.12 A pictorial analog to the “praise and blame” (bao bian) laid upon individual emperors in the dynastic histories, the Boston portraits convey historical evaluations in the details of each figure. For example, the overbearing figure labeled as Northern Zhou emperor Wudi (r. 560 – 578) suggests a forceful ruler,13 whereas the small, apologetic figure of the last ruler of the Chen kingdom, Houzhu (r. 582 – 589), looks like just the kind of person who would lose the throne, a debacle noted by the accompanying inscription (Plate 11). More subtly, in the last two portraits of the scroll, Yan Liben distinguishes the energetic Sui Wendi, who founded the dynasty that reunified North and South for the first time in almost four hundred years, from his extravagant successor, Sui Yangdi (r. 604 – 617), whose projects galvanized an opposition that deposed his heir within months (Plate 12). Wearing an expression of shrewd intelligence, Sui Wendi projects authority through his imposing stance as well as his imperial regalia, which includes a scepter and “mortarboard” crown (mian) like that of Emperor Wudi of the Northern Zhou. By contrast, Yangdi, like the Chen emperor Houzhu, wears more modest robes and only the “lotus-petal” crown (weimao guan), and he stands with arms clasped together almost defensively, as one of his attendants sends a meaningful look out to the viewer. Although the portraits do not illustrate specific events, informed viewers are prompted to recall each emperor’s “story” simply by recognizing him, aided by the accompanying inscription and pictorial characterization. A viewer knowledgeable about history would both expect and notice visual distinctions, however subtle, so the pictures would literally enable him or her to see which rulers to take as models and which as warnings.14 Because written histories and oral teachings reinforced the visually coded judgments, the portraits of emperors of previous ages may have been especially useful for instructing a future ruler.15 Tang Taizong was unusually interested in the lessons of history and role models from the past, particularly emperors and the ministers who served them. He referred to history as a “golden mirror” (jin jing), a term that became the title of his treatise, dated 628, on basic principles of ideal rulership, which made abundant use of good and bad examples from antiquity.16 In 648, shortly before his death, Taizong presented his heir apparent with Models for Tang Narrative Illustration  |  51

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Figure 33. Attr. Yan Liben. Emperor in a Sedan Chair Receiving a Tibetan Envoy. 12th c. Handscroll, ink and color on silk. H: 38.5 cm. Palace Museum, Beijing.

an Emperor (Di fan), a more systematic reflection on the principles of successful rule, in which he again referred to historical figures as models to imitate or to avoid.17 In his postface inscription, Taizong claimed that the examples of ancient sages provided everything a ruler needed to know about the principles of stability and danger and the rise and fall of states. As the future Tang emperor Gaozong prepared to succeed to the throne, perhaps he also studied the Portraits of Former Emperors, which gave visible form to his imperial predecessors. Taizong was well aware of Han-dynasty precedents for displaying portraits of exemplars (see Chapter 2) and followed the practice himself from the earliest years of his reign. In 626 he had Yan Liben paint Eighteen Scholars of the Qin Palace (Qinfu shiba xueshi tu), a series of portraits recording the eminent men associated with him before he became emperor.18 In 643 he ordered Yan to make a set of portraits of twenty-four outstanding generals and

civil officials of his reign, called the Meritorious Officials of the Lingyan Pavilion (Lingyan’ge gong chen tu).19 The Boston handscroll Portraits of Former Emperors is completely consistent with Taizong’s efforts to record the visual appearance of exemplary figures to serve as a stimulus or admonition to viewers. As the leading artist at Taizong’s court, Yan Liben also painted works that documented or celebrated Taizong’s own reign, such as Emperor in a Sedan Chair Receiving a Tibetan Envoy (Bu nian tu), in the Beijing Palace Museum (Figure 33).20 Painted in ink and colors on silk, the short handscroll presents a group of figures in an interactive tableau referring to a specific historical event. According to the seal-script text after the painting, the subject is a meeting between Tang Taizong and the Tibetan envoy Ludongzan, who came to Chang’an in 641 to escort Princess Wencheng to Tibet to marry the ruler.21 Although the painting’s stiff execution and rather wooden expressions suggest that the extant scroll is

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actually a careful copy, the putative original seems likely to have been painted by Yan himself. The style and articulation of the figures compare closely with archaeologically recovered Tang paintings from Yan’s lifetime and shortly thereafter. Moreover, the discriminating Northern Song connoisseur Mi Fu recorded a version that he accepted as genuinely by Yan Liben.22 Like the Portraits of Former Emperors, Emperor in a Sedan Chair Receiving a Tibetan Envoy is painted in a seemingly objective, expository mode, which is well suited to making a pictorial record of an important event in Tang diplomacy. Compared with the series of imperial portraits, however, the composition of the Beijing scroll more overtly suggests a narrative situation. In the painting, two groups of figures face each other across an empty ground of blank silk. On the right, the solemn-faced emperor rides in a simple palanquin carried by the slender young women who surround him, with two enormous fans and a canopy to emphasize his importance. On the left, the brocade-clad envoy stands in an attitude of anxious supplication, wrinkling his brow and clasping his hands inside raised sleeves. He is flanked by a hearty-looking, heavily bearded Tang courtier in a red gown and a sour-faced attendant in white, both of them holding tablets before their chests and bowing slightly toward the emperor.23 The size and individuality of each figure depend directly on his or her status. The nine women are small and nearly identical to one another, while the males range from the large and memorably detailed emperor to the schematically rendered attendant. The figures are carefully outlined with brushstrokes of uniform width, with the same kind of line used for defining facial features, textile patterns, and garment folds. The clarity of the design is further enhanced by the even application of unmodulated colors. Despite its apparent detachment and objectivity, the painting is not a neutral pictorial record of a historical meeting, but an ideological statement about the relationship between the Tang empire and the peoples on its borders. According to the tenets of Confucian statecraft, a benevolent ruler in China attracts the “barbarians” of the four quarters and inspires them to adopt the superior ways of the center. The depiction of Taizong’s encounter with the envoy in Emperor in a Sedan Chair Receiving a Tibetan Envoy affirms that this ideal had been achieved under the Tang emperor’s rule. The Song and later writers who colophoned the scroll or recorded it in catalogs and other writings repeatedly praise the way

it communicated the beneficial effects of the interaction between Chinese and foreigners. In a colophon dated 1307, for example, Yao Yun (js 1268) notes approvingly that the Tibetan ruler became sinicized after marrying the princess and began wearing garments of silk, rather than felt.24 As a representation of a foreign dignitary, the painting can also be associated with Yan Liben’s generic portraits of foreigners as tributaries, which document and taxonomize the peoples who came to Taizong’s court from different regions. Zhang Yanyuan reports that Taizong ordered Yan to paint such pictures “after the realm was first pacified, and [representatives of] the various countries came to court”;25 and many examples are recorded in traditional catalogs.26 Yan’s approach to the subject is reflected in a later handscroll called Bringing Tribute (Zhigong tu), in the National Palace Museum, Taibei, which shows a number of foreigners carrying exotic offerings (Figure 34).27 About this scroll or one of the same name, Su Shi wrote a well-known poem beginning with the following lines: Taizong’s virtue caused the myriad states to come, They surged like a tidal wave engulfing rivers and streams.28

Although such expository scrolls are not narrative in the sense of portraying a specific story about particular individuals, they symbolize and celebrate the paradigm of the civilized Chinese center attracting foreign peoples from the periphery, just as Emperor in a Sedan Chair Receiving a Tibetan Envoy does. Besides visually affirming that the realm was well ordered, Emperor in a Sedan Chair Receiving a Tibetan Envoy and Yan Liben’s other representations of foreigners served to burnish the emperor’s reputation as an exemplary Confucian ruler. Tang Taizong had reason to be unusually concerned about the image he would bequeath to history.29 He had attained the throne in 626 after killing his elder brother, the heir apparent, and forcing the Emperor Gaozu, his father, to abdicate. Subsequently he had the official account of the dynasty’s founding altered to disparage his brother and enhance his own role. His search for projects that would give him the reputation of a Confucian model ruler led him to revive many Han precedents, among them the practice of displaying portraits of exemplary ministers. It was at his command that Yan Liben painted Twenty-four Meritorious Officials of the Lingyan’ge in 643, for which the emperor personally composed individual euTang Narrative Illustration  |  53

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Figure 34. Attr. Yan Liben. Detail from Bringing Tribute. 12th c. Handscroll, ink and color on silk. H: 61 cm. National Palace Museum, Taibei.

logies.30 This array of early Tang exemplars was later copied onto stone tablets and made more widely known through rubbings. Its fame was perpetuated through the ages by literary references as well as by later imitations.31 Tang Taizong’s authority over the Chinese cultural heritage is indirectly the theme of a composition long associated with Yan Liben, Xiao Yi Obtains the Lanting Manuscript by Trickery (Xiao Yi zhuan Lanting tu), which is represented by a number of versions (Figures 35, 36).32 The picture illustrates a story that explains how the emperor acquired the original manuscript of Wang Xizhi’s (307 – 365) Preface to the Gathering at the Orchid Pavilion (Lanting ji xu), a text that the Eastern Jin calligrapher had composed and written on a famous outing in the spring of 353.33 Passed down in Wang’s family for several generations, the calligraphy subsequently gained a reputation as the supreme masterpiece of informal running-script (xingshu). After obtaining the original work, Taizong had many official copies made and encouraged his cour­ tiers to adopt its style, thereby inaugurating an enduring association of Wang-style calligraphy with imperial orthodoxy.34 When Taizong died in 649, the manuscript was placed in his tomb so that he would have it for all of eternity.35 Although there are minor variations in the earliest written

accounts of the emperor’s acquisition of the renowned piece, all suggest that the imperial censor Xiao Yi used deceptive means to obtain it for Taizong.36 A cultivated southern aristocrat pretending to be a humble scholar, Xiao went to a monastery in Kuaiji (Zhejiang) to visit an elderly monk named Biancai, the suspected owner of the Orchid Pavilion Preface manuscript. As it happened, Biancai had indeed received the work from his teacher, the monk Zhiyong, a sixth-century descendant of Wang Xizhi. Because Bian­cai wished to keep the heirloom for himself rather than give it to the emperor, he pretended not to have it. In order to gain the monk’s confidence, Xiao showed him fine works of calligraphy and painting that he had borrowed from the Tang palace collection. After several days of socializing and discussing the merits of various masters, Biancai trusted Xiao enough to bring the masterpiece from its hiding place in the rafters. At an opportune moment, Xiao seized it and took it back to the palace.37 Although all the extant paintings of this incident are considerably later than Yan Liben’s lifetime, they share the same basic composition. A representative example in the Freer Gallery (Figure 35) shows the interaction between Biancai and Xiao Yi taking place at the center of the scroll, bracketed by subscenes involving their attendants. The illustration focuses on the calculated court-

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Figure 35. Attr. Yan Liben. Xiao Yi Obtains the Lanting Manuscript by Trickery. 16th c. Handscroll, ink and color on paper. H: 24.6 cm. Freer Gallery of Art.

ship by which the urbane imperial censor gains the elderly monk’s trust. Xiao Yi sits on a low stool facing his host, who is elevated on a grand yet somewhat rustic armchair made of gnarled wood and matting. Wearing a noncommittal expression and keeping his hands inside the voluminous sleeves of his plain gown, Xiao listens respectfully as Biancai pontificates, leaning forward with his hand outstretched and index finger raised. At the right side of the picture, Xiao’s attendant stands with an untied box of scrolls in one hand, while boorishly scratching his head with the other, perhaps to suggest his boredom with the rarefied conversation. At far left, behind Biancai’s chair, two servants are preparing hot refreshments on low tables. Although there is no background to the scene, an airy, three-dimensional space is implied by the angled lines of the furniture and the varied positions of the figures. In addition to numerous paintings that display exactly this composition, one slightly different configuration appears in a scroll now in the National Palace Museum, Taibei (Figure 36).38 In place of a generic scene portraying the convivial interaction with which Xiao Yi cultivated Biancai’s trust, the Taibei picture seems to show Xiao taking possession of the Orchid Pavilion Preface manuscript.39 Although the basic layout is similar to the other version, with two protagonists seated opposite one another, the Taibei composition shows subtle but important differences in their interaction. Instead of looming over Xiao Yi, Biancai’s seat

places him slightly lower than his visitor, and his open mouth and wrinkled brow convey an impression of dismay. Xiao appears to be speaking seriously to him, at the same time bending forward and holding something in his left sleeve, whose conspicuous bulge suggests a scroll underneath. Between the two men, standing further back, is a second monk, who faces the viewer with a stern expression.40 Probably the abbot of the temple, he wears a formal patchwork cloak that is considerably grander than Biancai’s simple and plain robe. The two servants preparing food and drink are similar to those in the other composition, but Xiao Yi has no attendant in this version, as it exists today.41 Unlike Portraits of Former Emperors and Emperor in a Sedan Chair Receiving a Tibetan Envoy, which Northern Song scholars discuss as plausible attributions to Yan Liben, Xiao Yi Obtains the Lanting Manuscript by Trickery began to be linked with Yan only in the Southern Song period. Although Guo Ruoxu (c.1020 – after 1075) mentions paintings of the theme, the works he saw were by the tenth-century artists Zhi Zhongyuan and Gu Deqian.42 The late Northern Song palace collection included a version by Wu Shen, an otherwise unrecorded artist who was probably active in the late Tang period.43 In John Hay’s view, these three paintings did not survive the fall of the Northern Song court but were transmitted only in anonymous copies, at least two of which subsequently acquired attributions to Yan Liben.44 The earliest Tang Narrative Illustration  |  55

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Figure 36. Attr. Yan Liben. Xiao Yi Obtains the Lanting Manuscript by Trickery. 12th c. Handscroll, ink and color on silk. H: 27.4 cm. National Palace Museum, Taibei.

connection with Yan comes from a colophon by the official and calligrapher Wu Yue (fl. mid-12th c.), written for a scroll he had purchased in Hangzhou in 1131.45 A colophon written in 1143 by Jiang Can (1085 – 1159) attributes a different scroll to Yan.46 Neither colophon has survived in its original form, but only as transcribed in texts by late twelfth-century writers such as Wu Zeng (fl. 1157) and Lou Yue (1137 – 1213; js 1163), whose critical annotations indicate that they had seen still other versions bearing Yan’s name.47 Some late critics questioned Yan’s authorship because the picture appeared to illustrate a version of the story that was written down by He Yanzhi in 714, some forty years after Yan’s death.48 Nonetheless, if He’s account was indeed based on a historical incident in the reign of Tang Taizong, then Yan could have portrayed the event, just as he depicted others to commemorate the emperor’s achievements. Another problem for some writers is that the anecdote seems to emphasize the deceptive means by which Xiao Yi obtained the Orchid Pavilion Preface manuscript for Taizong and thus to embody implicit criticism of the ruler who had encouraged such

a deed. According to this view, Taizong would not have ordered a contemptible action to be documented in painting, nor would his courtier have dared to paint it on his own. Making exactly these arguments, the eminent early Ming statesman Song Lian (1310 – 1381) discounts the attribution to Yan Liben and suggests that the illustration must postdate the reign of Taizong.49 However, the belief that imperial acquisition by trickery was ignoble may be anachronistic, a value judgment that few Tang men were likely to have made. Instead, this view belongs to those later periods in which erudite private collectors saw themselves as more suitable custodians of the cultural heritage than the emperor. Such sentiments began to be articulated in the late Northern Song period, when Mi Fu criticized the palace connoisseurs for including many forgeries in their compilation of Model Calligraphies in the Chunhua Pavilion (Chunhuage tie), half of whose examples are attributed to Wang Xizhi and his son, Wang Xianzhi (344 – 388).50 In the Song, Yuan, and Ming periods, the aesthetic values and cultural priorities of the literati increasingly diverged from those of the palace, and it became easier to imagine that an emperor might

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not fully and truly appreciate Wang Xizhi’s masterpiece. That modern writers also judge Taizong’s seizure of a cultural treasure to reflect poorly on him — Hay calls it a “sordid perpetration of a connoisseur despot”51 — suggests how thoroughly discredited the dynastic system and its premises had become by the twentieth century, in contrast to the belief in people’s rights. Nonetheless, in dynastic times it was the emperor’s prerogative — even his duty — to possess the cultural treasures of the empire, and Taizong may well have considered Xiao Yi’s stratagem an acceptable means to a legitimate end. It is at least conceivable that he wanted Yan Liben to record the event in painting, although such a commission is nowhere recorded. Whether or not Yan himself ever painted the subject, paintings of Xiao Yi Obtains the Lanting Manuscript by Trickery were associated with him from the Song period onward because they fit his artistic profile perfectly. Yan had come to epitomize a spare, documentary approach to painting, and his “skill at [portraying] the appearance of things” is emphasized in his biography in the Register of Paintings in the Xuanhe Palace (Xuanhe huapu, preface dated 1120).52 He was identified with a style of painting that relied on generously spaced and clearly articulated forms, rendered in even-width brushlines and unmodulated colors that clarified patterns and motifs. Moreover, because Yan had made pictures that documented the people and events of Tang Taizong’s reign, an attribution to Yan was reasonable for a painting that illustrated a mission undertaken on Taizong’s behalf. In later times the manner of painting associated with Yan Liben increasingly embodied visual authority, in part because of its apparent objectivity, but also because it evoked the vigorous years of the Tang dynasty. Historians portrayed Taizong’s twentyeight-year reign as a golden age of dynastic vitality and flourishing culture, a time when the empire was consolidated, sound administration was established, and outstanding scholars were encouraged.53 Yan Liben’s paintings were interpreted as authoritative pictorial records of Taizong’s sagely achievement, made all the more compelling by Yan’s own prestige as a high official. The association of his painting style with seemingly objective representations became his legacy. By imitating his method of painting with even lines and methodical color on a blank ground, later artists could claim factual truth and significance for their own subjects.54 Similarly, in calligraphy, visual authority became as-

sociated with Wang Xizhi’s style of writing because Taizong and certain later emperors ardently collected Wang’s surviving works, promoted their study by contemporary officials, and personally practiced the style.55 Yan Liben’s painting and Wang Xizhi’s calligraphy became official or classical styles because emperors endorsed them. Both came to represent conservative standards, which could be useful for strengthening claims to authority.

Wu Daozi and the “Expressionist” Mode In the eighth century, Wu Daozi developed a more dynamic and visually expressive alternative to the expository technique associated with Yan Liben. Unlike Yan, Wu came from an obscure background and was not a high-ranking scholar-official.56 Although he studied calligraphy and held appointments at court, enjoying the patronage of Emperor Minghuang, Wu was primarily a painter of Buddhist and Daoist temple murals in the two Tang capitals, Chang’an and Luoyang. His reputation was based entirely on his obvious talent and prodigious accomplishments in painting. Many writers described Wu as a genius. Zhu Jingxuan writes: “His heaven-conferred nature was such that he exhausted the wonders of painting before he had reached the age to be capped.”57 Late Northern Song connoisseurs rhapsodized in a similar vein: “Even before he was capped, he was profound in creating marvels, as if he intuited them within his very nature. This was not something that could be achieved by an accumulation of study.”58 Because Wu Daozi created most of his paintings on the walls of wooden temple buildings, his oeuvre was largely destroyed within a couple of centuries. According to Mi Fu, only four of the many paintings circulating under Wu’s name in the late Northern Song period were genuine.59 Some fifty paintings are credited to Wu in the Register of Paintings in the Xuanhe Palace, some of which probably preserved the iconography and style of his temple murals.60 In addition, even if his original works did not survive, he had many followers, and his influence was visible in Buddhist and Daoist mural painting long after his lifetime. Literary descriptions suggest that Wu Daozi’s working methods and general approach differed from the conventions of his day.61 Unlike other muralists, who used preliminary sketches and transferred designs from cartoons, Wu painted directly on Tang Narrative Illustration  |  57

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prepared wall surfaces. A famous anecdote reported by Zhu Jing­ xuan contrasts Wu’s approach with that of Li Sixun (d. 718), a master of the meticulous blue-and-green style. During the Tianbao era (742 – 755), Emperor Minghuang ordered Wu and Li to study the scenery along the upper Jialing River in Sichuan, then recreate it in a mural for the Tang palace. While the methodical Li took three months to complete his painting, Wu Daozi dashed his off in just one day.62 This story cannot be true in a literal sense, because Li Sixun died long before the Tianbao era. However, it vividly makes the point that Wu’s spontaneous execution of a large mural was a striking departure from standard practice. Various writers also comment on Wu’s technique of creating forms with disconnected dots and lines of varied width, rather than completely outlining them with even, continuous strokes. As Zhang Yanyuan writes: “Wu may well be known as the Sage of Painting. His spirit borrowed from the creative powers of Heaven, and so his noble genius was inexhaustible. While all others took pains to join the ends [of strokes], he for his part broke up and left spaces between his dots and strokes.”63 Sometimes Wu deemed his wall paintings to be complete in ink alone; other times, he had his assistants add colors. His innovative technique and a broad repertoire of strokes enabled him to achieve striking expressive effects just using ink. The dynamic visual effects produced by Wu’s swirling brush are reflected in the image of a wind god, Spirit of Mt. Heng (Guibo tu), traditionally attributed to Wu and incised on a panel at a Daoist temple in Quyang, Hebei (Figure 37). Even in a rubbing, the flaring lines and broken contours convey a sense of volume and movement. Bending forward into the wind, the demonic figure churns with the frenetic energy generated by the taut curves that compose his bulging muscles, swirling garments, and streaming hair. For conveying such qualities as speed, force, emotion, drama, or violence, this kind of expressive brushwork is more effective than the evenline technique, making it an important addition to an illustrator’s repertoire. Indeed, Wu Daozi’s depictions of the torments of Hell vividly impressed viewers: “When Master Wu painted a hell cycle in this temple [the Jingyunsi], it often happened that butchers and fishmongers in the capital were terrified for their sins upon seeing it and changed their trades, leading all to cultivate goodness.”64 Despite the destruction of Wu’s temple murals and the early disappearance of all the paintings directly from his hand, his

Figure 37. After Wu Daozi. Spirit of Mt. Heng. 16th – 17th c. Rubbing of incised stone tablet. H: 97.5 cm. Temple to the Northern Peak, Quyang, Hebei.

manner was perpetuated by many followers and artistic heirs, not only in large-scale murals but also in more intimate formats. It became conventional to use flaring lines and broken contours to communicate emotion, power, or simply movement. Because these qualities are particularly appropriate for certain kinds of figures, Wu’s pulsating broken-line manner became the norm for depicting types such as warriors, brigands, and demons. When scaled down from a large wall to small handscroll, the technique could easily seem melodramatic, as Mi Fu scathingly observed of the figures depicted in handscrolls by Wu Zongyuan, a Northern Song follower: In Master Wu [Daozi]’s painting(s), the hands were all different, but not because he made a deliberate point of this. Each one held an individual object, hence the principle was naturally dissimilar. Zongyuan, however, made over twenty figures in The Heavenly Kings Crossing the Sea, who were all raising their hands aloft, and it seemed as if every hand was made in a distinct fashion. On unrolling it, one burst into involuntary laughter: it was as if a troupe of demons and deities were playing a gesturing game.65

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From the middle of the Tang period onward, the manners of Yan Liben and Wu Daozi represent two major formal alternatives available to illustrators. Later painters such as Zhang Xuan (fl. c.712 – 742), Zhou Fang (c.730 – c.800), Han Gan (c.720 – c.780), Sun Wei (9th c.), and Gu Hongzhong (fl. mid-10th c.) all worked in some variation on even-width brushwork and flat color. Although their attributed paintings often include more background scenery and descriptive detail than do works attributed to Yan Liben himself, when the figural subject appears on a blank ground, it readily evokes the authoritative objectivity of his classical approach. Wu Daozi’s achievements in ink monochrome, on the other hand, stimulated greater appreciation for the representational and expressive potential of unadorned line, setting the stage for various outline (baimiao) styles to emerge in the Song period. The new legitimacy of paintings done solely in ink may also have helped to create a taste for woodblock-printed pictures.

Conclusion After the reunification of the empire, artists in the early Tang court evolved a mode of handscroll illustration that signified moral or historical truth and authority. Later identified particularly with Yan Liben’s paintings for Tang Taizong, this seemingly objective mode conveyed an assertive imperial-Confucian ideology in the guise of naturalism. After the Tang, the authority associated with this manner remained available for others to invoke and wield for their own purposes. The more dynamic figure-painting techniques of Wu Daozi, on the other hand, were particularly effective for conveying movement and emotion. Although identified most strongly with religious painting, particularly temple murals, Wu’s method of using disconnected dots and lines of varied width increased the expressive potential of the brushstroke itself. This greater affinity with calligraphy was explored and developed in ink-monochrome paintings by later literati artists such as Li Gonglin, discussed in the next chapter.

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Chapter 

B

Turning Points and Competing Values

ecause stories require protagonists, changes in the cultural prestige of figural representation directly affected the status of narrative illustration. Traditional and modern accounts, both Chinese and foreign, agree that the Tang dynasty marked the zenith of figure painting.1 Zhu Jingxuan states that Tang painters gave priority to the human figure, and many tomb paintings of the period support his assertion.2 Figural subjects also dominate Zhang Yanyuan’s inventory of temple murals and portable works, as well as the lists of paintings under the names of individual artists.3 Through the Tang period, not only did eminent masters engage in figure painting, but also the critics expressed esteem for an artist’s ability to depict content and convey meaning in novel or insightful ways. In the tenth and eleventh centuries, however, the genres of landscape painting and nature studies evolved rapidly and gained prominence in critical writings, while excellence in figure painting was increasingly associated with a bygone era. By the 1080s, when Guo Ruoxu wrote an essay systematically comparing the painting of past and present, the shift in emphasis had become obvious: “If one is speaking of Buddhist and Daoist images, [other] figures, beautiful women, and oxen and horses, then the present does not come up to the past. If one is speaking of landscape, forests and rocks, flowers and bamboo, or birds and fish, then the past does not come up to the present.”4 Commenting further on the comparison, Guo praised the particular strengths of many ancient masters of figural representation, whom he identified by name: the Southern Dynasties painters Gu Kaizhi, Lu Tanwei (fl. c.460 – early 6th c.), and Zhang Sengyou (fl. c.500 – 550); and the Tang artists Wu Daozi, Yan Liben, Yan Lide, Zhang Xuan, Zhou Fang, Han Gan, and Dai Song (8th c.). However, Guo felt it unnecessary to mention the names of any recent practitioners of figure painting, in contrast to his individual at-

tention to ancient masters: “Of the later people who study them, none in the end can reach their level; therefore it is said that the present does not come up to the past.”5 In another of his essays Guo wrote admiringly of the way that figure painting had been used for didactic and civilizing purposes in earlier times: When men of old had to depict the images of sages and worthies and the events of antiquity, sucking their brushes and commanding silk, they painted pictures to illuminate [the way of] making order out of chaos by pointing to a mirror of the wise and the stupid. Hence, the Lu palace [the Lingguangdian] recorded the circumstances of prosperity and decline, and the Unicorn Pavilion [of the Western Han palace] assembled the ministers of meritorious achievements. Traces [that had been] obscured for ages appeared in inexhaustible illumination.6

After making these general observations, Guo mentioned several instances in which paintings had aided a discussion of morality and propriety or had stimulated their viewers to advance in moral awareness and cultural sophistication. Drawn from the Han and Tang periods, his examples include the well-known anecdotes about the Han minister Ban Bo using a painted screen to caution Emperor Chengdi against depravity, and Virtuous Consort Ban referring to images of bad rulers to remonstrate with the same emperor (see Chapter 2). Others involve occasions on which officials had commissioned pictures to assist in bringing culture to people in peripheral regions. Guo’s most recent case was from 828, when the Tang emperor Wenzong (r. 826 – 840) selected stories about rulers and ministers from the Book of Documents (Shujing) and had them painted on the walls of the Great Liquid Pavilion (Taiyeting) so that he could contemplate them day and night.7 In conclusion, Guo reaffirmed that painting has its own special efficacy and conveys something that literature and callig-

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raphy cannot, echoing an earlier and more detailed discussion by Zhang Yanyuan.8 It is significant that Guo Ruoxu’s essay named morally suasive paintings only from much earlier periods and made no reference to a major production of his own era, the Illustrated Instructive Mirror of the Three Courts (Sanchao xunjian tu).9 Created in 1048 for Song emperor Renzong (1010 – 1063; r. 1022 – 1063), this work documented and illustrated one hundred instances of “flourishing virtue” (sheng de) during the first three Song reigns. Moreover, the emperor had ordered woodblock-printed copies to be made and distributed to high officials and imperial clansmen. Although Guo Ruoxu had personal knowledge of this grand imperial undertaking, he relegated it to a brief entry in another section of his book, rather than giving it prominence in the introductory essay.10 Why did Guo omit this and other court illustration projects from his discussion of the efficacy of pictures? Did he believe that depictions of an instructive subject were no longer capable of promoting moral cultivation? Or was he unwilling to allow works that were clearly utilitarian to represent the pictorial art of his own time? In either case — and they are not mutually exclusive  — Guo’s omission suggests that something had changed. A major transformation of critical values was under way in the late Northern Song period, and it was causing the prestige of figure painting and narrative illustration to decline.

The Rise of Literati Painting The formulation of literati painting theory in the Northern Song period, and its further articulation during the Yuan, had a profound effect on critical evaluations of painters and paintings.11 In the late eleventh century, Su Shi and his circle advocated new criteria that eventually came to dominate the later critical discourse of painting. Although Song literati continued to emphasize “animation through spirit consonance” (qiyun shengdong), the first of Xie He’s Six Principles (liu fa),12 they fundamentally reinterpreted the concept. In contrast to earlier critics, who had identified spirit consonance as the most important element of a good painting, eleventh-century critics sought this elusive quality in the painter himself. As Guo Ruoxu explained, spirit consonance had to be inborn, whereas the five other essential elements of painting outlined by Xie He were skills that could be learned.13 In evalu-

ating a painting, viewers who were attuned to the subtleties of brushwork could perceive the painter’s character by examining the traces of his brush. Just as in the connoisseurship of calligraphy, the idea that the brushline revealed the artist’s inner qualities made his identity relevant for appraising his work. Accordingly, critics shifted their attention from the subject represented to the painter who produced it, interpreting visual features as expressions of his inner being. As the discourse of painting connoisseurship evolved, an artist’s characteristic brushwork, motifs, and compositions became indexical signs that informed viewers could recognize and that other painters could deploy. Indeed, late seventeenth-century “orthodox” painting would be constructed almost entirely from visual allusions to esteemed earlier artists, who were reduced to schematic formulas that were readily quoted and easily identified.14 Paintings that embodied literati values were not readily appreciated by viewers without advanced education and special instruction in the principles of connoisseurship or entrée to the artist’s social milieu. A typical pronouncement by the Yuan critic Tang Hou suggests how elitist and nonintuitive the new priorities were: People of today, when they look at old paintings, are certain to seek first the formal likeness, next the application of colors, and then the story content. This is definitely not the method of connoisseurship. . . . As to how to observe the wonders of painting, first observe the spirit consonance; next the brush conception, formal structure, placement, and coloring; and lastly the formal likeness. These are the “Six Principles.”15

Literati critics favored a conception of painting that turned it into a medium for the artist’s self-expression and personal communication, much like poetry, which had long served as the outlet for private feeling.16 Although Su Shi greatly admired Wu Daozi and praised him in various poems, he compared Wu unfavorably with the poet-painter Wang Wei (699 – 759), whom he took as a role model: “Though Master Wu Daozi was supreme in art, he can only be regarded as an artisan-painter.”17 What Su and his colleagues esteemed most were paintings that embodied the inner personality and ideas of a cultivated scholarartist, not representations of an objective subject, no matter how masterly. This shift devalued narrative illustrations, which usuTurning Points and Competing Values  |  61

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ally treated subjects external to the artist. Only in exceptional cases might a painter make a story into a vehicle for his own ideas, and even then, conventional expectations restricted his latitude. Particularly with topics that referred to an earlier era, the artist had to meet demands for accuracy in portraying period details, such as styles of clothing, accessories, conveyances, and customs. Thus Guo Ruoxu faulted even the great Yan Liben for depicting a Han woman wearing a type of headdress not seen until the SuiTang period.18 Finally, the literati ideal of painting as a vehicle for self-expression implied that, in theory at least, scholar-artists were selfdirected amateurs who painted what and when they pleased, free of the conditions or expectations that a patron might impose. Even if this premise were often a polite fiction, any evidence of a commission or practical benefit to the artist had to be well hidden among the protocols of reciprocal gift-giving and sociability, rather than openly acknowledged. By contrast, commissions of narrative illustration typically served some overtly pragmatic function, such as to promote morality or political solidarity. In general, the illustrator’s charge did not encourage him to adopt an idiosyncratic style or unusual approach, because the tried and true exerted the greatest visual authority. It is therefore not surprising that later illustrators continued to favor Tang conventions and used cartoons and sketch copies to replicate established designs and adapt them to new purposes.19 The pace of change was deliberately slow. Under these circumstances, narrative illustration receded from the oeuvres of the most celebrated painters; that is, the artists who were championed by writers and critics advocating literati values. By the late Northern Song, the influential Mi Fu declared, “People nowadays absolutely do not paint gushi (stories).”20 He seems to have meant that illustration was no longer a worthy undertaking for a lofty artist. In the following sentence Mi acknowledged that some Song painters did depict stories, but suggests that their efforts were laughable. He concludes this discussion by asserting that the last decent work in the genre had been done by artists in the mid-tenth-century kingdom of Shu, who preserved the lingering spirit of the Jin and Tang periods. Even though Mi agreed that pictures by the ancients all had embodied exhortations or warnings, he believed that contemporary illustrations tended to emphasize extravagance and splendor, “merely moving men to think of luxury.”21 Nonetheless, in spite of critical disregard or

even disdain, illustrative works continued to be made in abundance and for a variety of purposes, both during and after the Song dynasty. With very few exceptions, the artists who made them labored in obscurity.

The Anomaly of Li Gonglin The late Northern Song artist Li Gonglin is the one master of narrative illustration who did enjoy critical esteem (although not from Mi Fu).22 Li became famous because he was a scholar, official, and member of Su Shi’s circle, as well as a consummate practitioner of figure painting and narrative illustration. In fact, some of his apologists implied that his painterly skills were the proper concern of artisans. Nonetheless, Li’s particular combination of social position, abilities, and interests led him to expand the technical means and expressive possibilities of narrative illustration in two major ways. His works display the development of more sophisticated kinds of relationship between pictures and text, as well as new ways to infuse personal elements into depictions of seemingly objective subject matter. The son of an official and member of a family with aristocratic antecedents, Li Gonglin passed the jinshi examination in 1070, qualifying him for appointment to office. However, he did not immediately enter governmental service, but spent several years in the Longmian mountains near Shucheng (modern Anhui). There he developed an elegant estate modeled on the Wangchuan Villa of Wang Wei, the Tang poet-painter so greatly admired by Northern Song literati. After Li embarked upon an official career in 1079, he established close relationships with Su Shi and several members of his coterie, including Huang Tingjian (1045 – 1105; js 1067), Qin Guan (1049 – 1100; js 1085), Zhang Lei (1054 – 1114; js 1085), Chao Buzhi (1053 – 1110; js 1079), Wang Shen (c.1048 – c.1103), and Su Che (1039 – 1112; js 1057). Li’s ties with them deepened in the Yuanyou period (1086 – 1094), when they all held office or lived in the capital at Kaifeng and were able to interact frequently. Li produced many paintings for these colleagues and friends, sometimes at their request and with their participation. As Robert Harrist has characterized it, Li’s practice did much to develop “the painting of private life.”23 Because of Li’s scholarly and official credentials and his prestigious connections, he has always been counted among the elite

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Figure 38. Li Gonglin. “Brocade-shouldered piebald.” From Five Tribute Horses, section 2. c.1090. Handscroll, ink on paper. Whereabouts unknown.

literati artists. However, he does not entirely fit the stereotype of a scholar-amateur who painted for his own amusement. One discrepancy is the very prominence of figure painting in Li’s oeuvre. Indeed, his biography appears in the “Figure Painters” section of the Register of Paintings in the Xuanhe Palace, the official catalog of artists and paintings in the late Northern Song palace.24 Appended to Li’s biography is a list of 107 of his paintings that were in the imperial collection by 1120. Most of their titles refer to figural subjects, including many religious icons and narrative illustrations. Although Li’s paintings of landscape also received acclaim, none more than his highly personal evocations of his Longmian mountain estate,25 figures and animals seem to have engaged his interest more completely. By contrast, the typical scholar-amateur painter did not excel at these subjects, which required specialized skills of representation and usually served some functional purpose. Li’s technical proficiency as a painter also put him far above the level of an amateur. Not only could he paint a much greater range of subjects than the typical scholar-artist, he also worked in several brush idioms, as Richard Barnhart has described.26 Li acquired this versatility from copying old paintings in his family’s collection, as well as those he saw elsewhere.27 His contem-

poraries and later critics could recognize Li’s allusions to ancient masters, and their inscriptions for his paintings sometimes mention them. For example, an early colophon to Li’s Five Tribute Horses (Wu ma tu), discussed below, identifies his model as Han Gan, an eighth-century specialist in horse painting who painted in an outline-and-color mode.28 Li not only copied Han’s works on a number of occasions, he also owned one.29 Furthermore, Li’s technical skills enabled him to capture subtle nuances in form and expression. Of his figural representations specifically, the Register of Paintings in the Xuanhe Palace comments: “He was especially good at figure painting and could differentiate appearances so that an observer could tell from afar whether they were imperial courtiers, officials, recluses, common people, rustic villagers, slaves, litter bearers, or runners.”30 Li’s facility for visually conveying fine distinctions of type and character are a key feature of the handscroll Five Tribute Horses, one of Li’s several horse paintings discussed by connoisseurs over the centuries.31 It portrays five magnificent stallions that were presented to the imperial stable between 1086 and 1088 after successful military campaigns on the northwest border. Through his acquaintance with Cao Fu (js 1063), an official in the Court of the Imperial Stud, Li had direct access to the imperial stables and used it to make sketches of the horses.32 Even though he painted entirely in ink monochrome, his depictions of the horses and their accompanying grooms are full-bodied and realistic (Figure 38). Li conveyed a sense of individual character and inner life through small but telling details, such as the droopy fur hat and earnest face of the groom reproduced here. The horses likewise seem to have distinct personalities, which match those of their human attendants uncannily well. At the request of the noted official and poet Zhang Lei, Huang Tingjian wrote an inscription after each horse, providing its identity and “biography.”33 The resulting combination of Li’s portraits with Huang’s annotations forms a series of discrete pairs of images and texts, visually recalling pre-Buddhist handscroll compositions such as the Biographies of Exemplary Women scroll (Figure 16). The expository array plays on longstanding associations of fine Central Asian horses with a strong Chinese empire, particularly evoking the Han and Tang dynasties at their height. However, as Deborah Del Gais argues in a recent study, the theme also held specific, personal significance for the recipient of Five Turning Points and Competing Values  |  63

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Figure 39. Li Gonglin. Detail from Pasturing Horses, after Wei Yan. Late 11th c. Handscroll, ink and color on silk. H: 46.2 cm. Palace Museum, Beijing.

Tribute Horses.34 She identifies him as another colleague in Su’s circle, the official Zhang Xun (11th c.), who had served with distinction on the northwest frontier and at the capital, but was demoted to a prefectural post in 1088. Given a common metaphor that equated officials and horses, the portraits of horses from the border regions not only would remind Zhang Xun of his past success but also console him with the idea that he too was a “fine steed” transplanted to new surroundings. Besides skillfully executing evocative portraits on a blank ground in Five Tribute Horses, Li demonstrated great technical expertise in a complex composition, Pasturing Horses (Mufang tu), now in the Palace Museum, Beijing (Figure 39).35 In this handscroll, painted in ink and colors on silk, Li portrayed hundreds of men and myriad animals in a landscape setting, using a relatively naturalistic mode of representation. His short inscription at upper right states that he copied a work by the Tang horse painter Wei Yan (fl. late 7th – early 8th c.), at the emperor’s command.36 In an

incisive analysis of the composition, Barnhart proposes that the scroll was more Li’s creative invention than a faithful and objective copy of Wei Yan’s work.37 The opening section depicts dozens of mounted herdsmen rounding up a massed pack of horses, many of them with heads submissively lowered. Farther into the composition, more spirited horses are dispersing into an open landscape away from the herders, a few of whom rest beneath the trees. By the end of the scroll, horses are scattered everywhere, disporting themselves in a variety of lively postures, as they graze and cavort at will. Barnhart interprets this contrast between the fettered and the free as Li’s pictorial expression of ambivalence about governmental control versus private autonomy, clearly favoring the latter. Whether or not Li encoded his personal feelings in this way, the painting successfully captures the strength and vitality of the magnificent horses, whose profusion symbolized a well-defended, strong empire to emperors who later owned the scroll.38 Because literati painting theory relegated technically accomplished professional artists to lesser esteem, Li’s impressive expertise as a painter could not be allowed to define him. Thus, a perceived conflict between Li Gonglin’s painterly achievements and his literary or official attainments comes up again and again in his early biographies. In a concluding colophon written for Five Tribute Horses, Huang Tingjian eloquently testified that Li was a man of impeccable literati credentials and lofty character despite his technical skill.39 Responding to unnamed but evidently prominent critics at court, who believed that Li’s involvement with painting hindered him from achieving anything significant in his official career, Huang pronounced Li “a man of the hills and valleys” (qiuhuo zhong ren). By invoking this epithet for an untrammeled recluse, Huang implied that Li’s admirable fidelity to eremitic values, not his interest in painting, accounted for his lackluster public career. A generation later, Li’s unusually long and vividly detailed biography in the Register of Paintings in the Xuanhe Palace ended by bemoaning the fact that Li was noted only for painting because his official rank had been low.40 Indeed, the unidentified author of the entry, who seems to have known Li personally, explains that he had written in detail in order to make Li’s circumstances clear. The implication is that Li might otherwise be mistaken for an artisan. Some fifty years later Deng Chun also emphasized Li’s many

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scholarly and antiquarian interests, as well as his associations with the leading lights of the late Northern Song literary world. Asserting that Li had lodged only his “leftover energy” (yu li) in painting, Deng suggested that making pictures was no more than a leisure-time diversion for Li.41 Ever since Su Shi defined a scholar’s proper attitude toward the cultivated arts, lofty artists merely “lodged” or “rested” temporarily in painting, rather than becoming “attached” to it.42 In the early fourteenth century, as the distinction between gentleman-artists and artisan-painters hardened further, Tang Hou even denied Li’s technical competence, praising his figure painting in terms that aligned him completely with literati values: “The figure paintings of Li Gonglin, the only important figure painter after Wu Daozi, were never free from shortcomings in formal likeness, since their subtle points lay in brush technique, spirit consonance, and expressive character, and formal likeness came last.”43 Despite efforts to highlight Li’s character and downplay his artistry, his biography in the official Song history (completed in 1345) lamented: “Since he was so involved in painting, only his art has been transmitted in the world.”44 Indeed, Li’s various modes of painting occupy most of his entry in Xia Wenyan’s Precious Mirror of Painting (Tuhui baojian; preface dated 1365), an influential and often quoted reference work on painters.45 Nonetheless, Li’s literati credentials ensured that he would always be counted among the scholar-amateurs and remain in critical esteem, despite his undeniable technical proficiency.

Li Gonglin and the Art of Narrative Illustration Traditional catalogs record many subjects illustrated by Li, and a few of his paintings have survived in reliable attributions or copies. As Barnhart demonstrates, Li chose different brush techniques for different subjects and often achieved his intended effects using line alone, without color.46

Guo Ziyi Receives the Homage of the Uighurs In the handscroll Guo Ziyi Receives the Homage of the Uighurs (Mianzhou tu; Figure 40), Li used the bravura manner associated with Wu Daozi, the Tang muralist whose flaring brushlines and broken contours conveyed a sense of volume and movement.47 This dynamic style was well suited to Li’s subject, an episode in

Tang military history,48 which had become mythologized into a paradigm of Han-dominated border relations that was far from any Northern Song reality. The Uighurs were pastoral nomads in the northwest who provided the Tang court with military assistance to quell the An Lushan rebellion (755 – 763). They remained allied with the Tang empire against the Tibetans until 763, when the Tang abruptly dismissed the Uighur general Pugu Huaien (d. 765) from his command. Pugu responded by taking his troops over to the Tibetans, who invaded China the following year and threatened Chang’an itself. After Pugu’s sudden death in 765, the Chinese general Guo Ziyi (697 – 781) went out unarmed to meet the Uighurs, so impressing them with his bravery that they surrendered to him and resumed their alliance with the Tang. Li Gonglin’s illustration captures the drama of the Guo Ziyi’s meeting with the Uighurs and symbolizes their renewal of allegiance by showing their heavily armed leader kneeling before the Chinese commander. The placement of figures on the blank background is carefully calculated for dramatic effect, and the brushwork is dazzling. The armor-clad Uighur soldiers in the right half of the picture are almost demonic, their faces grotesque. Swirling clouds and fluttering banners accentuate their hurtling movement toward the center of the scroll, where the action is abruptly arrested by the bolt-upright group of men on horses. This arrangement frames and focuses attention on the central scene, in which the Uighur general kneels to offer his surrender. Li portrayed the Uighurs and their horses with short, disconnected brushstrokes that visually convey agitation. By contrast, he used much longer and more smoothly modulated lines on the figure of Guo Ziyi, who stands magnanimously extending his hand toward the kneeling general. The organization of the scene and different kinds of brushwork underscore the contrast between the Chinese and the foreign, a dichotomizing approach that implies much more. As Huang Tingjian wrote in a colophon to another work on a martial theme, Li’s paintings, like good poetry, achieved a sense of continuing movement that engaged viewers and led them to “complete the action” implied by the compositional structure.49

The Classic of Filial Piety Far removed from the extroversion and drama of Guo Ziyi Receives the Homage of the Uighurs are Li Gonglin’s illustrations for the Classic of Filial Piety, which also are painted in ink withTurning Points and Competing Values  |  65

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Figure 40. Li Gonglin. Detail from Guo Ziyi Receives the Homage of the Uighurs. Late 11th c. Handscroll, ink on paper. H: 32.3 cm. National Palace Museum, Taibei.

out color.50 The Classic of Filial Piety is a core text of Confucian morality, outlining the principles that govern relationships in an ideal Confucian social hierarchy, which includes dead ancestors. Ostensibly a record of dialogs between Confucius and his disciple Zengzi, the text explains the reciprocal obligations of superior and inferior within the family and the state. Endorsed by the throne and memorized by educated men, the official edition of the Classic of Filial Piety is divided into eighteen short chapters.51 Li illustrated the work more than once, and two early versions are extant, although neither matches early recorded descriptions.52 A handscroll in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, painted in ink on silk, is widely accepted as from Li’s hand, but is now missing several sections (see Figures 4, 8, 41, 42).53 Another version, in the National Palace Museum, Taibei, preserves a complete set of pictures and texts in ink on paper, but the stiffly painted handscroll is clearly an early copy (Figure 47).54 The latter version includes Li’s dedicatory inscription, which states that he painted the illustrations in 1085 for one Secretary Yang (unidentified), who thought they would be useful as a “supplement” (bu) for teaching the principles of filiality.55 For his pictorial exposition of the venerable tract, Li adopted the ancient formula of alternating sections of text with monoscenic illustrations. He personally transcribed the eighteen chapters

in an archaic style of small-regular script (xiaokai), which he associated with the late Han calligrapher Zhong You (151 – 230).56 Each chapter follows a cartoon-like illustration, which is painted in a style that reminded Su Shi of the Southern Dynasties artists Gu Kaizhi and Lu Tanwei, as he noted in a now-lost colophon.57 However, Li did not actually copy an older version. Even though Southern Dynasties artists had indeed illustrated the Classic of Filial Piety, their works did not survive in the late eleventh century. Instead, Li drew upon his extensive knowledge of earlier styles to present his own conception of the text, bringing its abstract prescriptions of filial piety to life in closely observed and acutely rendered human interactions. As Barnhart demonstrates in a scene-by-scene analysis of the Metropolitan scroll, Li used the simple compositional structures and motifs of Southern Dynasties painting to create a feeling of intimacy and immediacy.58 His self-consciously archaizing manner conveys both the venerable antiquity and timeless relevance of Confucius’s prescriptions for moral conduct. Painting in this way is exactly analogous to writing in archaic literary modes in order to evoke the ancient sages, a practice that Li and several of his associates also followed as advocates of the Ancient-text (guwen) movement.59 Even though his subject was a classical text, Li found scope within it for communicating more personal ideas and feelings

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Figure 41. Li Gonglin. “Filial piety in government.” From the Classic of Filial Piety, chap. 8. Late 11th c. Handscroll, ink on silk. H: 21.9 cm. Metropolitan Museum of Art.

as well. Barnhart argues that some of Li’s illustrations subtly expressed his discomfort with the realities of Song political life, such as its factionalism and the intimidating power of the throne.60 For example, in the picture for chapter eight, “Filial piety in government” (Figure 41), Li portrayed an emperor and his retinue looming over a straggly group of cowering petitioners. The illustration of chapter four, “Filial piety in high ministers and great officers” (Figure 42), shows an official prostrating himself to present a memorial to the stern-looking emperor while other courtiers look on noncommitally, as if ready to abandon their colleague at the slightest sign of imperial disapproval. Standing in marked contrast to these tense evocations of potential confrontation in the political sphere are compositions that embody Li’s utopian conception of family dynamics. In his il-

Figure 42. Li Gonglin. “Filial piety in high ministers and great officers.” From the Classic of Filial Piety, chap. 4. Late 11th c. Handscroll, ink on silk. H: 21.9 cm. Metropolitan Museum of Art.

lustration of chapter five, “Filial piety in lesser officials” (Figure 4), a man in the formal costume of an official kneels before his seated parents, as his wife approaches with another dish to add to the feast spread out in front of them. The stable triangle formed by the man and his parents conveys the strength and closeness of family bonds, as well as their hierarchical clarity. Noting the unusual warmth and intimacy of the composition, Barnhart suggests that Li may have depicted members of his own family to represent this microcosm of Confucian ideals. Before Li Gonglin’s time, the relationship between written literature and its illustration was relatively straightforward: the text was a source of images to pictorialize, and the pictures explained or embellished the writing. However, many of Li’s compositions depict social interactions that the Classic of Filial Piety Turning Points and Competing Values  |  67

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does not explicitly mention. Inventing specific human encounters may have been the only way to illustrate a work so filled with generalizations and moralizing, a solution already suggested by the pictures in Admonitions of the Court Instructress, discussed in Chapter 1. But even when the Classic of Filial Piety did offer concrete imagery and descriptive details, the text did not constrain Li’s conceptions. His illustrations addressed viewers who were already familiar with the text and its interpretation. Rather than simply explaining or recapitulating its lessons visually, Li used pictures as commentary, conveying his own conceptions of morality and inviting informed viewers to engage them. His innovations in illustrating classical literature created new kinds of relationships between texts and images, which enabled him to express his own ideas.

Nine Songs Another text that Li illustrated more than once is a renowned literary work, the Nine Songs (Jiu ge), a set of eleven poems from the Elegies of Chu (Chu ci) by Qu Yuan (c.340 – 278 BCE).61 The poems vividly portray a quest by Qu Yuan’s shaman-like persona for union with elusive deities, and express the great disillusion of his failure. Unlike the illustrations for the Classic of Filial Piety, which are the same in the various extant versions and later imitations, Li created two radically different sets of compositions for the Nine Songs. Although his original pictures are no longer extant, Del Gais has reconstructed them from several faithful copies and from descriptions in traditional catalogs.62 In her view, Li’s earlier illustrations represent a “narrative” approach to the subject, while his later ones reconceptualized it into a lyrical mode. In both versions Li again used the pre-Buddhist format of a handscroll containing a series of paired images and texts. In his earlier rendition of the Nine Songs, probably done in the early 1080s, Li treated just an excerpt of six poems from the sixthcentury anthology Selections of Refined Literature.63 The compositions survive in an ink-monochrome handscroll in the Fujita Museum, which contains a series of pictures followed by their respective texts (Figure 43).64 From each poem Li usually chose several events to illustrate, juxtaposing the separate scenes in a conflated or synoptic composition. Del Gais calls this approach “a conventional narrative response to the problem of poetry illustration” and suggests that the “recitative” quality of the pic-

Figure 43. Attr. Li Gonglin. “Lady of the Xiang River.” From the Nine Songs, section 4. 16th c. Handscroll, ink on silk. H: c.22.3 cm. Fujita Museum, Osaka, Japan.

tures enabled the viewer to follow the story in each one.65 Her assessment of the Fujita scroll concurs with Kohara’s observation that the viewer had to know or be able to read the text in order to follow the sequence of events within a single picture, because the composition itself does not suggest their order.66 In Li’s later set of illustrations, this time for all eleven of the Nine Songs, he replaced the narrative compositions with iconic representations of the deities invoked in each piece.67 A portrait of the poet Qu Yuan served as a pictorial frontispiece to the series, making a total of twelve compositions, each followed by a transcription of the appropriate poem. Qu’s portrait was paired with the text of “The Fisherman” (“Yu fu”), a poem from another section of the Elegies of Chu. Although the original handscroll was lost in the fifteenth century, its appearance is preserved in recorded descriptions and numerous Yuan copies, such as one by Zhang Wu (fl. c.1340 – 1365) completed in 1361 (Figure 44).68 The gods and goddesses named in nine of the eleven poem titles are portrayed as large, close-up figures, ostensibly available for the viewer to engage directly. No longer a passive observer of a narrative spectacle, he or she assumes the position of Qu Yuan in ad-

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Figure 44. Zhang Wu. “Lady of the Xiang River.” 1361. From the Nine Songs, section 4. 1361. Handscroll, ink on paper. H: 28 cm. Cleveland Museum of Art.

dressing the deities.69 However, just as they did not respond to Qu, their oblique gazes and turning postures signal their indifference to the latter-day supplicant, as Del Gais observes. This frustrating confrontation evokes the symbolism and allegory associated with the Nine Songs by the commentator Wang Yi (c.89 – c.158), who reinterpreted the poems as the lamentations of a rejected loyal minister. To draw such meanings from these nondiscursive images requires the active participation of a highly educated, sophisticated viewer who can “complete the action.” Such viewers may also have perceived and empathized with feelings that Li or his patron may have had about the frustrations of government service.

Returning Home In his pictures for Returning Home (Guiqulai xi ci), the celebrated rhapsody on retirement by Tao Qian (Tao Yuanming, 365 – 427), Li Gonglin departed from conventional strategies of illustration in yet other ways, as discussed in recent studies by Elizabeth

Brotherton, Martin J. Powers, and Susan E. Nelson.70 The focus of their varied analyses is an early twelfth-century handscroll in the Freer Gallery, with paintings in ink and muted colors accompanied by calligraphy in running-regular script (Figures 45, 46, and Plate 13).71 Brotherton suggests that Li used painting to create a pictorial commentary to the literary work, rather than merely depicting its motifs and themes. Nelson argues that Li’s visual allusions to Tao’s thoughts on transcendence and yearning for escape from mortal life actually contradicted the standard interpretation of the text. Powers relates the painting to a literati fad, started by Su Shi, for creating improvisations (he; usually translated as “matching”) on Tao’s rhapsody, Returning Home. By composing improvisations, typically in a poem but sometimes in a painting, contemporary literati could express their personal responses to Tao’s themes.72 As in the handscrolls for the Classic of Filial Piety and the Nine Songs, Li used the archaistic scheme of alternating sections of text and picture to illustrate Returning Home. Despite the visual similarities resulting from this common design, the relationship between word and image differs among the three examples. In the Nine Songs, each passage of calligraphy corresponds to a separate poem by Qu Yuan, and in the Classic of Filial Piety, the sections are chapters of the official edition of the text. By contrast, Returning Home is a unitary piece that Li himself divided into units for transcription.73 In addition, he placed the pictures for Returning Home after the related passages of text, reversing the order he had used in the Nine Songs and Classic of Filial Piety. This arrangement suggests that each image responds to the preceding portion of text, exactly like written commentaries appended to passages of canonical writings or like matching poems written out after some seminal piece. One other difference between Returning Home and the other two works is its considerable use of subdued color, instead of the baimiao mode of monochrome outline. Although an anonymous Tang artist had previously illustrated Returning Home in a monoscenic composition that emphasized Tao Yuanming’s image as a nature-loving poet, Li expanded the presentation of the theme into seven paintings and developed Tao into a more complex symbol.74 Li’s first picture shows Tao standing with sashes flying, as his boat nears the shore where his family awaits him (Figure 45). Twice as wide as the other six, the composition may reflect the version that Li painted on a screen for Turning Points and Competing Values  |  69

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Figure 45. Attr. Li Gonglin. Returning Home, section 1. c.1110. Handscroll, ink and color on silk. H: 37 cm. Freer Gallery of Art.

Huang Tingjian, and the image later came to stand for the entire subject.75 In subsequent scenes, Brotherton argues, Li alternated between Confucian and Daoist-inspired conceptions of Tao. In the second, fourth, and sixth pictures, Li took considerable liberties with the poem in order to portray his own vision of the retired scholar as a moral exemplar in society.76 Creating archaic compositional structures and compartmentalized spaces, Li situated Tao in a harmonious and well-ordered Confucian utopia, successively imagining him at home with his family (Figure 46), socializing with his friends, and out in his rural community. Without explicit prompting from the text, these scenes present Tao as “a Confucian sage whose reclusion bore weighty socio-moral significance.”77 Brotherton suggests that by including these images, Li brought out the political and moral significance of Tao’s rhapsody on retirement, making the life of the recluse signify more than just private pleasure. Powers also notes Li’s repeated allusions to a loving relationship between Tao and his wife, who is not even mentioned in the rhapsody, and suggests that Li’s attention to Tao’s marital bond reflects the development of a more romantic conception of marriage from the late Tang period onward.78 By contrast with these evocations of domestic harmony, Li used a more contemporary manner in the third, fifth, and seventh scenes, which represent Tao outdoors in the open landscape and invoke his lyrical response to it. Two of these paintings are synoptic compositions, each with two portrayals of Tao. In the fifth scene, Tao rides in both a boat and a cart, illustrating the lines that describe how he traveled in retirement. In the seventh, he

Figure 46. Attr. Li Gonglin. Returning Home, section 2. c. 1100. Handscroll, ink and color on silk. H: 37 cm. Freer Gallery of Art.

appears both standing on top of a hill and sitting on the bank of a stream, suggesting that he is in harmony with his surroundings (Plate 13).79 Although more closely based on the accompanying passages of text than the archaistic scenes, the depictions of Tao in landscape distill the lyric essence of the rhapsody into powerfully evocative images, illuminating him as “a nature poet whose appeal remained largely private if not apolitical.”80 Together, the archaistic and modern compositions form a composite portrait of Tao, through which engaged viewers can participate vicariously in his experience and share psychological affinity with all who admired him.

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Figure 47. Attr. Li Gonglin. “Confucius and his disciples.” From the Classic of Filial Piety, chap. 1. 12th c. Handscroll, ink on paper. H: 20.5 cm. National Palace Museum, Taibei.

Certain later copies of Li Gonglin’s illustration of Returning Home include an iconic portrait of Tao Yuanming at the very beginning of the scroll, showing him in fluttering robes and walking with a staff.81 Nelson finds this portrayal popular among Yuan scholars at odds with the Mongol government, perhaps because the swirling robes and sashes evoked flying immortals, thus infusing an element of transcendence into Tao’s image as a cultivated exemplar of Confucian morality in retirement.82 Brotherton believes that Li’s original handscroll probably began with such an image, because some of his other handscrolls illustrating a literary work open with a portrait of the author.83 Li’s iconic depictions for the Nine Songs started with a portrayal of Qu Yuan, as noted above, and the first scene in his Classic of Filial Piety shows Confucius sitting on his dais surrounded by disciples, lecturing in response to questions posed by Zengzi, who kneels before him (Figure 47).84 Such frontispiece illustrations bring to mind the kind of portrait that often appears at the beginning of a medieval European Gospel, depicting its apostle-author. But, in Brotherton’s view, Li Gonglin’s portraits are more than attributions of authorship. She speculates that Li’s frontispiece images can be related to the Ancient-text scholars’ belief that a literary work reveals the inner qualities of the person who wrote it.85 Literature created by a morally superior man is valuable because it manifests his exemplary character and transcends the limits of space and time. By providing a likeness, Li helps the reader/viewer to

visualize the author as a role model. Moreover, Li’s practice also invokes the ancient custom of displaying portraits of exemplars on the walls of reception halls and temples to stimulate the moral cultivation of the privileged persons who saw them.

Second Rhapsody on the Red Cliff Many aspects of Li Gonglin’s innovations in narrative illustration are synthesized in the earliest known depiction of Su Shi’s Second Rhapsody on the Red Cliff, as Itakura Masaaki, Richard Kent, Jerome Silbergeld, and others have observed (Figure 48).86 A long handscroll painted in richly varied ink on paper, the work has long been attributed to Qiao Zhongchang, an early twelfthcentury kinsman and follower of Li’s.87 Su Shi composed the prose-poem in 1082, after making an outing to the purported site of a famous ancient battle near his place of exile at Huangzhou, on the central reaches of the Yangzi River.88 The painting is closely based on Su’s account and depicts the events of the day and the following night in a sequential narrative. Su and his friends appear again and again in a continuous landscape background. The viewer follows along as they decide to visit the Red Cliff, gather provisions to take, have a picnic and go hiking at the wild site, and are startled by a crane while returning home by boat in the moonlight (cf. Figure 2). At the end of the scroll Su is home once again (Figure 48). Before his slumbering form are three seated figures in pale ink, referring to his dream Turning Points and Competing Values  |  71

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Figure 48. Attr. Qiao Zhongchang. Detail from Su Shi’s Second Rhapsody on the Red Cliff. 12th c. Handscroll, ink on paper. H: 29.5 cm. NelsonAtkins Museum of Art.

about a conversation with two Daoist immortals. Then, awake again, he searches outside his gate for a trace of the elusive visitors. The complete text of Su’s rhapsody is transcribed directly on the painting, divided into passages that pertain to the adjacent scenes and vary in length from three characters to eight lines. In Li Gonglin’s paintings, it is easy to find close counterparts for elements of the Red Cliff scroll, even though Li himself seems not to have illustrated any of Su’s writings on this theme.89 The repeated depictions of Su and his friends moving through the landscape resemble Li’s portrayals of himself and two cousins enjoying his Longmian estate in Dwelling in the Mountains (Shanzhuang tu).90 The artist’s division of a unitary text into sections, to illustrate in successive scenes of a handscroll, recalls Li’s treatment of Tao Yuanming’s Returning Home (cf. Figures 45, 46, and Plate 13). Rather than completely separate sections for painting and text, however, the Red Cliff has variable amounts of writing

interspersed throughout the pictorial space of the composition, following the archaic model of the Goddess of the Luo River (Liao­ ning version; Figure 32).91 Although there is no direct evidence that Li Gonglin knew that scroll, it represents exactly the kind of pre-Tang composition he found inspiring, and versions of the subject are attributed to him in later catalogs.92 Finally, several features relate the Red Cliff to Li’s illustrations for the Classic of Filial Piety (Figures 4, 8, 41, 42). Like the latter, the Red Cliff scroll includes several scenes that go beyond the text to conjure a vividly imagined social and material environment, offering empathetic details of Su Shi’s life in exile, and even a glimpse of his steadfast wife. The frontal perspective and bilateral symmetry that create the otherworldly atmosphere of Su’s dream also evoke Li’s hieratic portrayal of a ceremony in the imperial ancestral temple for chapter sixteen of the Classic of Filial Piety.93 The nameless fear that seized Su as he climbed alone through a tangled forest to a

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precipice above a churning pool is deflected into the landscape, rather than portrayed directly, just as Li used the image of a sailboat set adrift in a desolate wilderness to express the unspeakable sorrow of a parent’s death in the last Filial Piety scene.94 Elements such as these demonstrate the sophistication achieved in pictorial narration by late Northern Song, far beyond the early stage represented by the Goddess of the Luo River, whose rhetorical images were rendered literally and followed the textual sequence. However, the practice of “literati narrative illustration,” as Silbergeld calls it, depends on the artist’s possession of an increasingly improbable combination of literary erudition, antiquarian expertise, and technical painting skills, as well as a compelling reason to use illustration as a vehicle for personal expression. Indeed, the tradition did not thrive for long, and artists of the court soon appropriated and transmuted the themes that Li Gonglin had painted.95

Conclusion By the standards of literati critics, which govern most accounts of the history of Chinese painting, Li Gonglin was arguably the last great artist to devote considerable attention to narrative illustration. Not only did he bring back ancient formats and formulas, he also developed sophisticated ways of using images to convey meaning. However, most writers emphasized the personal quali-

ties that made Li’s paintings worthy of refined contemplation: his cultivated personality, broad learning, and profound knowledge of early painting and calligraphy, all of which enriched his practice of the arts. In discussing his illustrations for Confucian texts and literary classics, and even his Buddhist and Daoist religious icons, later critics rarely commented on their adequacy as pictures. Nonetheless, Li’s works were transmitted and copied, creating an influential legacy available to painters outside the confines of the literati tradition. Other artists emulated and modified his compositional structures, motifs, and techniques. Li’s nuanced methods of painting in ink monochrome helped to develop the baimiao mode, initially associated with Wu Daozi, into an acceptable alternative to the colorful Yan Liben style. Just as brightly colored later illustrations were sometimes attributed to Yan, many baimiao pictures by anonymous later artists were furnished with Li Gonglin’s purported signature (such as the works partially reproduced in Figures 3, 6). Although fine-line ink drawing tended to become a more uniform, even mechanical technique in the hands of other artists, it was also well suited to woodblockprinted pictures. From the Song period onward, this medium was used for illustrations of many kinds of subjects, instead of exclusively Buddhist ones. Though largely unacknowledged by later writers, narrative illustration would continue to occupy a sizeable place in the spectrum of Chinese visual culture.

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Chapter  Later Narrative Illustration at Court Legitimation, Remonstrance, and Indoctrination

A

fter the Northern Song period, critics and historians of painting rarely had much to say about narrative illustration. Traditional and modern writers alike have tended to focus on paintings that are presumed to embody the superior character of a literatus in ways that only the cognoscenti could fully appreciate. Savoring a work of art required viewers to attune themselves to the rhythms of the artist’s brushwork and decode the poetic symbolism through which he expressed his inner thoughts and emotions. When the name of an acclaimed master happened to be linked with a narrative subject, critics and commentators typically discussed his biography and personal qualities, rather than his treatment of the story.1 However, self-expression was rarely the primary intention of the painters who created narrative pictures, especially when working to fulfill a patron’s requirements. Furthermore, most illustrations were mimetic representations of subjects that viewers without special expertise in connoisseurship could understand, at least to some extent. Judged by the standards of literati painting, storytelling pictures were not “art” but functional pieces. In some respects their status resembles that of religious icons in late medieval Europe after paintings started being made as works of art.2 The new emphasis on cultivated personality and self-expression made it increasingly difficult for a painter to gain a lofty reputation solely by excelling at narrative illustration. Although it did not engage the interest of art critics and other writers concerned with aesthetic issues, narrative illustration by no means disappeared. Even among the highly educated elite, relatively few had the connoisseurial skills and taste for literati painting, and many people admired works that illustrated uplifting themes. In the early Southern Song, Zheng Qiao argued that pictures were as essential as texts for achieving thorough learning.3

Ankeney Weitz points out that the late Song and early Yuan art collections inventoried by Zhou Mi (1232 – c.1308) included many paintings on subjects from the classics, history, and literature.4 In the later imperial period, storytelling pictures circulated at every level of society, helping to shape or express aspirations and perceptions in the social, political, and cultural realms. As late as the eighteenth century, the erudite compilers of the Complete Collection of the Four Treasuries (Siku quanshu) praised the Kangxi emperor for describing painting as a stimulus for self-scrutiny and reflection.5 Moreover, from the fourteenth century onward, narrative images were appearing in an ever-widening range of pictorial media, from painting and woodblock prints to the surfaces of porcelain and lacquer containers.6 Such works were usually made by obscure or anonymous craftsmen and occupied a different position in Chinese visual culture than the high art of literati painting. In this chapter I focus on the court as an important site for the patronage and reception of paintings that illustrate stories about Confucian moral conduct, ideals of governance, and social harmony. Referring to a combination of recorded and extant works, I discuss examples ranging in date from the Northern Song through late Qing periods, as well as certain famous earlier precedents. The first two sections treat emperors who commissioned, showed, or presented narrative paintings to high officials. Often the emperor intended the pictures to influence his subordinates in some way, and sometimes the images seem chosen to reflect credit on himself as well. Next I consider more ambiguous situations in which an emperor sponsored didactic illustrations allegedly for his own edification as well as for display to his ministers, perhaps to create favorable perceptions about his commitment to Confucian principles of sovereignty. Finally, I shift my attention to officials who used paintings in their attempts to influence a

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ruler in situations that they judged to require the immediacy of visual media. Of particular interest are didactic illustrations created for the education of a young emperor or heir apparent. Palace tutors repeatedly sought to use pictures to mold an imperial pupil into an ideal Confucian sovereign while he was still young and impressionable. Whether commissioned by emperors or by court officials, Confucian narrative illustrations rarely accommodate only one meaning or operate with unidirectional force. Paintings on themes of remonstration in particular are open to more than one interpretation, because they can just as easily represent the viewpoint of a minister offering criticism as that of a ruler claiming to be magnanimous enough to accept it. The absence of original documentation on examples that survive today makes it difficult to reconstruct the circumstances surrounding the creation and initial reception of such paintings. In addition, circulation and reuse introduced additional and sometimes contradictory layers of interpretation. Accordingly, I have organized this chapter under headings that identify what I believe were the primary concerns in the initial creation of the work, although I also refer in some cases to later reinterpretations or uses of the subject. The following chapter will pursue some of these illustrations as they entered wider circulation beyond the court.

Stimulating the Officials: Northern Song Emperors and Documentary Illustration Some later emperors observed the ancient tradition of commissioning or bestowing paintings to inspire officials to perform their duties more diligently or to reward them for exemplary service. Subjects from history were particularly appropriate because officials routinely used historical allusions to discuss contemporary issues and would readily recognize the point of a painting of some past event. In his account of paintings that had served as “advisory mirrors” (guijian) in antiquity, Guo Ruoxu includes one that Han emperor Wudi (r. 140 – 86 BCE) had bestowed on the high official Huo Guang (d. 68 BCE).7 Alone among his colleagues, Huo had defended the rightful heir apparent when Wudi proposed replacing him with a son by a favorite concubine. The chastened emperor had rewarded Huo by making him chief adviser to the heir and gave him a painting of the duke of Zhou assisting young

King Cheng in audience with the feudal lords.8 Soon afterward, when the eight-year-old boy succeeded to the throne (Emperor Zhaodi, r. 86 – 73 BCE), Huo became his regent. In Guo Ruoxu’s interpretation, Emperor Wudi had used the picture to remind Huo Guang of the ideal relationship of a regent to a child-ruler, lest Huo be tempted to usurp power for himself. Although not in his essay on “advisory mirrors,” Guo Ruoxu also recorded paintings that emperors of his own dynasty had used for inspiring or admonishing high officials. The Song emperor Zhenzong (r. 997 – 1022) presented a painting entitled Yuan An Sleeps during the Snowfall (Yuan An woxue tu) to Ding Wei (966 – 1037; js 992), when Ding came to pay his respects before taking an important post in Jinling [Nanjing].9 The story of Yuan An (d. 92) symbolized the ideal of the conscientious, publicspirited official. According to the tale, Yuan An was a Han official living in Luoyang at the time of a prodigious snowfall. Rather than going out to seek help, he chose to wait out the heavy weather in his residence. However, the local prefect worried that Yuan might be dead because the path to his house had not been cleared, so sent someone to check on him. Discovered lying down inside the house, Yuan explained that he did not want to interfere with efforts to relieve the people who were starving because of the snow. The prefect found this attitude worthy and got Yuan commended as “filial and upright” (xiao lian), an endorsement that launched him on an illustrious career.10 As Barnhart observes in his discussion of Ming paintings of the theme (Figure 49), the story reflected credit on both men: the prefect for his diligence in taking care of the people under his jurisdiction, and Yuan An for not seeking the assistance that others needed more urgently.11 Guo Ruoxu notes that the painting Zhenzong conferred on Ding Wei was an antique from the palace collection, a set of eight hanging scrolls by an unidentified artist. A label by Huang Jucai (933 – after 993), a painter and connoisseur at early Northern Song court, pronounced it “surpassing the divine class” (shenpin shang). Among its vividly rendered narrative details, the prefect’s attendants visibly suffering in the cold particularly stood out. Zhenzong instructed Ding to find a place with a superb view to display the work as soon as he reached Jinling, presumably to promote its dual model of service and selflessness throughout the region. Accordingly, Ding built a pavilion on a high hill northwest of the city and mounted the scrolls on a huge screen inside. All who saw Later Narrative Illustration at Court  |  75

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Figure 49. Dai Jin. Yuan An Sleeping through a Snowfall. 15th c. Hanging scroll, ink and color on silk. H: 183.2 cm. Freer Gallery of Art.

it agreed that it was a splendid sight. In later years, however, the screen became dilapidated, and people cut out portions of the picture to take away. When Wang Junyu (fl. c.1000 – c.1065) took a post in the region and went straightaway to see the famous screen, virtually nothing was left of it. After pondering the situation for a while, he wrote poem on the wall, in which he insinuated that conscientious government had also disappeared.12 Zhenzong’s successor, Renzong, was considerably more inclined to use pictures to stimulate his bureaucrats and courtiers to perform their duties conscientiously. In 1041 he commissioned illustrations of admirable and despicable deeds of ancient emperors and kings that could serve as models and warnings.13 Renzong personally wrote a summary explanation for each account, then composed a record of the entire project. The resulting work was called Pictures of Contemplating Texts and Using the Past as

a Mirror (Guanwen jiangu tu). It occupied twelve handscrolls and included 120 illustrated stories, covering a chronological span from the Yellow Emperor of hoary antiquity to Tang Taizong in the mid-seventh century. The Pictures of Contemplating Texts and Using the Past as a Mirror affirmed the timeless principles that governed All-underheaven and helped to impress Renzong’s authority on members of his court. He showed the work to his high ministers at least twice, in 1041 and 1044, perhaps in response to the political challenges of the early 1040s.14 In the spring of 1044, Renzong had additional paintings of the good and bad deeds of rulers of former ages displayed on the four walls of the Pavilion of Welcoming the Male Principle (Yingyangge), part of the Hall of Lofty Administration (Chongzhengdian).15 After viewing these “models and warnings” himself, Renzong ordered officials of the Bureau of Military Affairs and the Secretariat-Chancellery (Liang fu) to go in and contemplate the edifying images. Even though the highly educated scholar-officials did not need visual aids to grasp the lessons of the past, such pictorial documentation promoted and inculcated the authorized interpretations of sometimes ambiguous historical events. Subsequently, Renzong had the Pictures of Contemplating Texts and Using the Past as a Mirror reproduced in woodblock-printed editions, which he bestowed on close attendants. Although the scrolls left the palace during the chaos of the Jin invasion in 1125 – 1126, they were recovered and presented to Song Gaozong in 1135.16 Another of Renzong’s illustration projects focused exclusively on events of the Song dynasty. In 1048 he ordered Gao Keming (fl. first half of 11th c.) and other court artists to illustrate one hundred “incidents displaying flourishing virtue” (sheng de zhi shi) from the reigns of his three imperial predecessors, Taizu (r. 960 – 976), Taizong (r. 976 – 997), and Zhenzong.17 Renzong him­ self composed a preface and gave the compendium its title, Illustrated Instructive Mirror of the Three Courts. Completed early in 1049, the work filled ten handscrolls. As Guo Ruoxu describes them, the pictures were grandly executed, portraying palace buildings, imperial carriages, ceremonial guards, and landscape. Moreover, he notes that the figures were over an inch tall, implying that artistry and decorative embellishments did not overshadow the didactic content. In the eleventh lunar month of 1049 Renzong summoned his close attendants, imperial censors, remonstrating

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Figure 50. “The Khitan Liao send envoys to court to pay respects.” From Four Events of the Jingde Era, section 1. Mid-11th c. Handscroll, ink and color on silk. H: 33.1 cm. National Palace Museum, Taibei.

officials, court academicians, and imperial clansmen to the Hall of Lofty Administration to view the scrolls.18 Afterwards, he ordered the compilation to be copied and carved on woodblocks for printing, and the printed editions were bestowed on high officials and members of the imperial clan.19 An extant handscroll known today as Four Events of the Jingde Era (Jingde si tu) suggests the appearance of the Illustrated Instructive Mirror of the Three Courts (Figure 50).20 Because the Jingde era (1004 – 1007) was a period in the reign of Zhenzong, the third Song emperor, the handscroll may well be a fragment of the lost compendium. Now in the National Palace Museum, Taibei, it consists of four sections of joined silk, each with a colorful illustration followed by explanatory text. The four events are concisely identified by short titles placed inside rectangular cartouches at the top center of each composition. They appear to have been inscribed before the paintings were executed. The titles are “The Khitan Liao Send Envoys to Court to Pay Respects” (“Qidan shi chao pin”; Figure 50), “Banquet and Archery in the North-

ern Stockade” (“Beizhai yan she”), “Viewing the Bian Flood from the Imperial Carriage” (“Yujia guan Bian zhang”), and “Viewing Books at the Pavilion of Highest Purity” (“Taiqing guan shu”). All refer to events in the years 1005 – 1007.21 The explanatory text after each picture is transcribed in regular script in two parts. Following an annalistic account of the event itself is an indented section of commentary by the unidentified compilers. Introduced by the words “Your servants say” (chendeng yue), their comments point out the implications and significance of the incidents recorded. To show respect, every reference to the emperor starts a new column of text. In a recent article, Cary Liu suggests that Four Events of the Jingde Era was made to commemorate an idealized conception of Song-Liao relations shortly after a second treaty was negotiated in 1042.22 Such a motivation is plausible for the first and second scenes, which respectively show Liao envoys at court presenting congratulations on Zhenzong’s birthday and Song warriors displaying their fraternal solidarity and martial prowess. However, the portrayals of the emperor’s concern about flooding and his magnanimity in hosting courtiers at a viewing in the imperial library do not involve foreign relations. On the other hand, all four events demonstrate various ways that imperial virtue exerted a beneficial effect on the realm, a theme that is consistent with Renzong’s purpose in commissioning the Illustrated Instructive Mirror of the Three Courts. The sequential occurrence of the four incidents within the limited time span of three years suggests that Four Events of the Jingde Era corresponds to a contiguous portion of the recorded work. Moreover, the compilers comment after the first illustration that the Song and Liao had had “forty or fifty years” of peaceful relations, presumably counting from the 1005 Treaty of Shanyuan. A date between 1045 and 1055 for Four Events of the Jingde Era would coincide with the recorded production of the Illustrated Instructive Mirror of the Three Courts handscrolls in 1048 – 1049.23 Finally, the paintings also fit Guo Ruoxu’s description of the contents and general appearance of the pictures. Although some scholars doubt that Four Events of the Jingde Era actually dates from the mid-eleventh century,24 there is no reason to place it later. The first and last scenes depict specific buildings in the Northern Song palace, which are populated by courtiers in Song official costume, and the second portrays a large group of Song-clad figures inside an elaborate “traveling palace” Later Narrative Illustration at Court  |  77

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it entered the collection of Liang Qingbiao (1620 – 1691). The early Qing court subsequently acquired both scrolls, which palace connoisseurs rated as “inferior” (ci deng), suggesting the disfavor into which detailed and colorful representational art had fallen by the eighteenth century.27

Legitimating the Emperor: Song Gaozong’s Pictorial Propaganda

Figure 51. Detail from The Grand Carriage and Honor Guard. Mid-11th c. Handscroll, ink and color on silk. H: 51.4 cm. National Museum of China, Beijing.

(xinggong) used by the emperor during his visit to a defensive installation. Rather than conveying a naturalistic sense of space, the treatment of the architectural scenes is slightly archaistic. In addition, a certain diagrammatic clarity links the pictures to Grand Carriage and Honor Guard (Dajia lubu tu), an enormous handscroll from another of Renzong’s commissions, now in the National Museum of China, Beijing (Figure 51).25 A pictorial catalog rather than an illustrated narrative, Grand Carriage and Honor Guard portrays the ritually prescribed configurations of the imperial entourage that were appropriate for particular occasions. Annotated with inscriptions in rectangular cartouches, the scroll was intended as an aid to correct practice, not aesthetic appreciation, as Patricia Ebrey shows in her important article on Song visual culture.26 Like Grand Carriage and Honor Guard, the scenes in Four Events of the Jingde Era are clearly laid out and labeled for easy identification. Consistent with an instructive or documentary purpose, Four Events of the Jingde Era bears no connoisseurs’ seals or colophons until the seventeenth century, when

Some emperors had more specific motives for using narrative paintings as part of the apparatus of rule. Like Tang Taizong (see Chapter 4), they might commission illustrations of strategically selected stories to enhance their political legitimacy and cultural authority, as well as to advertise the benevolence of their rule. In the early Southern Song period, the Emperor Gaozong used paintings on carefully chosen themes to strengthen his position as the Song’s restoration emperor in the South.28 He is the first emperor for whom a significant number of extant narrative illustrations can be linked to specific contexts and studied in relation to the shifting concerns of his reign. After Jurchen invaders stormed the northern heartland and occupied the Song capital at Kaifeng in 1126, the dynasty appeared to have lost heaven’s mandate to rule. Not only had two Song emperors, Qinzong and the retired Huizong (1082 – 1135, r. 1100 – 1125), been taken prisoner along with thousands of imperial clansmen, the Jurchens had also begun using a Chinese dynastic name, Jin. Moreover, because Qinzong had not abdicated the throne and remained alive in captivity, Gaozong’s succession as emperor was presumptuous. When he eventually abandoned efforts to rescue the captives and recover the lost territory, his decision to negotiate an unequal peace treaty with the Jurchens aroused considerable opposition and outrage. Well aware of Tang Taizong’s example, Gaozong surpassed his predecessor in creating art for political purposes to validate his dynastic revival and generate support for his controversial policies.29 One of his strategies for bolstering the Song restoration and strengthening his own position was to have court artists illustrate certain classical, historical, and literary texts that had favorable resonance for contemporary situations. Gaozong’s calligraphy sometimes accompanied these pictures, visually associating him with the authority of a revered cultural heritage. Visual propa-

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Figure 52. Attr. Song Gaozong and Li Tang. “Triumphant return to Jin.” Detail from Duke Wen of Jin Recovers His State, section 6. 12th c. Handscroll, ink and color on silk. H: 29.5 cm. Metropolitan Museum of Art.

ganda helped to establish his legitimacy and win the allegiance of high officials.

Duke Wen of Jin Recovers His State A prime example of Gaozong’s pictorial propaganda is Duke Wen of Jin Recovers his State (Jin Wengong fuguo tu), which illustrates an ancient story that the Empress Dowager Meng (1077 – 1135) cited as a historical precedent when she called on him to take the throne and save the dynasty (Figure 52).30 The restorationist tale recounts the travails of Chong’er (7th c. BCE), who was driven from the state of Jin by a coup that killed his older brother, the heir apparent.31 After nineteen years in exile, Chong’er had forged alliances with rulers of other states that enabled him to return to Jin, where he ruled as Duke Wen. The narrative of his bitter expulsion and triumphant restoration might have remained obscure had the duke not become the hegemon of a multistate alliance, a success that resoundingly affirmed his fitness to rule. Despite the story’s colorful and dramatic elements, it became the subject of painting only in the early Southern Song, at Gaozong’s instigation.32 For purposes of illustration, the account of Duke Wen’s tribulations and eventual triumph was divided into ten ep-

isodes, based on the states that Chong’er visited. A handscroll in the Metropolitan Museum of Art contains only the last six.33 Five scenes show the future duke on his mission to enlist allies, traveling to neighboring states whose rulers received him with varying degrees of hospitality. The last section portrays his carriage and grand entourage approaching the gates of the Jin capital, moving from left to right (Figure 52). By reversing the handscroll’s normal flow of action, this powerful conclusion underscores the triumph of his return. Elegantly painted in richly varied ink and pale colors on silk, the pictures are very wide, averaging some 52 inches (130 cm.) each. The accompanying sections of text vary in length and follow their respective illustrations, invoking the preBuddhist format recently revived by Li Gonglin (see Chapter 5). These visual elements create an archaistic yet courtly ambiance that is perfectly suited to the classical tale. The calligraphy following each scene of the handscroll provides evidence that Gaozong commissioned the work very early in his reign, probably soon after an attempted coup in 1129 nearly drove him from the throne.34 The story of Duke Wen’s quest is transcribed in an early style modeled on Huang Tingjian’s, which Gaozong abandoned in the mid-1130s.35 Whether personally writLater Narrative Illustration at Court  |  79

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Figure 53. Li Tang. Detail from Bo Yi and Shu Qi Picking Ferns. 12th c. Handscroll, ink and color on silk. H: 27.2 cm. Palace Museum, Beijing.

ten or filled in by ghostwriters, Gaozong’s calligraphy linked him with the pictorial documentation of an ancient precedent that predicted a rosy future for him. The illustrations are attributed to Li Tang (c.1080 – c.1163), a veteran of Huizong’s court painting bureau, whom Gaozong may have known in Kaifeng and actively recruited after establishing his provisional court in the South.36 The figures are large and elegantly drawn in a manner reminiscent of Gu Kaizhi, as represented by the Biographies of Exemplary Women (Figure 16). They impart an aura of antiquity appropriate to the subject, while Song-style palace architecture signals its contemporary relevance.

Picking Ferns Another trenchant tale from ancient history that Li Tang illustrated for Gaozong, again probably early in the reign, is the story of the virtuous brothers Bo Yi and Shu Qi.37 The two men had remained loyal to the Shang dynasty when it fell and refused to serve the Zhou conquerors. Rather than “eat Zhou millet” (chi Zhou su), Bo Yi and Shu Qi fled to Mt. Shouyang to live on forest vegetation, where they slowly and stoically starved to death. The narrative details of the story are distilled into a single poignant scene in a handscroll now in the Palace Museum, Beijing (Figure 53).38 Although the painting is usually titled Picking Ferns (Caiwei

tu), it bears the discreet inscription “Li Tang of Heyang painted Bo Yi and Shu Qi” (Heyang Li Tang hua Bo Yi Shu Qi) next to the tree behind the left figure.39 Painted in ink and slight color on silk, the composition presents a close-up view of two men sitting in a forest clearing near a meandering stream. Their mode of subsistence is signaled by a large basket containing cut plants placed prominently in center foreground next to a pick. One brother clasps his hands together over his knee, thoughtfully listening to the animated conversation of his gesticulating companion. Their unusually detailed faces convey brotherly affection as well as a lofty and dignified spirit. For Southern Song survivors of the Jurchen invasion, the story of the ancient loyalist-martyrs represented a standard for evaluating contemporary options. If even the venerable founders of the Zhou dynasty did not merit a transfer of allegiance, although they were later revered as sage rulers, how much less deserving were the Jurchen and their puppets in North China? Although no twelfth-century documentation survives on the scroll, a Yuan colophon asserts that the painting was made as an exhortation to people who had fled to the South:40 “Its intention was to admonish. In showing [Bo] Yi and [Shu] Qi not serving the Zhou, it roused the defeated servitors who had crossed to the South.” Such people included members of the imperial clan, because the

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more distant branches living in Yingtian or Luoyang had mostly escaped capture and made their way south.41 A clansman, Zhao Yuqin (c.1180 – c.1250), owned the scroll in the thirteenth century.42 Under later dynasties, however, the theme of Bo Yi and Shu Qi did not retain this positive association with the Southern Song dynastic revival. Historians criticized Gaozong and deplored the Southern Song as a period of moral laxity, the opposite of Bo Yi and Shu Qi’s principled martyrdom. Thus, in a colophon of 1814, Weng Fanggang (1733 – 1818; js 1752) contrasted the virtuous brothers with “the cowards who crossed to the South” (Nandu chan).43

Eighteen Songs of a Nomad Flute In the middle of his reign, Gaozong commissioned illustrations of Liu Shang’s Eighteen Songs of a Nomad Flute, a cycle of Tang poems written in the voice of Cai Yan, Lady Wenji.44 Cai had been captured by Xiongnu invaders at the end of the Han period and forced to live with them for some twelve years on the northern steppe. There she bore two children, but she had to leave them behind when she was ransomed back to China, where she no longer had close relatives. Poems attributed to Cai Yan lament the loneliness and isolation she felt after her return, but the Tang poet Liu Shang reworked the story to conclude with a warm welcome by her family.45 In addition to this fictional happy ending, Liu’s retelling suggests that the moral propriety of Cai’s return to Han civilization outweighed the emotional pain of losing her halfXiongnu children. His revision offered an ideal literary precedent for Gaozong to use in justifying his peace treaty with the Jurchens, which in 1142 freed his own mother from years of captivity in the North (further discussed below).46 Unlike Duke Wen of Jin Recovers his State, illustrations of Eighteen Songs of a Nomad Flute did not originate at Gaozong’s court but came out of an earlier tradition, which he redirected to suit his purposes. Guo Ruoxu recorded the earliest illustrations of the Eighteen Songs of a Nomad Flute, by the Five Dynasties artist Zhu Jianzhang (10th c.).47 Seemingly realistic and detailed paintings that purported to portray the customs of “northern barbarians” evolved in the Five Dynasties period and became recognized as a genre, called “Barbarian Tribes” (fanzu), in the late Northern Song.48 Stimulated in part by an uneasy coexistence along the northern border with the Khitan Liao dynasty (907 – 1125) and Tangut Xi Xia kingdom (1032 – 1227), these ethnographic pictures

constructed steppe pastoralism as the antithesis of Chinese civilization in the central plain. Such representations glossed over the complexities of contemporary Khitan and Tangut livelihoods, which included agriculture and town-dwelling in addition to animal herding. The story of Cai Yan’s capture and ransom gratified Northern Song literati with an exotic conception of nomadic life and affirmed their stereotypes of female passivity, which were based more on boudoir poetry than on Cai’s actual experiences.49 In the factionalized environment of late Northern Song politics, her saga may also have offered a suggestive metaphor for officials who unjustly suffered exile in the hinterland but survived to be recalled to the capital when their opponents lost power.50 Not surprisingly, Li Gonglin took up the subject, and his illustration is recorded in the late Northern Song palace collection under the title Cai Yan Returns to Han (Cai Yan huan Han tu).51 In her detailed study of the fanzu genre, Irene Leung suggests that four paintings on the Cai Yan theme, now in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, faithfully represent Li Gonglin’s conception and may even be fragments of his original work (Plate 14).52 Besides various identifying hallmarks of Li’s painting practice, such as occasional archaisms in motifs and visual structures, Leung notes the illustrator’s interest in portraying emotional personal relationships that are not described in Liu Shang’s text, and in general, an approach that is more like commentary than straightforward illustration. As discussed in Chapter 5, these features are characteristic of Li Gonglin’s paintings. Leung also proposes that the sympathetic depictions of northerners with Khitan attributes, such as distinctive hairstyles and clothing, reveal the painter’s opposition to the New Policies, instituted in the 1070s by Wang Anshi (1021 – 1086; js 1042).53 Among other things, Wang had increased military expenditures in order to deal more aggressively with the Liao [and the Xi Xia] and to capture northern territories lost since the Tang period.54 Thus, Leung would place the Boston paintings in the Yuanyou era (1086 – 1094), when Wang’s policies were temporarily reversed and conservative officials had gained control of the government. Moreover, Li Gonglin himself was serving at the capital during this period. As with Duke Wen of Jin Recovers his State, an early Yuan catalog attributes the Southern Song illustrations of Eighteen Songs of a Nomad Flute to Li Tang and their accompanying texts to EmLater Narrative Illustration at Court  |  81

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Figure 54. Attr. Song Gaozong and Li Tang. Detail from Eighteen Songs of a Nomad Flute, section 16. Date uncertain. Handscroll, ink and color on silk. H: 28.3 cm. Metropolitan Museum of Art.

peror Gaozong.55 The similarities between the four compositions preserved in the Boston album and their counterparts in a handscroll in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, containing all eighteen scenes (Plate 3 and Figure 54 ),56 suggest that the Southern Song illustrations followed Li Gonglin’s model fairly closely. Although the fragmentary Boston paintings now have no texts, they are unusually wide and clearly were once mounted in a handscroll. The Metropolitan scroll displays a segmented-narrative treatment, with alternating passages of calligraphy and painting. The text of each song is written in Gaozong’s calligraphic style of the 1140s, followed by a panoramic scene of small but detailed figures in an evocative landscape or architectural setting.57 Cinematic in narrative sequencing, the paintings represent Cai Yan’s experiences from violent abduction to celebratory return, starting and ending in the same magnificent city. The bustling metropolis contrasts sharply with the barren environment of the harsh northern steppe depicted in the intervening scenes, which detail Cai’s journey north, her years of nomadic livelihood (Plate 3), and her return to the South (Figure 54). Viewers are left in no doubt that the

Chinese way of life is superior, even as they savor the exotic details of a material culture featuring tents and campfire cooking. Although ostensibly representing ancient Xiongnu practices, the artists who painted the Eighteen Songs of a Nomad Flute drew from a pastiche of poetic tropes and painterly conventions for portraying contemporary northern livelihood. This approach created a visual subtext asserting a dichotomy between the civilized culture of the Song and the barbaric power of the Khitans and Jurchens.58 In later eras, when the parallels between Cai Yan and Gaozong’s mother were no longer relevant, this affirmation of Chinese civilization over foreign ways continued to gratify viewers and collectors, ensuring the theme’s lasting appeal.

Welcoming the Imperial Carriage Illustrations of the Eighteen Songs of a Nomad Flute provided a subtle and literary means of promoting Gaozong’s inglorious peace treaty with the Jurchens, but a handscroll now titled Welcoming the Imperial Carriage (Yingluan tu) directly portrays the most celebrated result of the negotiations (Plate 15).59 The paint-

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ing commemorated the release of Gaozong’s mother, Empress Dowager Wei (1080 – 1159),60 and the return of the bodies of the deceased Emperor Huizong and two empresses in 1142.61 In the panoramic composition, a delegation of Song officials headed by a man under a ceremonial canopy is waiting to greet the large procession that is approaching from the left. Centered on a grand sedan chair carried by sixteen men and shielded from view by fans and screens, the arriving convoy also includes two ox-drawn carriages and numerous envoys and attendants. Humble spectators line the roadway between the two groups. The encounter takes place in a landscape of low hills and water, whose sketchiness contrasts with the profusion of meticulous detail that distinguishes the many different types of people, animals, and conveyances. The Song style of the officials’ clothing and headgear, such as the cap with long, stiff “ears,” identify the occasion as a contemporary event, in contrast to the archaistic outfits of the Han envoys sent to retrieve Cai Yan in the Eighteen Songs paintings (Figure 54). Although the polished technique of Welcoming the Imperial Carriage marks it as a product of the court painting bureau, the work was not a faithful documentary but rather a symbolic representation, and some of its details contradict well-known historical and geographical facts of the empress dowager’s journey.62 For example, her party traveled by water, but the picture shows overland travel, invoking the imagery of Cai Yan’s returning caravan (cf. Figure 54). By commemorating his mother’s arrival in this way, Gaozong directed attention to his filial piety and reinforced the idea that he had made peace with the Jurchens in order to care for her and give his father a proper burial.63 Unlike the segmented narrative illustrations of Eighteen Songs of a Nomad Flute and Duke Wen of Jin Recovers His State, which closely match their accompanying texts, Welcoming the Imperial Carriage presents a single emblematic composition, like Bo Yi and Shu Qi. Nonetheless, the painting was once attached to a commemorative text composed by Cao Xun (1098 – 1174), an official who had participated in the mission to negotiate the terms of the peace treaty.64 After the empress dowager reached the southern capital at Lin’an, Cao requested permission to withdraw from official service, and Gaozong bestowed the painting on him at that time.65 Retiring to Mt. Tiantai, Cao composed an account of the mission in a preface and suite of ten prose-poems (fu), describing

everything that happened from the moment he received his orders to his retirement after the empress dowager’s safe arrival.66 Many years later Cao carefully transcribed the preface and first seven prose-poems onto a section of silk after the painting, ending with a piece entitled “The Returning Carriage” (“Hui luan”).67 Cao enjoined his descendants to pass the work down in the family.68 Although Welcoming the Imperial Carriage originally celebrated the benefits of peace with the Jurchens and advertised Gaozong’s filial virtue as the motive for negotiating the treaty, Cao’s text turned the painting into a testimonial to his own meritorious service. By the seventeenth century, however, his calligraphy and the painting had become separated, opening the picture to a range of alternative identifications. In 1790 Qing palace connoisseurs scrupulously ignored the Song costumes and identified it as Li Mi Greeting the Prince of Qin (Li Mi ying Qinwang tu), an illustration of a Tang event.69 Whether or not they recognized the true subject, they dared not offend the Qianlong emperor (1711 – 1799; r. 1735 – 1796) with any reference to the Southern Song’s gain from the 1142 treaty, because Qing rulers claimed the Jurchens as ancestors.

Auspicious Omens for Dynastic Revival Cao Xun was also a key participant in creating Auspicious Omens for Dynastic Revival (Zhongxing ruiying tu), a work that impresses the modern viewer as a particularly blatant example of Gaozong’s visual propaganda.70 Cao composed accounts of twelve extraordinary events from Gaozong’s early life, producing a prose introduction and rhymed eulogy for each one, and court artists painted detailed illustrations (Plate 16). The twelve incidents foretold Gaozong’s destiny to ascend the throne and save the imperiled dynasty, even though he was Emperor Huizong’s ninth son and far down the normal line of imperial succession. Cao premised his narrative on the ancient belief that paranormal phenomena and unusual occurrences were signs of heaven’s blessing or portents of the future (see Chapter 2). Extraordinary events and prodigious abilities were expected to mark the early lives of deities, sages, founding emperors, and other kinds of heroic individuals, setting them apart from ordinary people.71 The twelve auspicious omens of Gaozong’s imperial destiny included a golden light flooding the room when he was born, early displays of preternatural strength and martial skills, and interventions by guardian deities to protect Later Narrative Illustration at Court  |  83

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him in times of danger.72 The twelfth and last episode revealed what the earlier omens hinted at only indirectly, that Gaozong was fated to rule (Plate 16). While fighting to recover the capital after the Jurchen invasion, he dreamed that the Emperor Qinzong (in captivity) handed him the imperial robes. When he tried to refuse them, he awoke. Bestowing garments on a successor symbolized the transmission of authority and legitimacy, a concept made familiar by centuries of Buddhist practice. Not all of the illustrations of the Auspicious Omens have survived, and the extant compositions are divided among several partial versions of the subject.73 Qing catalogs provide detailed descriptions of a silk handscroll containing texts and colored paintings for all twelve omens, but this work disappeared after leaving the palace collection in 1925.74 Although the paintings were unsigned, the Qing connoisseurs accepted a Ming attribution to Xiao Zhao (12th c.), an artist in the painting bureau at Gaozong’s court.75 It is possible that court artists produced multiple sets of scrolls illustrating the Auspicious Omens. Seven pictures are preserved in two fragmentary handscrolls, one in the Tianjin Museum with three episodes, and the other now lost but reproduced in old photographs, with four.76 In both handscrolls, each omen is introduced with a formal transcription of Cao’s text in spacious regular script. The preface occupies the full height of the scroll, while the lines of the eulogy are indented and grouped into four-character units. The paintings that follow are unusually wide and crammed with interesting details, all rendered in a meticulous courtly technique. Like the urban scenes in the Eighteen Songs of a Nomad Flute (Plate 14), several omens include carefully drawn buildings in the Song architectural idiom, but with a slightly archaistic spatial treatment. The style and conception of various figures are comparable to those in Welcoming the Imperial Carriage (Plate 15). Some of the Auspicious Omens pictures portray multiple actions taking place within a panoramic setting, while the others depict a single event at closer range. Two scenes, including the depiction of Gaozong’s dream (Plate 16), repeat the figure of the protagonist. In Hironobu Kohara’s view, such attention to the visual presentation of narrative makes Auspicious Omens unusual for a later Chinese handscroll painting.77 Unlike the other politically charged works discussed above, Auspicious Omens for Dynastic Revival was created after Gaozong

had abdicated the throne to Xiaozong (r. 1162 – 1189), more specifically between 1171 and 1174.78 The timing seems anomalous at first, because a retired emperor would not be trying to recruit supporters to his regime. However, Gaozong was concerned about the judgment of history and the kind of exemplar he would become to later generations of rulers. As attested by his own writings and various statements attributed to him by others, Gaozong thought seriously about role models from earlier periods. While in retirement, he wrote his Treatise on Brush and Ink (Hanmo zhi), a memoir about his lifelong involvement with calligraphy.79 Sprinkled with comments about previous emperors, it reveals his aspiration to attain the lofty reputation of imperial predecessors he admired, particularly Tang Taizong. Gaozong’s desire to be recognized as a paragon of political and cultural leadership also motivated his commissions of other paintings during his twenty-five years in retirement. Noteworthy among them are the illustrations for the Book of Odes, the Confucian classic of ancient poetry, which court artists produced in multiple sets from designs by Ma Hezhi (12th century).80 Accordingly, it is very likely that Gaozong commissioned or at least welcomed Cao’s Auspicious Omens, which visually documented the evidence that heaven had ordained his unorthodox succession.

Exhorting the Emperor: The Ruler-minister Dyad Confucian political philosophy defined the relationship between an emperor and his ministers as one of reciprocal obligation. A ruler was supposed to seek and heed the wise counsel of worthy officials, and they had a duty to advise and correct him. In consequence, paintings that portrayed stories of exhortation or admonition could be suitable for either party. An emperor might commission instructive illustrations to remind himself to rule wisely and to consult with his ministers. Whether his professed motives were heartfelt or only calculated to achieve a better public image, such pictures expressed his commitment to the ideals of Confucian sovereignty and indicated that he accepted his responsibilities. As noted in Chapter 5, Guo Ruoxu’s essay on paintings as “advisory mirrors” cited Tang emperor Wenzong’s commission to illustrate stories that addressed the relationship between ruler and minister.81 In 828 Wenzong personally selected various deeds of

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ancient sovereigns and their ministers from the Book of Documents and had them painted inside the Great Liquid Pavilion, where he would encounter them daily.82 Around the same time Wenzong also ordered the court artist Cheng Xiuji (c.804 – 863) to make a new set of illustrations for another of the Confucian classics, the Book of Odes.83 The ancient poems were valuable guides for cultivating morality because they were believed to express the virtues and failings of historical individuals in specific situations. Moreover, some odes described ancient ceremonial practices and rituals that later rulers sought to perpetuate. Wenzong probably did not view these works alone but encouraged his courtiers to contemplate them, just as Song Renzong did over two centuries later with similar paintings in the Pavilion of Welcoming the Male Principle (see p. 76 above). Although historical accounts do not describe the visual features of these pictorial admonitions, two extant hanging scrolls suggest the general appearance of the didactic paintings displayed in Tang Wenzong’s Great Liquid Pavilion and Song Renzong’s Pavilion of Welcoming the Male Principle. The two works, Breaking the Balustrade (Zhejian tu, Plate 17) and Protesting the Seat (Quezuo tu, Plate 18), both illustrate well-known stories about officials remonstrating with Han emperors.84 Now in the National Palace Museum, Taibei, the hanging scrolls are painted in ink and color on silk and display the meticulous techniques associated with the Song court painting bureau. Even though the subjects were of the Han period, the anonymous Song artists placed the events in contemporary settings, with the ornate architecture and sumptuous furnishings of Song palace gardens. By updating such material details, the artists made the confrontations more immediate for Song viewers, whether intentionally or not. Breaking the Balustrade illustrates an episode at the court of Han Chengdi, the same emperor who had received admonition with pictorial aids from Ban Bo and Virtuous Consort Ban in the famous anecdotes recounted in Chapter 2. The story centers on the upright official Zhu Yun, who reproached Chengdi for allowing unworthy men to dominate governmental affairs. When Zhu dramatically requested a great sword to kill Zhang Yu, the emperor’s particular favorite, the enraged ruler ordered Zhu’s execution.85 Crying that he would be honored to join the renowned ancient remonstrator-martyrs Long Pang and Bi Gan (11th c. BCE), Zhu clung to a railing, which broke as the guards struggled

to take him away. At this charged moment, General Xin Qingji bravely stepped forward and begged the emperor to be magnanimous and spare Zhu’s life, regardless of whether or not his allegations were valid. As in the other anecdotes, Chengdi was easily persuaded, and he ordered the broken balustrade left unrepaired to remind him of the upright official. The painting conflates the dramatic moments into an inverted triangle formed by the major participants. At left, two guards apprehend Zhu, who holds up his official tablet while wrapping one arm around the as-yet unbroken railing. At right, a corpulent and informally seated Chengdi leans forward on his throne, behind which stand two tittering concubines, flanked by a sheepishlooking Zhang Yu and an attendant holding an enormous sword. In the center, a lone Xin Qingji bows low with his tablet. The composition of Protesting the Seat (or more accurately, Protesting the Seating; Plate 18) also uses an inverted triangle formed by major figures as an effective structure for portraying a suspenseful encounter between emperor and minister. As in Breaking the Balustrade, the narrative is set out of doors, with a large tree at right framing the emperor and his entourage of lovely ladies, who form a semicircle around him. The interaction in Protesting the Seat is less dramatic or self-explanatory, although the postures of the main figures clearly suggest a confrontation. The story comes from the biography of an early Han official, Yuan Ang (2nd c. BCE), who remonstrated with Han emperor Wendi (r. 180 – 157 BCE) for allowing his consort, Lady Shen, to sit as his equal.86 When the emperor and his ladies went on a pleasure outing to the Shanglin Park, a functionary spread their mats on the same level. Pulling Lady Shen’s back, Yuan clarified the consort’s inferior status, whereupon she refused to sit, and the emperor became enraged. Explaining that seating protocol was important for maintaining hierarchical relationships, Yuan suggested that the emperor’s lack of concern for propriety could lead to disaster. Fortunately for Yuan, the emperor accepted his argument and instructed Lady Shen to give him a reward. The painting shows Yuan bowing low and averting his face behind his tablet. An imperial guard looks toward him and raises his weapon, as if anticipating an order to punish the outspoken official. The emperor leans forward on his throne with a slightly chastened expression. Ornately decorated stools for the empress and consort are placed on the ground, flanking his chair (anachLater Narrative Illustration at Court  |  85

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ronistic for the Han period) with the symmetry of a Buddhist icon. The empress sits at his left, attended by a small maid, and bows her head slightly. On his other side, an emotional Lady Shen stands beside her stool, facing the emperor with her hands raised in a beseeching gesture. All these actions suggest the climax of the story, when Yuan is awaiting the emperor’s response to his criticism. The relatively large scale of the figures draws the viewer into the suspense. Without specific attributions or documentary information that could cast light on the circumstances that produced these two paintings, their original significance is ambiguous. Possibly addressed to particular situations, they serve equally well to affirm conventional ideals for rulers and ministers. Both stories celebrate the brave official who fulfilled his responsibility to admonish his lord even at the risk of his life, but they also feature an emperor who recognized his obligation to accept correction. In format the paintings are well suited for display on walls or screens in the palace buildings where the emperor met with his officials. The pictures might prompt him to remember that an exemplary Confucian ruler welcomed principled admonition, while reminding the bureaucrats that it was their duty to provide it. The exhibition of such moralizing images might also symbolize the emperor’s claim (whether sincere or not) to be receptive to honest and well-intentioned criticism, and advertise his desire to be honored as a model sovereign. This multivalence allowed paintings of remonstrance to serve a variety of purposes and patrons. If an official commissioned a painting in order to exhort or admonish the emperor, it was best to be oblique. Instructive pictures of his predecessors’ deeds allowed a ruler to form his own conclusion about their relevance to his situation. He could take the lesson to heart and act on it, or he could choose to ignore it. By contrast, an explicit painting of current events had no intervening layer of allusion to create diplomatic ambiguity, and its immediacy compelled the emperor to respond. Advice or warnings presented with pictures could certainly influence imperial conduct, but in unpredictable and sometimes undesirable ways. In 1074 the official Zheng Xia (1040 – 1118) submitted a painting that graphically illustrated the disastrous effects of a misguided policy. Later called The Refugees (Liumin tu), the work portrayed starved and desperate peasants fleeing a prolonged drought,

whose effects had allegedly been exacerbated by Wang Anshi’s controversial New Policies.87 In his accompanying memorial to Emperor Shenzong (r. 1067 – 1085), Zheng implied that the policies had upset the cosmic balance. Predicting that rain would fall when they were canceled, he requested the emperor to execute him if it did not rain within ten days. Jolted by the depictions of grievous human suffering and recognizing his responsibility as Son of Heaven to rectify the situation, Shenzong immediately rescinded most of the policies and accepted Wang’s resignation. Three days later, it rained heavily. When the high officials came to offer congratulations, the emperor showed them Zheng’s painting and upbraided them. However, allies of Wang who remained in powerful positions were later able to persuade the emperor to reinstate the policies. Resorting to pictorial admonition once again, Zheng Xia submitted a pair of scrolls entitled Illustrated Deeds of Upright Superior Men and of Depraved Inferior Men (Zhizheng junzi, xiequ xiaoren tuji), which portrayed five Tang officials who had been canonized as either exemplary or villainous.88 In his accompanying memorial, Zheng audaciously suggested that the latter were comparable to the influential courtiers of the present day. This time Zheng’s remonstrance got him exiled to a lowly and distant post.

Molding a Future Ruler: Imperial Tutors and Didactic Picturebooks Although Zheng Xia gained renown for his efforts to remonstrate with Shenzong using pictures, it is hard to find many other officials who actually resorted to this means of persuasion with an emperor. From the late Northern Song period onward, moralistic narrative illustrations were more often prepared for a crown prince, or a very young ruler, as part of his education to assume his responsibilities as Son of Heaven. This phenomenon is closely related to the institution of court lectures as a regular occasion for Hanlin officials to instruct the emperor and encourage him to cultivate his heart-mind in accord with cosmic principles.89 When Shenzong died in 1085, his eight-year-old son ascended the throne as Emperor Zhezong, with Grand Empress Dowager Gao as his regent.90 During the Yuanyou period, she recalled members of the anti-reform party to court, including Sima Guang (1019 –1086; js 1038) as Grand Councilor. He filled powerful posi-

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tions with officials who believed that personal moral cultivation, rather than policy reform, was the key to good government. The empress dowager also had reprints made of Renzong’s illustrated compilations, Pictures of Contemplating Texts and Using the Past as a Mirror and Illustrated Instructive Mirror of the Three Courts to use in Zhezong’s education.91 Representing the deeds of earlier rulers as models to emulate or avoid, the pictures embodied a conception of history as a pattern governed by constant moral principles. Correctly interpreted, past events offered a “mirror” to guide the leaders of later ages. Lecturer-in-Waiting Fan Zuyu (1041 – 1098; js 1063) urged the young emperor to study the pictures so that he would recognize virtuous and evil conduct and understand the difficulties of a ruler’s enterprise.92 As Zhezong’s tutors, Fan Zuyu, Cheng Yi (1033 – 1107), and other illustrious literati in the Hanlin Academy developed a curriculum designed more generally to mold the emperor into an ideal Confucian ruler.93 Centered on the Great Learning (Daxue), imperial instruction stressed the rectification of the emperor’s heart-mind as the first step of an orderly program for governing the world. To supplement the Great Learning’s elegant but somewhat abstract discourse, Fan composed Learning for the Emperor (Dixue). This unillustrated history explained the principles of imperial learning and moral cultivation in straightforward prose, using selected earlier rulers as examples. Three-quarters of the book dealt with the Northern Song emperors, ending with Zhezong’s father, Shenzong. As W. T. De Bary has observed, the inclusion of recent models made the ideals seem more attainable than if they were associated only with ancient sage rulers.94 In 1229 Zhen Dexiu (1178 – 1235; js 1199) presented Extended Meanings of the Great Learning (Daxue yanyi), a comprehensive work for use in court lectures, which inserted concrete examples from the classics and histories into the self-cultivation program outlined in the Great Learning.95

Summaries of the Actions of a Crown Prince Although formal instruction normally did not involve pictures, illustrated primers might be offered to a young child or to an imperial pupil who was not Chinese. In 1282, after the Mongol conquest, the Chinese official Wang Yun (1227 – 1304) prepared Summaries of the Actions of a Crown Prince (Chenghua shilue) for Zhenjin (1243 – 1286), who in 1275 had been named heir appar-

ent to Kubilai (Yuan Shizu, r. 1260 – 1294).96 To teach the Mongol prince about Confucian morality and statecraft, Wang organized the work into twenty themes in a progressive sequence, whose logic he explained in his preface. “Broadening Filiality” (“Guang xiao”) came first because filial piety was the “root of virtue” (as stated in the opening lines of the Classic of Filial Piety), and “Reviewing Officials” (“Shen guan”) was last because the emperor was responsible for maintaining high-quality administrative personnel throughout the realm.97 Each lesson included anywhere from one to five exemplary crown princes of the predynastic Zhou through the Tang periods. Their admirable deeds were illustrated in paintings and re­counted in short excerpts from historical or classical texts.98 Wang’s preface affirmed that he had included paintings because “one must see the greatness of ancient men in the traces of events from their time.” The appended explanations would make it easy for Zhenjin to gain understanding while progressing through the sequence. At the end of each thematic section, Wang restated its main point, sometimes relating it to current concerns of Zhenjin or his father. The official history of the Yuan dynasty claims that Zhenjin received the compendium enthusiastically and looked through it with great interest.99 Upon reaching the stories about virtuous actions by the future Han Chengdi and Tang Suzong (r. 756 – 762), Zhenjin reportedly exclaimed, “If I achieve these principles, then I too will be like this.” He ordered his half-brothers to study the work as well, and it was eventually translated into Mongolian. Despite his preparation to rule, however, Zhenjin died before his father and never occupied the throne. Wang Yun’s memorial submitting Summaries of the Actions of a Crown Prince to the throne indicates that the work consisted of six handscrolls, but it does not identify the artist(s) responsible for the illustrations.100 Not surprisingly, the paintings were soon lost, while the texts were preserved and transmitted in Wang’s collected writings.101 In 1895 a group of eminent Qing court scholars received orders to create and publish a new illustrated edition (Figure 55).102 The editorial team collated various versions of Wang Yun’s texts and commissioned new pictures from unnamed artists. Drawn in a dense, fine-line style emulating modern lithography, the woodblock-printed illustrations have descriptive titles and labels for the important figures in each scene.

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Ming Picturebooks The 1895 memorial submitting the reconstituted Summaries of the Actions of a Crown Prince for imperial approval states that the newly created pictures were modeled after those in Cultivating Rectitude, Illustrated and Explained (Yangzheng tujie), a Ming didactic picturebook that the palace printing workshop had also recently been ordered to republish.103 Compiled in the 1590s by Jiao Hong (1541 – 1620; js 1589 [optimus]), an eminent Hanlin academician and palace tutor, the Ming work contained sixty illustrated stories of meritorious crown princes, rulers, and wise advisers of antiquity.104 The illustrations were designed by Ding Yunpeng (1547 – 1628), a renowned painter associated with the Jiangnan scholar-elite.105 Arranged in simple chronological order rather than grouped thematically, the exemplars include many of the same individuals as Summaries of the Actions of a Crown Prince. In both works the earliest role model is the boy who became King Wen of the Zhou dynasty (11th c. BCE), a paragon of filial solicitude who checked on his parents’ well-being three times a day (Figure 56; compare with Figure 55).106 Jiao Hong was one of six literati officials appointed in 1594 to begin teaching the Wanli emperor’s eldest son, Zhu Changluo (1582 – 1620; r. 1620 as the Taichang emperor), whose investiture as crown prince had been delayed because Wanli was annoyed by the barrage of memorials requesting him to designate his heir.107 Already a teenager when he entered formal instruction, the prince had difficulty grasping the abstract concepts in the Four Books and Five Classics. After about a year, Jiao created Cultivating Rectitude, Illustrated and Explained to supplement the curriculum. Although Zhu was too old to use an illustrated primer in his formal studies, Jiao was convinced that the youth would benefit from perusing pictures of historical events in his leisure time. As Jiao explained in the preface: The good emerges from principle but involves the abstruse and is hard to see. Events demonstrate truths and are easy to understand. Accordingly, moderns and ancients communicated them, and pictures and paintings have represented them. If you recite [text] in the morning and open [pictures] in the evening, then your seeing and understanding will be complete.108

Figure 55. “Wenwang inquires about his parents and checks their food in the morning.” Qinding Yuan Wang Yun Chenghua shilue butu (Wang Yun of the Yuan’s Summaries of the Actions of a Crown Prince, Supplemented with Pictures, Imperially Prescribed), juan 1, p. 1a. Wu­yingdian edition, 1896. Woodblock-printed book. Frame H: c.24.5 cm.

Unlike Wang Yun’s Summaries of the Actions of a Crown Prince, the title of Jiao Hong’s work proclaims that pictures and texts play complementary roles in conveying didactic content. Moreover, Cultivating Rectitude, Illustrated and Explained is just one of several pictorial works created by Ming high officials to stimulate a young emperor or heir apparent to become a sage ruler. Over a

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bureaucrat who evidently aspired to such a responsibility. Their repeated recourse to narrative illustration suggests the intersection of two contemporary trends: a growing belief in the power of pictures as an expedient means of awakening the moral nature (liang zhi or liang xin) inherent in every human being,109 and an increasingly urgent need for a ruler who was able and willing to play his proper role in the cosmic system. Only an exemplary Son of Heaven could restore order and harmony to the factionalized political realm and rapidly commercializing society of the sixteenth century. In his preface to Cultivating Rectitude, Illustrated and Explained, Jiao Hong claims that he was only reviving a precedent established by Ming Taizu (r. 1368 – 1398) himself. The founding emperor had used stories and pictures to instruct his sons, for he realized that the survival of his dynasty would depend on his heir’s preparation: Widely he gathered aged and great gentlemen to attend the Heir Apparent and the other princes; and he ordered the officials, when they had leisure from lecturing on the classics, to tell them stories about enlightened rulers and good prime ministers, filial sons and loyal ministers, as well as the vagaries of current government and examples of sufferings among the people. He also ordered them to paint pictures of the difficulties and misfortunes of the agricultural enterprise, and pictures of filial conduct in antiquity, and submit them. . . . Respectfully following Taizu’s instructions, I have selected ancient speeches and actions that can provide exhortation and admonition, and composed them into picture-explanations, whose name is Cultivating Rectitude, Illustrated and Explained.110 Figure 56. Ding Yunpeng, designer. “Inspecting food at the bedchamber door.” From Yangzheng tujie (Cultivating Rectitude, Illustrated and Explained), p. 1a, story 1. Jiao Hong’s edition, c.1595. Woodblockprinted book, carved by Huang Qi. Frame H: c.24 cm.

one-hundred-year period, from 1495 to 1595, at least four collections of historical exemplars were submitted to the throne as albums of pictures matched with punctuated and annotated texts. Three were sponsored by officials whose duties included lecturing to the emperor or crown prince, while one was submitted by a

One of compilations that Ming Taizu had distributed to his sons was Record of the Bright Mirror (Zhaojian lu, 1373), whose 144 stories about Han, Tang, and Song princes fell into three categories: eighty-one represented “the good, to serve as models” (shan ke wei fa); four were “first bad, later good” (xian e hou shan); and fifty-nine were “the bad, to serve as warnings” (e ke wei jie).111 In addition, Ming Taizu had compiled or commissioned instructive stories and admonitions for ministers, officials, and other groups to promote orthodox morality throughout the realm and bolster the new dynasty’s authority. His early successors followed his example and issued a range of moralistic works to imperial princes,

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high officials, palace women and their relatives, and the general populace.112 While ostensibly promoting morality, the dissemination of such works also asserted the emperor’s legitimacy; Taizu and his usurping son, the Yongle emperor (r. 1402 – 1424), sponsored the great majority of examples. Similarly, the Jingtai emperor (r. 1449 – 1457) published Mirror of Rulers throughout the Ages (Lidai jun jian), while reigning temporarily for his captured brother, Yingzong (r. 1435 – 1449 and 1457 – 1464). The work appeared in 1453, just after Jingtai had deposed Yingzong’s son and installed his own as crown prince, in an attempt to change the legitimate succession to his own line. Ming Taizu also had instituted changes that made the emperor’s role absolutely crucial to the orderly function of government. Fundamentally distrustful of literati officials, he had abolished the post of prime minister in 1380, in effect removing the chief executive of the bureaucracy. Smooth operations now required the emperor’s active and diligent participation in even the most routine administrative matters.113 In addition, as the Son of Heaven, he was responsible for performing an unrelenting schedule of rituals to maintain cosmic balance. With so much depending on the emperor, his character and abilities were vitally important. Moreover, Taizu had proclaimed that there must never be a regency, even when a child succeeded the throne, in part to prevent dowager empresses from colluding with their relatives or high officials to wield political power. Thus it became extremely important to prepare the heir apparent to shoulder the enormous burdens of rulership. After the mid-fifteenth century Ming emperors lost interest in proving their legitimacy by fostering moral cultivation, and some neglected their obligations, allowing eunuchs to play increasingly important roles in government affairs. Although civil officials could use the court-lecture system to urge the emperor to strive for Confucian ideals, they had little leverage if he did not cooperate but chose instead to devote himself to the pleasures of the palace. The best prospect for molding an exemplary Son of Heaven might be to indoctrinate the heir apparent with Confucian moral values as early as possible. In 1495 the Hongzhi emperor (r. 1487 – 1505) received a sumptuous album entitled Pictures of Sagely Merit (Shenggong tu), submitted by Zheng Ji (1439 – 1508; js 1460), the Chief Minister in the Nanjing Court of Imperial Sacrifice.114 Although known today

only from recorded description, it contained one hundred paintings of virtuous deeds performed by crown princes through the ages, from the future King Wen of the Zhou dynasty to unnamed heirs to the Ming throne. Accompanied by brief explanatory texts, the pictures were arranged according to stages in the life of a crown prince: birth and infancy, boyhood and schooling, and capping and enthronement. Zheng intended the work for the fouryear-old crown prince, Zhu Houzhao (1491 – 1521; r. 1505 – 1521 as the Zhengde emperor). In his memorial accompanying the submission, Zheng reminded the Hongzhi emperor that Taizu had stressed the connection between a dynasty’s longevity and the quality of the heir apparent, and he had surrounded his own sons with famous scholars and talented statesmen.115 Asserting that the heir’s character must be shaped from infancy, Zheng quoted Jia Yi’s (200 – 168 BCE) famous advice on the subject to Han Wendi (r. 180 – 157 BCE): “His goodness must be nourished early and his companions selected, so that from birth he sees only upright acts, walks the upright path, and hears upright speech; and those beside him, in front of him, and behind him, all are upright men.”116 Now, Zheng lamented, Ming Taizu’s thorough procedures for grooming an heir apparent had declined. Instead of upright officials attending Zhu Houzhao and teaching him to restrain his desires, palace attendants  — eunuchs — were allowing the boy simply to enjoy himself. Without proper models he would fall into depraved ways; by the age of ten, his character would be set, and then not even the greatest adviser would be able to change it. To expose the prince to “meritorious acts and excellent words” (yixing jiayan) and begin his moral indoctrination, Zheng offered his album of attractive paintings in the courtly “gold and green” (jinbi) style.117 Not only would the child absorb good role models as he enjoyed looking at the pictures, his tutors could also point to specific examples when explaining the cardinal virtues.118 However, the Hongzhi emperor ignored the submission, with its insulting suggestion that the Ming founder’s institutions had deteriorated. In addition, Zheng’s office had no responsibility for the heir’s education, and court officials suspected that Zheng was pandering to the palace’s taste for extravagant decoration in order to obtain an appointment in the crown prince’s Beijing establishment.119 Zheng Ji’s failure did not deter others from trying to use didac-

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tic illustrations to mold the heir apparent. In 1539 Huo Tao (1487 –  1540; js 1514) and Zou Shouyi (1491 – 1562; js 1526) prepared another pictorial album, also called Pictures of Sagely Merit, for Zhu Zaihuo (1536 – 1549), the three-year-old heir to the Jiajing emperor (r. 1522 – 1566).120 Newly appointed as his tutors, Huo and Zou shared Zheng Ji’s conviction that narrative paintings would stimulate the child’s self-cultivation and encourage him to follow worthy role models. Even though Zhu Zaihuo had not yet left the women’s quarters and was too young to begin his studies, the pictures could inspire him to develop an upright character. Huo and Zou’s album was more modest than Zheng Ji’s and contained only thirteen annotated illustrations. The first three portrayed the filial deeds of the archetypal heir apparent, Zhou King Wen, who inquired after his parents three times a day, made sure that their food was the right temperature, and deferred to his elders while receiving instruction. Other pictures showed Zhou princes observing farmers and silkmakers at work so that they would appreciate the people’s hardships and not live extravagantly; and two more portrayed the Ming court’s annual rituals in the Western Park (Xiyuan) honoring agriculture and sericulture, symbolizing the court’s professed commitment to frugality.121 Several of the explanatory texts compared Ming emperors with ancient paragons and proclaimed the dynasty to be a counterpart to the brilliant Zhou. Nonetheless the Jiajing emperor suspected that the commentaries harbored subtle criticisms of his own actions, so he did not accept the album for his son’s instruction.122 Like the two Pictures of Sagely Merit, Jiao Hong’s Cultivating Rectitude, Illustrated and Explained of the mid-1590s also began with Zhou King Wen as heir apparent (Figure 56). Instead of including recent models, however, Jiao prudently ended in the Northern Song period, some five hundred years earlier. The final scene of Cultivating Rectitude, Illustrated and Explained shows Wang Zeng (978 – 1038) presenting scrolls with sixty illustrated accounts of the deeds of ancient sages and former worthies to Song Renzong.123 The accompanying text says that Renzong received the work with enthusiasm and had it reproduced in a woodblock edition to bestow on his close attendants. The parallel between those sixty stories and the sixty of Cultivating Rectitude, Illustrated and Explained suggests that Jiao chose this anecdote to encourage the Wanli emperor to emulate Song Renzong in welcoming the later collection. However, the opposition of other palace lecturers ini-

tially prevented Jiao from submitting the album, and his son took it to Nanjing to be reproduced as a woodblock-printed book. After the eunuch Chen Ju (1539 – 1608) gave a copy to the Wanli emperor in 1597, Jiao Hong composed a memorial formally offering the book as a supplement to the prince’s curriculum.124 The emperor accepted it graciously enough and even bestowed it on his eldest son, but said that the prince’s health was too delicate for him to start studying it right away.125 In all likelihood Jiao Hong’s book reminded the Wanli emperor of The Emperor’s Mirror, Illustrated and Discussed (Dijian tushuo), a sumptuous didactic album given to him in 1573 by Senior Grand Secretary Zhang Juzheng.126 Although Wanli had received four years of formal instruction while heir apparent, he was not quite nine years old when he took the throne in 1572. To encourage him to become a sage ruler, Zhang had orchestrated this appealingly illustrated and copiously annotated collection of exemplary and cautionary tales about rulers from remote antiquity to the late Northern Song period. One volume presented eighty-one models to emulate, and the other contained thirty-six examples to avoid. In the memorial accompanying the submission, Zhang urged: “Seeing the good [models], take them as your teacher and follow them as if [afraid of] not measuring up; seeing the bad ones, take them as a warning and fear them as if touching boiling water.”127 The young Wanli had received the album with enthusiasm and discussed it with Zhang Juzheng in instructional sessions for almost a year, and Zhang held him to its austere standards long afterward. After the domineering minister died in 1582, however, posthumous accusations of corruption and malfeasance led the emperor to repudiate his late mentor and to abandon the Confucian ideals that Zhang had sought to inculcate.128 Although the original album with painted pictures and handwritten texts does not survive, a printed reproduction that was made a few months later, at the end of 1573, is still extant (Figure 57).129 Extremely large for a woodblock-printed work, it suggests the luxurious format of the lost original, with picture and text appearing on facing pages.130 The illustrations have titles, and major figures are labeled by name. Many episodes take place in palace halls and courtyards, sometimes with a view of the landscape beyond. Besides the emperor and other important participants, the compositions often include lesser figures and attendants. Some scenes allude to multiple events in the story. Later Narrative Illustration at Court  |  91

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Figure 57. “Dreaming that a good minister was conferred.” From Dijian tushuo (The Emperor’s Mirror, Illustrated and Discussed), p. 10a, story 10. Pan Yunduan’s edition, 1573. Woodblock-printed book. Frame H: c.40 cm.

The selection reproduced here illustrates the story of how the Shang emperor Gaozong (Wu Ding, 12th c. BCE) came to employ Fu Yue (c.1150 BCE), whose wise counsel and admonition brought about a dynastic revival. One night, soon after taking the throne, Gaozong dreamed that the Lord on High (Shangdi) had sent him a great minister. Upon awakening, he had a portrait made with the features of the minister he had seen in his dream and sent out messengers with the image to find the person who matched it. When they came upon Fu Yue toiling on a construction site in the countryside, they recognized him as the man in the portrait and brought him back to court. The illustration is a synoptic composition divided diagonally, with Gaozong’s dream portrayed at upper right and the discovery of Fu Yue at lower left. A cloud containing the dream scene emanates upward from the head of the Shang ruler, who is dozing at his desk in a Ming-style palace.

In his dream a deity flanked by two attendants hovers above two men, who bow formally to one another as emperor and minister. In the opposite corner of the illustration, divided from the palace by a border of rocks, Fu Yue stands on a beam holding his tools, while two envoys show him a bust portrait mounted in a short scroll. All together, Fu Yue’s image appears three times and the emperor’s twice. Such repetition is rare in The Emperor’s Mirror, Illustrated and Discussed, which more often uses a conflated composition to present separate stages of a story, without repeating any of the participants. Perhaps the repetition here is meant to emphasize the ruler’s duty to welcome wise counsel, a lesson with obvious application to the relationship between the young Wanli emperor and Zhang Juzheng.131 Whatever their compositional structure, the illustrations in The Emperor’s Mirror, Illustrated and Discussed are always detailed and discursive, while the much smaller pictures in Cultivating Rectitude, Illustrated and Explained typically focus on a single moment and present fewer, larger figures in close-up views, without name labels (see Figure 56). Nonetheless, both compendia give priority to the illustration and explain it with a punctuated text transcribed from the classics or histories, followed by detailed commentary in more straightforward, sometimes vernacular language. Like the Pictures of Sagely Merit, both of the later compilations embody the belief that pictures of exemplars in action offered an expedient means of molding character.

Conclusion Although often outstanding in their artistry, later narrative illustrations at the court typically were anonymous works commissioned to advance political goals. Emperors and high officials alike used visuality as a means of persuasion to complement other more conventional forms of wielding authority and exerting influence. Visual representations were powerful because they were equated with the real thing. Documentary illustrations proved that events had happened in a particular way and helped to fix an authoritative interpretation into historical memory, while pictorial propaganda could put a favorable spin on potentially injurious situations. Images that triggered certain stories and the moral lessons constructed around them could reinforce instruction, admonitions, and assertions of legitimacy. Seeing not only was be-

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lieving, it also facilitated manipulation, by prompting the viewer to respond in a certain way. But visual persuasion was more likely to succeed when its sponsor already held a position of power, as Ming officials discovered when their pictures failed to influence the emperor. Unlike iconic representations, such as the Portraits of Former Emperors attributed to Yan Liben (Plates 11, 12), narrative illustrations portray virtue in action, associating it with some telling event. Depictions of historical or exemplary figures in specific situations help the viewer understand and remember why the individuals were important role models. Writing about the illustrations in Cultivating Rectitude, Illustrated and Explained, Jiao Hong’s examination classmate Zhu Shilu (1539 – 1610; js 1589) asserted: In general, lectures and readings just analyze principle, while pictures and explanations both show events. The functioning of principle is abstract, and the abstract is obscure and concisely spoken of, and it does not necessarily indicate what it refers to. Events refer to reality, and the observation of reality is easy. Accordingly they are more useful for illuminating principle.132

Although justified by the ultimate Confucian goal of rectifying the heart-mind, a resort to what was “easy” also suggests the Buddhist doctrine of “expedient means” (fangbian), the use of graduated expedients to encourage the believer’s progress to enlightenment. In the sixteenth century, Taizhou-school followers of Wang Yangming (1472 – 1529; js 1499) adopted a similar pragmatism in promoting more accessible methods of self-cultivation.

The resort to pictures and stories to awaken a young emperor or heir apparent’s innate moral sense is a classic example of the practical approaches explored by Taizhou thinkers for developing character as a sound basis for proper action.133 The officials who prepared the two Shenggong tu were direct followers of Wang Yangming, while Zhang Juzheng and Jiao Hong were clients of his disciple Geng Dingxiang (1524 – 1596; js 1556). Nonetheless, pictures had limitations and liabilities as instruments for promoting moral development. Illustrations even of high-minded subjects can stimulate unintended responses, for the viewer’s reaction cannot really be controlled.134 As Li Weizhen bitterly noted in 1604, the Wanli emperor seemed to have taken the wrong lesson from The Emperor’s Mirror, Illustrated and Discussed, because “he has acted on fewer than one-tenth of the picturebook’s good models, but has frequently imitated the bad ones.”135 Despite a mixed reception within the palace, both The Emperor’s Mirror, Illustrated and Discussed and Cultivating Rectitude, Illustrated and Explained thrived in circulation beyond its walls and served many purposes other than ruler education. No matter how unrealistically the illustrated stories portrayed palace life, they offered outsiders voyeuristic access to an exotic realm. In book form, the two compendia appealed to the growing audience for illustrated woodblock-printed publications and combined the protocols of moral instruction with the pleasures of viewing and collecting. The appearance of woodblock editions of the two didactic picturebooks coincided with a flourishing period for later narrative illustration outside the court.

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Chapter  Later Narrative Illustration Outside the Court Persuasion, Pleasure, Prestige, and Piety

F

or a variety of reasons, narrative illustrations on Confucian themes became exceptionally widespread and popular during the last century of the Ming dynasty. Social and economic forces supported a thriving consumer culture and encouraged an upsurge in storytelling genres, in which scholars were deeply involved.1 The sixteenth century saw the maturation of a commercialized economy and a new concentration of population in urban centers, as well as increased rates of literacy and a surge of activity in the printing industry. At the same time, strict examination quotas prevented many educated men from pursuing careers as governmental officials. Even those who succeeded in the exams and gained positions in the bureaucracy might be discouraged by career demands and factional conflicts. Such conditions led many literati, officeholding or not, to devote their energy to pursuits other than administration. Some composed various kinds of informal histories, vernacular tales, short stories, novels, operas, and dramas. Live performances as well as durable material forms circulated their stories to a growing public. At the same time, Taizhou school followers of the philosopherstatesman Wang Yangming were promoting their belief in an innate moral nature that ordinary people, not just the elite, could cultivate.2 Some scholar-officials sponsored instructive stories and pictures intended for broad segments of the populace, evoking the Ming founding emperor’s efforts to encourage morality.3 For example, the censor Zhong Huamin (1537 – 1597; js 1580) created The Sacred Edict, Illustrated and Explained (Shengyu tujie), which provided vernacular interpretations and generic illustrations for of Ming Taizu’s Six Injunctions (Liu yu).4 In 1587 he had the work carved onto a large stone tablet, from which rubbings were to be distributed to all provinces, counties, and districts.5 For women

specifically, Lü Kun (1536 – 1618; js 1574) published Instructions for the Women’s Quarters, Illustrated and Discussed (Guifan tushuo) in 1590, reworking the stories in Liu Xiang’s Biographies of Exemplary Women into a form more readily understood and enjoyed by Ming audiences.6 It proved to be very popular and went through multiple editions.7 Innumerable illustrated versions of Twentyfour Exemplars of Filial Piety (Ershisi xiao) circulated as woodblock-printed books and painted albums, widely disseminating Guo Jujing’s (fl. c.1295 – 1321) redaction of the traditional tales as instructive anecdotes for commoners and particularly appropriate for children.8 In addition to such didactic illustrations created expressly for ordinary people, instructive pictures originally made for the court also came into wider circulation in the late Ming period. The publication of The Emperor’s Mirror, Illustrated and Discussed and Cultivating Rectitude, Illustrated and Explained as woodblock-printed books brought to officials and commoners compilations initially intended for a young emperor and prince, respectively (see Chapter 6). As detailed below, successive editions of both works were published in a variety of contexts, and subtle modifications in format and framing texts tailored the editions to their target audiences. In evaluating these variations I have found much utility in Gérard Genette’s analytical discussion of paratext, which encompasses a variety of features that mediate between a book and its public and serve to introduce the work to readers.9 Another compendium of moralistic pictures, the illustrated life of Confucius, also evolved a variety of forms as it circulated to successive users. Unlike the two anthologies, however, the pictorial biography was originally addressed to mature officials, not to youthful members of the royal family. Moreover, its movement from one context to another entailed changes in its core content,

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in addition to paratextual repackaging. Variously taking the form of paintings, woodblock-printed books, and carved stone tablets, the life of Confucius came to serve more diverse functions than did the later editions of The Emperor’s Mirror and Cultivating Rectitude. Some of the same narrative themes that were popular in illustrated books were also treated in painting. The choice of medium itself may indicate a work’s intended audience and functions. Painting carried greater social prestige than woodblock printing, which was a lowly and anonymous craft tradition until the mid-sixteenth century. Printing technology had been invented to produce multiple copies of religious texts and images, so that believers could accumulate religious merit more rapidly. There were no histories of the medium, nor any important discourses on its origins and principles. Woodblock printing provided reproductions, and many examples of the same work could exist. Although late Ming collectors valued Song printed editions of classical literature, which rarely had illustrations, Ming prints and printed books lacked the cachet of such antiques. By contrast, painters’ names and biographies had been recorded since the Period of Disunion, and artists had begun to sign their works during the Northern Song.10 The involvement of famous men distinguished painting from other forms of artistic production and made it important enough to write about. Histories of painting combined accounts of the painters’ lives and works with treatises on general principles. Theorists traced painting to a common origin with writing, the loftiest of all the visual arts, and articulated its expressive values. Moreover, as a commodity, a painting was a unique art object that literally preserved the physical touch of its creator and offered collectors vicarious contact with his genius. The emphasis on individual artists in traditional histories of painting influenced collectors to prefer paintings that were attributed to famous masters over anonymous works, even skillful ones. As more people gained sufficient wealth to enter the art market in the late sixteenth century, a forgery industry geared up to accommodate their tastes and interests. Particularly in the cultural and commercial centers of Suzhou and Nanjing, forgers churned out paintings signed with the names of the great artists of earlier dynasties, often accompanied by an impressive array of inscriptions and seals that purported to belong to eminent calligraphers and connoisseurs.

Although it is a truism that paintings with false attributions to ancient masters appealed to the undiscriminating nouveaux riches and social climbers scorned by critics, more sympathetic assessments of the social functions of forgeries have begun to emerge in recent scholarship. Joan Stanley-Baker suggests that most collectors preferred paintings and colophons that bore the names of famous men because they sought “vicarious association” and “spiritual communion with the ancient master and his friends,” rather than a purely aesthetic experience.11 Richard Vinograd and James Cahill describe such paintings as “less repositories of rarity-value than vehicles or instruments of exchange in wide circulation,” which participated in “systems of meaning, production, and circulation.”12 Ellen Laing and others observe that a substantial portion of the forger’s inventory consisted of narrative and other figural subjects related to earlier literature, which had come to symbolize canonical culture.13 Such pictures appealed to relatively educated collectors who valued the subject-content but lacked (or disregarded) the technical skills and experience necessary to authenticate painting, calligraphy, and seals. Moreover, well-educated men might inscribe a falsely attributed painting because it illustrated a story whose theme was relevant to current events, thus offering a pretext for discussing contemporary concerns.

Appropriation and Recontextualization Some of the ways of adapting narrative illustrations for new contexts are seen in later versions of The Emperor’s Mirror, Illustrated and Discussed and Cultivating Rectitude, Illustrated and Explained. Although created for the Wanli emperor and his son in 1573 and circa 1595, respectively, both compilations quickly entered broader circulation as woodblock-printed books.14 Government officials and commercial publishers alike appropriated the works for a variety of purposes, including self-promotion and entertainment as well as education and persuasion. New audiences and functions are signaled by changes in format, medium, and artistic quality, as well as by statements made in the prefaces and colophons by people who were involved in producing the later editions.

The Emperor’s Mirror, Illustrated and Discussed Only months after presenting the large, painted version of The Emperor’s Mirror, Illustrated and Discussed to the young Wanli Narrative Illustration Outside the Court  |  95

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Figure 58. “Dreaming that a good minister was conferred.” From Dijian tushuo (The Emperor’s Mirror, Illustrated and Discussed), pp. 23a – b, story 10. Zhang Juzheng edition, 1573. Woodblock-printed book. Frame H: c.20 cm.

emperor, Senior Grand Secretary Zhang Juzheng published a duplicate set of pictures and texts, as a small woodblock-printed book, to distribute to capital officials (Figures 13, 58).15 In the painted album, an illustration and its accompanying text could be seen all at once. Separate scenes of a story appeared in diagonally opposed corners of the almost-square album page (see Figure 57). By contrast, the pages of Zhang’s book were printed from relatively small rectangular blocks, and each sheet was folded in half for binding. Accordingly, only half of an illustration could be seen at a time, and the accompanying text also extended over multiple pages. Because of the oblong format, compositions are stretched out horizontally, and separate scenes fall on opposite sides of the page in the bound volume. In the example reproduced in Figure 58, the right half of the picture is entirely devoted to the depiction of Shang Gaozong’s dream that the Lord on High

had conferred an able minister on him. Turning the page brings the other half of the composition into view, where the imperial envoys are comparing the man in the painted portrait with the unlikely Fu Yue, who labors on top of a wall. The ancillary texts that frame Zhang Juzheng’s printed edition of The Emperor’s Mirror allude to the reasons why he published the compendium in book form. The front matter includes a copy of the memorial with which he had submitted the painted version to the Wanli emperor, as well as a preface that he solicited from Lu Shusheng (1509 – 1605; js 1541), the eminent Minister of Rites.16 Lu begins by explaining that Zhang’s concern to provide the emperor with stimulating and useful lessons from history had led him to commission the original album. Besides recounting the process of compiling it, Lu details its contents and describes its enthusiastic reception by the emperor. In conclusion, Lu states that Zhang had

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subsequently taken a duplicate version (fuben) and had it carved onto blocks for printing “in order to make known His Majesty’s innate excellence.” A more specific agenda emerges in the laudatory postface contributed by Wang Xilie (js 1553), a Hanlin Academician and Viceminister of Personnel.17 After flattering Zhang with comparisons to great ministers of antiquity, such as the Duke of Zhou, Wang identifies another reason for publishing the book: To make contemporary officialdom comprehend that what is urgent today is gentlemanly virtue, not the administration of affairs . . . . If everyone takes up his duty, then the ruler will be able to be a sage, and governance will be able to flourish, and we can look forward to peace in the near future. This is why my lord [Zhang] also had it carved and disseminated.18

The endorsements by Lu Shusheng and Wang Xilie suggest that Zhang Juzheng intended the book not only to urge capital officials to be virtuous but also to project his own authority, in much the same way that the early Ming emperors had promulgated moralistic works to intensify their control of the realm.19 By showcasing his relationship with the Wanli emperor, Zhang invoked the paradigm of the exemplary minister and used its immense cultural prestige to enhance his influence. During the decade that Zhang dominated the central government, The Emperor’s Mirror was republished several times. For example, in 1575, Investigating Inspector Guo Tingwu (js 1565) used a copy to cut a new edition in Yunnan, allegedly at the urging of local officials, who thought it would help to civilize the inhabitants of the remote region.20 In his preface Guo extols Zhang Juzheng by comparing him to the Duke of Zhou, probably to curry favor with the powerful Senior Grand Secretary and promote his own career.21 Commercial publishers also had blocks carved for new editions of The Emperor’s Mirror, an indication that a larger public appreciated its combination of pictures and annotated stories about ancient rulers and princes.22 Because the work had been created for a nine-year-old, people of moderate literacy found its contents accessible. Moreover, it offered a useful digest of political and cultural history, and some stories were even entertaining, particularly in the admonitory section. “Bad” emperors gratified their hedonistic desires in novel and intriguing ways, sometimes

interacting with the familiar figures of popular culture, such as shamans, Daoist priests, and Buddhist monks. The cautionary accounts had much in common with works of illustrated fiction, drama, and other contemporary genres that were thriving in late sixteenth-century urban culture. Just months after Zhang Juzheng’s edition of The Emperor’s Mirror appeared in Beijing, the book dealer Hu Xian republished it under his own imprint in Nanjing.23 The Ming secondary capital was a prosperous city and a growing center of book production and marketing in the late sixteenth century. Hu’s edition is extremely close to Zhang’s, as a comparison between their respective illustrations of “Dreaming that a good minister was conferred” demonstrates (Figure 59; compare with Figure 58). However, to make his work more reader-friendly, Hu renumbered the pages according to a more straightforward system than Zhang’s and placed the numbers right in the picture frame.24 Hu Xian also economized on the expenses of carving by substituting simpler and less nuanced techniques for minor details in the compositions. For example, his version of “Dreaming that a good minister was conferred” omits most of the leaves on the tree next to Fu Yue and simplifies the contours of the rocks below the palace (Figure 59). Instead of faithfully reproducing the fineline filler patterns and calligraphic details of Zhang’s edition, Hu Xian’s block-cutters sometimes left portions of the block surface uncarved, producing areas of unmodulated black in the finished print. Some motifs are defined by intaglio lines incised directly into the block, rather than by outlines and contour strokes in relief, which would have required careful carving to remove the adjoining areas. The white-on-black patterns that result from this direct cutting, exemplified by “Begrudging the expense of an observatory” (Figure 60), create bold effects not seen in Zhang’s edition. The scene illustrates a story that presents Han Wendi as a model of frugality, who decides not to build an open-air terrace after learning how much it will cost.25 The popularity of The Emperor’s Mirror dropped off sharply after Zhang Juzheng’s death in 1582, when his enemies returned to power and the Wanli emperor virulently repudiated his former mentor. For the remainder of the reign it was dangerous even to allude to Zhang, and the one new edition of The Emperor’s Mirror that did appear, in 1604, superficially bears little resemblance to Zhang’s 1573 publication.26 The 1604 edition was orchestrated by Narrative Illustration Outside the Court  |  97

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Figure 59. “Dreaming that a good minister was conferred.” From Dijian tushuo (The Emperor’s Mirror, Illustrated and Discussed), qian ji, pp. 23a – b, story 10. Hu Xian’s edition, 1573. Woodblock-printed book. Frame H: c.20.6 cm.

Jin Lian (dates unrecorded), a minor official in the Central Drafting Office, who had come upon Zhang’s book in the palace library and resolved to reprint the inspirational work.27 Instead of reproducing its formulaic and repetitive pictures, however, Jin commissioned new illustrations from the prestigious Huang family workshop, based in Anhui (Figure 61).28 The redesigned compositions of Jin Lian’s edition are far more varied and imaginative than those in the earlier versions. In the illustration of Shang Gaozong’s recruitment of Fu Yue, the scene of the emperor’s dream has been dropped entirely and the emphasis shifted to the envoys’ discovery of the future minister (Figure 61; compare with Figures 57, 58, 59). Instead of just two messengers approaching Fu Yue, as in the original design, the delegation has swelled to seven men, plus a horse and canopy, ready to escort Fu to the capital in grand style. The prominent billow of cloud that

extends from the canopy to the edge of the picture implies a link to the unseen emperor, and the envoys’ separate gestures suggest their dawning realization that Fu matches the portrait they carry. Fu Yue’s humble home, barely glimpsed in the earlier renditions, also has expanded to occupy much of the picture. Resembling an ideal country retreat of a Ming scholar-gentleman, the hall is surrounded by a tastefully rustic and well-constructed wall, to which Fu is applying the finishing touches. In the yard a child waves his arms with excitement, and a dog barks at the unexpected visitors, further developing the new motif of pastoral domesticity. Besides being more varied, the illustrations in Jin Lian’s edition also seem considerably less didactic than Zhang Juzheng’s. There are no name labels next to the main figures, and the episode titles occupy an inconspicuous position outside the picture frames. Moreover, a complete composition can be viewed all at once, be-

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Figure 60. “Begrudging the expense of an observatory.” From Dijian tushuo (The Emperor’s Mirror, Illustrated and Discussed), qian ji, pp. 50a – b, story 21. Hu Xian’s edition, 1573. Woodblock-printed book. Frame H: c.20.6 cm.

cause its two halves were carved on separate blocks and printed on separate sheets that became facing pages in the bound book.29 Seeing an entire illustration, viewers might linger to savor it, undistracted by text. By contrast, each picture in Zhang Juzheng’s edition had been cut on a single block and the printed sheet folded in half for binding, becoming recto and verso pages that cannot be viewed simultaneously. When viewers turn the page to peruse the left half of an illustration, they also see the beginning of the accompanying text. To continue reading it, they must turn another page or two, often bringing the first half of the following picture into view. This format encourages readers to keep moving forward, while Jin’s favors more leisurely appreciation. For all its heightened artistry, however, Jin Lian’s edition of The Emperor’s Mirror retains the moral underpinnings of its prototype and is not just a collection of attractive pictures.30 Although

he did not reprint Zhang Juzheng’s programmatic memorial or the flattering prefaces from earlier editions, Jin kept the punctuated stories and explanations, as well as Zhang’s unsigned epilogues about good and bad role models. In his preface Jin promotes the work as an inspiration to moral cultivation and as an antidote to the growing political and moral disorder of the times. These themes are articulated much more caustically in a preface by the eminent Li Weizhen, whose once-promising official career had withered in the harsh factional struggles of the era following Zhang Juzheng’s death.31 Temporarily living in retirement, Li used the occasion to deliver an unusually blunt critique of the current political situation: Because Xiangchen [Zhang Juzheng] sowed seeds of disaster by attacking his associates, his successors did not compare with Jiangling Narrative Illustration Outside the Court  |  99

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Figure 61. “Dreaming that a good minister was conferred.” From Dijian tushuo (The Emperor’s Mirror, Illustrated and Discussed), zhi ji, pp. 21b – 22a, story 10. Jin Lian’s edition, 1604. Woodblock-printed book, carved by Huang Jun and Huang Yingxiao. Frame H: c.21.3 cm.

[Zhang] in manner or power. From the years gui (1583) and shen (1584) onward, court lectures have been few and the imperial palace has become isolated. [The Wanli emperor] has acted on fewer than onetenth of the [Dijian] tushuo’s good models, but frequently imitates the bad ones. In recent years, affairs have become chaotic and tyrannical administration is commonplace. Loyal officials and wise gentlemen remonstrate with straightforward words, but their mouths are getting dry and their tongues weary. It is as though [the emperor] does not hear or know.32

Li’s outspoken remarks were probably intended for a select audience of Nanjing literati who shared his concerns and frustrations about the government.33 Moreover, Jin Lian’s edition was never reissued and few examples survive, suggesting that his more artistic production had limited circulation.

Cultivating Rectitude, Illustrated and Explained Nanjing had already become a center for fine woodblock printing by the mid 1590s when Jiao Hong’s son took Cultivating Rectitude, Illustrated and Explained to be published there, as recounted in Chapter 6. Like Jin Lian’s 1604 edition of The Emperor’s Mirror, Illustrated and Discussed, Jiao’s book was created by noted masters from Anhui and displays high-quality craftsmanship (Figures 56, 62). As Zhu Shilu’s preface notes, Ding Yunpeng designed the illustrations and Huang Qi (1568 – after 1614) carved the blocks.34 By naming them, Zhu implies that they are artists, not the anonymous artisans more typical of the industry, and he evidently expected their reputations to enhance the work’s prestige.35 Although modest in size, Cultivating Rectitude has a luxurious format that is clearly meant to provide visual pleasure. The picture

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Figure 62. Ding Yunpeng, designer. “For food, reject salted fish.” From Yangzheng tujie (Cultivating Rectitude, Illustrated and Explained), p. 3a, story 2. Jiao Hong’s edition, c.1595. Woodblock-printed book, carved by Huang Qi. Frame H: c.24 cm.

always occupies a recto page, and the accompanying text starts on the verso. If the story ends on a recto page, the verso is left blank. The blocks for Jiao Hong’s book apparently remained in Nanjing and continued to be used for several years to print additional copies, at least some of which probably were intended for sale.36 A fancy title page added to one such reprint exaggerates the book’s

merits by claiming that it had been submitted to the imperial gaze (yu lan) by “the three aged gentlemen” (san lao xiansheng): Jiao Hong, Zhang Juzheng [long dead], and Zhu Shilu.37 Some reprints made in or after 1597 include a table of contents that gives a convenient overview of the book’s scope and contents, perhaps an indication that the work had begun to circulate to viewers who might want to find specific stories more easily.38 A second edition of Cultivating Rectitude, Illustrated and Explained appeared circa 1600, under the imprint of the Playingwith-the-Tiger Studio (Wanhuxuan), published by Wang Yunpeng (fl. Wanli era) (Figure 63).39 Even more convenient for the reader, it divided the sixty stories into two sections, each with a table of contents, and added numbers to the page margins.40 Closely based on the original edition, Wang’s version is slightly smaller in dimensions (picture frames 22.4 x 14.6 cm., versus 24 x 16 cm.). The blocks were carved by Huang Lin (1565 – after 1617), another master associated with the Huang family workshop of Anhui.41 The Wanhuxuan recut pictures differ from the originals only slightly. They display a consistent tendency to embellish decorative details and occasionally add another figure to the scene. A comparison between the two illustrations of the story “For food, reject salted fish” (“Shan chi baoyu”; Figures 62, 63) suggests how similar the two versions are. The composition depicts the prince who became King Wu of the Zhou dynasty (11th c. BCE), attended by three servants and his tutor, Taigong Wang. Food and drink for the prince’s dinner are already on the table, and a platter of fish is coming, but he just sits with his hands in his robe. He is not eating because Taigong Wang has instructed him to avoid consuming anything that is unfit to offer in sacrificial rituals, and the prince’s favorite fish dish is inappropriate. The Wanhuxuan recut version adds a stool behind the standing Taigong Wang, a pattern on the chair textile, and longer legs on the table. The figures also display slightly different facial expressions and postures. Moreover, the four-character title has been omitted, and the accompanying text recarved in a “printed” style, which was easier both to cut and to read than the modulated “calligraphic” style of the original edition. Even with this labor-saving shortcut, however, Wang Yunpeng’s version meets a high aesthetic standard and bears few signs of its essentially commercial character. Wang’s other paratextual interventions play up the courtly Narrative Illustration Outside the Court  |  101

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readily seen. To mute the didactic ambience, Wang moved Jiao Hong’s original preface to the very end of the book, thus relegating its lengthy pedagogical discussion to an afterthought.42 As a final aesthetic touch, Wang included his studio name, Wanhu­ xuan, in the lower margin of every page. Its repetition may also have helped to discourage doubts about Wang’s right to reissue the work, which he probably had appropriated without permission,43 and which bears few signs of its essentially commercial character.

The Cultivating Rectitude Scrolls and Other Paintings with False Attributions The Cultivating Rectitude Scrolls

Figure 63. Ding Yunpeng, designer. “For food, reject salted fish.” From Yangzheng tujie (Cultivating Rectitude, Illustrated and Explained), juan 1, p. 3a, story 2. Wang Yunpeng’s Wanhuxuan edition, c.1600. Woodblock-printed book, carved by Huang Lin. Frame H: c.22 cm.

origins of Cultivating Rectitude, Illustrated and Explained and its production by famous artists. He placed Jiao Hong’s 1597 memorial of submission at the beginning of the recut edition and appended the Wanli emperor’s response, followed by Zhu Shilu’s preface. Consequently, Zhu’s list of the people involved in creating the work directly precedes the table of contents, where it would be

In the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, just when various printed editions of Cultivating Rectitude, Illustrated and Explained were circulating, colorfully painted silk handscrolls of the subject also began to appear (Plate 19). Unlike the woodblockprinted books, however, the painted scrolls contain no more than ten illustrated stories, instead of sixty.44 With protagonists ranging from Zhou King Wen to Song Taizu, the excerpts cover most of the period treated in the complete set. Accordingly, the selection serves as a digest of the larger collection, adapted to the constraints of handscroll painting. Handscrolls rarely have more than about twenty sections, lest they become unwieldy to roll and unroll. Although clearly based on the woodblock-printed models, the painted compositions are consistently embellished with additional figures and fuller settings. For example, one of the stories chosen for painting tells how Scribe Yi (Shi Yi) taught King Cheng of Zhou that a ruler never speaks frivolously (Plate 19).45 While enjoying leisure in the palace garden with his younger brother, Shu Yu, the young king picked up a paulownia leaf and proclaimed, “With this tablet, I pronounce you a marquis.” Observing this playful moment, Scribe Yi asked King Cheng to set up a date for the enfeoffment ritual. When the king replied that he had spoken in jest, Scribe Yi admonished him for this frivolity and compelled him to perform a ceremony formally investing Shu Yu as the marquis of Tang. The pictures in the woodblockprinted books illustrate the tale in a tightly composed, close-up

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Figure 64. Ding Yunpeng, designer. “Enfeoffing Shu Yu with a paulownia leaf.” From Yangzheng tujie (Cultivating Rectitude, Illustrated and Explained), p. 11a, story 6. Jiao Hong’s edition, c.1595. Woodblockprinted book, carved by Huang Qi. Frame H: c.24 cm.

scene with just three figures (Figure 64). As Scribe Yi bows low, the youthful king extends a ceremonial tablet toward his brother, who leans forward expectantly with his hands clasped under his robe. The background suggests a garden, with a Taihu rock, some bamboo plants, and two paulownia trees, a few of whose leaves are on the ground. In the paintings, by contrast, an older-looking King Cheng is joined by several lovely consorts and maids, some

of whom hold things in their hands or turn their heads to converse with one another (Plate 19). The king’s outstretched tablet now points toward the bowing Scribe Yi, who is attended by a boy clasping a bundle of scrolls. Younger brother Shu Yu stands off to the side and could be mistaken for a servant. The setting has become a grand garden, with several rocks and trees and a pond of blooming lotus flowers, which echo the note of sensuality introduced by the beautiful women. Instead of primarily helping to convey the stories more effectively, the decorative embellishments encouraged people who saw the painted handscrolls to savor the attractive and exotic details of aristocratic material culture and fantasize about enjoying its luxuries. The colorful mineral pigments draw the viewer’s attention and enhance the popular appeal of a potentially pedantic subject. As if to compensate for the diminished narrative force of the illustrations, the accompanying texts tell the stories in more straightforward and unpunctuated prose. Short and to the point, the accounts condense the quotations from historical sources and completely omit Jiao Hong’s colloquial paraphrases and explanatory notes. As a result, the calligraphy takes less space and is visually a pendant to the colorful paintings.46 Even the title has been truncated to downplay the work’s pedagogical origins. Instead of Cultivating Rectitude, Illustrated and Explained, most of the handscrolls have a label on the outer wrapper calling them simply Cultivating Rectitude, Illustrated (Yangzheng tu).47 It seems likely that the painted handscrolls appealed to viewers who had enough education to appreciate the stories but also enjoyed the opulence of their illustration, which highlight the pleasures of an imagined courtly lifestyle. The impressive-looking but bogus documentation typically attached to the scrolls suggests further clues about the people who bought such works. The scroll is usually “signed” by a renowned court painter of an earlier dynasty, and accompanying colophons often are ascribed to venerable scholars and connoisseurs. For example, the scroll reproduced in Plate 19 bears the name of the Southern Song master Liu Songnian (12th c.), as do two related versions.48 A fourth example has a forged signature of the Yuan artist Wang Zhenpeng (c.1280 – c.1329) and texts purportedly added in 1454 by Shang Lu (1414 – 1486; js 1445), the Ming’s only triple optimus (zhuangyuan) in the civil service examinations; seven attached colophons include the most famous names in Ming connoisseurship.49 The Narrative Illustration Outside the Court  |  103

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counterfeit signatures, seals, and testimonials were meant to confer distinction on the Cultivating Rectitude handscrolls, certifying them as “works of art” to people who would recognize the names but did not have the skills to detect the deception. In content, the colophons on the Cultivating Rectitude handscrolls typically relate the paintings to other uplifting subjects with courtly origins and summarize the alleged artist’s biography and oeuvre. Often the writer also describes how he came to know the work, sometimes claiming to be the person responsible for recognizing its quality and rescuing it from obscurity. Such discussions are part of a discourse of connoisseurship by which paintings were valorized. A stereotypical example is a colophon speciously ascribed to the noted literatus Shao Bao (1460 – 1527; js 1484), which is appended to two different versions of Cultivating Rectitude in the Freer Gallery of Art.50 “Shao” begins by musing on Liu Songnian’s marvelous paintings of Agriculture and Sericulture (Gengzhi tu) for Song emperor Ningzong (r. 1194 – 1224), which he had seen a decade earlier. Delighted when his friend “Minister Wan” (unidentified) brings him the Cultivating Rectitude scroll, “Shao” immediately recognizes it as from Liu’s brush. After recounting the highlights of Liu’s career, “Shao” praises the scroll’s worthy moral themes and ends by proclaiming it a great treasure. Although this colophon was ostensibly written for a unique work in specific circumstances, it appears on at least two different Cultivating Rectitude handscrolls, once in runningregular script and once in cursive script. In principle, one or both versions could have been copied from a genuine original, but the text is not in Shao Bao’s collected writings and probably was concocted by the forgers.51 The Cultivating Rectitude scrolls represent one group within a large and diverse category of late Ming works known as “Suzhou fakes” (Suzhou pian), which were made for a burgeoning market of prosperous but unsophisticated collectors.52 The artistic pretensions of the Cultivating Rectitude handscrolls were an important part of their allure, along with their worthy themes and colorful styles. Unlike a woodblock-printed book, whose very medium implies the existence of multiple copies, a painting attributed to a noted master purports to be one of a kind. Famous names made the attractive pictures enticing as cultural artifacts that potentially could link the owner to prestigious traditions. Besides enjoying the ornate and picturesque scenes, collectors may

have hoped to acquire a reputation for cultural sophistication and lofty character. The combination of distinguished attributions, appealing illustrations, and entertaining stories about rulingclass morality must have been nearly irresistible to people who wanted to enhance their status by practicing the refined pastime of art collecting. Their conspicuous consumption undoubtedly made an impression on their peers, even if sophisticated critics ridiculed such collectors for their ignorance and presumption.53 Nonetheless, only a select group of experienced connoisseurs had the skills to recognize that the pretentious attributions and documentation on the Cultivating Rectitude scrolls and other Suzhou fakes were ludicrously false. Moreover, not everyone who owned such works was a parvenu hoping to gain a reputation for cultivated taste or to advance socially. One of the most eminent men of the seventeenth century was Kong Yuqi (1657 – 1723), the leader of the sixty-seventh generation of the lineal descendants of Confucius and, after 1667, bearer of the hereditary noble title Duke for Perpetuating the Sage (Yanshenggong).54 In 1684, when the Kangxi emperor arrived in Qufu, the hometown of Confucius, Kong welcomed him with a “Liu Songnian” Cultivating Rectitude scroll and several works by famous master calligraphers, selected from the venerable collections of the Kong Establishment (Kongfu). Obviously considering the scroll a worthy and appropriate gift for the emperor, Kong Yuqi made a point of mentioning it in the book he subsequently wrote to document the imperial visit.55 It was enough that the scroll contained competent paintings attributed to a distinguished ancient master and depicted exemplars of orthodox ruling-class morality, rendering the work suitable not only for a learned nobleman but also an emperor. Sometimes paintings of uplifting subjects acquired genuine, thoughtful colophons by serious scholars, even though the paintings themselves were not by the artists whose names they bore. A striking case in point comes from yet another “Liu Songnian” Cultivating Rectitude scroll, in the National Palace Museum, Tai­ bei.56 Two of its three colophons are forgeries purportedly by Liu Ji (1311 – 1375; js 1337) and Song Lian, both eminent early Ming statesmen who had some interest in didactic painting.57 These offer the expected enthusiastic review of Liu Songnian’s artistry. However, the third text is a long and impassioned essay by an obscure scholar, Chen Riyu (17th c.), and appears to be genuine.58 Instead of discussing the painting or its ostensible artist, Chen

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writes only about Zhuge Liang (181 – 234), a Three Kingdoms hero who was idealized in later times as a brilliant military strategist and loyal minister to Liu Bei (161 – 223).59 Hoping to restore the Han dynasty, whose royal lineage he claimed, Liu had coaxed the reluctant Zhuge Liang out of reclusion to become his adviser. With Zhuge’s aid, Liu succeeded in establishing the kingdom of Shu-Han and formed an alliance with Wu against Wei, but died before realizing his dream of reuniting the empire. Although Zhuge could then have easily usurped the throne, he gave his allegiance to Liu’s weak successor. Despite a premonition that Heaven did not favor a restoration of the Han, Zhuge selflessly continued to fight for the cause and died on a battlefield. Chen Riyu does not explain why he devoted his colophon to Zhuge Liang, who is not represented among the ten stories illustrated in the Cultivating Rectitude scroll. Nonetheless, the loyal strategist’s virtue clearly aroused Chen’s emotions: When I read history and come to the biography of Zhuge Zhongwu [Liang], I never fail to sigh that Heaven snatched him away so quickly and regret that he did not achieve his intended enterprise. During the Three Kingdoms period, a generation of heroes emerged, but none could match the Loyal Warrior.60

In Ming fiction and popular culture, as well as scholarly writings, Zhuge Liang had become a charismatic sage who “embodied the tension between Confucian political idealism and Machiavellian maneuvering.”61 His righteous loyalism contrasted with the expedient and self-serving choices that others made during an era of conflict and confusion. While moral conduct was easy to achieve in times of order, principled action was difficult and thus truly admirable during times of disorder.62 As Chen Riyu was active after the fall of the Ming, it is likely that his comments obliquely referred to contemporary efforts to restore a dynasty. Following the suicide of the Chongzhen emperor (r. 1627 – 1644) and the Manchu occupation of Beijing in 1644, several Ming princes established successor regimes in the South. However, despite individual acts of selfless heroism, rivalries between the regimes and factional conflicts within them enabled the Manchu armies to eradicate the centers of resistance one by one.63 There are intriguing parallels between Zhuge Liang’s mythic persona and the martyred Shi Kefa (d. 1645; js 1628), who served reluctantly but loyally as Grand Secretary and

Minister of War to the faction-addled court of the Prince of Fu in Nanjing.64 Perhaps Chen Riyu’s colophon is a veiled lament for Shi, who died resisting the Manchus at Yangzhou, after patriotically refusing their offer to spare the Nanjing court if it abandoned the quest for dynastic restoration and renounced its territorial ambitions. Because sympathy for Ming loyalism invited harsh punishment in the early years after the Qing conquest, it was safer to express such feelings obliquely. Chen Riyu could expect that loyalist sympathizers who saw the Cultivating Rectitude scroll would know exactly how to interpret his comments about the exemplary Zhuge Liang. Other viewers might simply consider his remarks thematically appropriate for a scroll depicting model statesmen.65

Admonishing in Chains On occasion, even expert connoisseurs accepted attributions that modern scholars find implausible, particularly when the painting in question depicted a venerable subject and seemed to fit the documented oeuvre of the famous artist to whom it was ascribed. A case in point is the Freer Gallery’s handscroll Admonishing in Chains (Suojian tu), which illustrates a famous story about heroic and nearly fatal remonstrance during the Period of Disunion (Plate 20).66 Chen Yuanda was an official who served the Former Zhao (304 – 329; initially called Han), a Turkic regime in the north. When the ruler, Liu Cong (r. 310 – 318), decided to build a lavish palace for his Chinese empress, Chen attempted to dissuade him. In a lengthy diatribe he contrasted Liu’s unbridled extravagance with the concern for the people’s welfare shown by exemplary rulers of earlier times. The enraged Liu Cong ordered his guards to execute Chen Yuanda and his wife in the marketplace. While being dragged out of the palace, Chen managed to chain himself to a tree and continue his tirade, crying that he would be proud to join the loyal minister-martyrs of antiquity. Learning of the crisis, the empress sent a letter to remind Liu Cong that rulers who heeded well-intentioned advice for the good of the country were rewarded with prosperity, while those who did not met disaster, often because a woman had led them astray. Because the disputed palace was intended for her, the empress blamed herself for the current distress, and she urged Liu Cong to reward Chen Yuanda and kill her instead. Her intervention persuaded Liu to revoke his order and made him realize how fortunate he was to Narrative Illustration Outside the Court  |  105

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have a loyal minister in the outer court and a good empress in the inner palace. A large handscroll painted in ink and color on silk, Admonishing in Chains has a tripartite compositional structure that gives equal attention to the three protagonists of the story. At right is Chen Yuanda, encircled by a chain, clasping his arms around a large tree and clutching his official tablet. Two guards are trying to pry him loose, and others move forward with weapons raised to assist them. A big and swarthy Liu Cong sits in the exact center of the scroll, glowering toward Chen and ignoring the two ministers who have prostrated themselves before him, with their tablets extended. The portly empress approaches from the left, trailed by five attendants with fans, pointed tablets, and a wide banner  — perhaps a sort of portable screen for preserving her modesty in public. A senior attendant or consort standing in front of the group holds out a rectangular box, presumably containing the empress’s admonitory letter, but Liu Cong is still preoccupied with Chen Yuanda and does not see it. The women’s serene demeanor and fluid lines contrast sharply with the agitated draperies and short, curved brushstrokes of the frenzied scene on the other side of seated tyrant, visually underscoring the dichotomy between civilized persuasion and barbaric force. Admonishing in Chains bears an obviously forged Zhenghe seal of Song Huizong and is now ascribed to the middle Ming period, somewhat earlier than the Suzhou fakes. Nonetheless, eminent critics and collectors from the late sixteenth century onward accepted the unsigned painting as the work of the early Tang master Yan Liben. The documentation on the scroll begins with an undated colophon by Wang Zhideng (1535 – 1612), an eminent literatus and leading connoisseur in late Ming Suzhou.67 He wrote his comments when the owner, an Anhui inkmaker named Wu Kangyu (fl. early 17th c.), brought the scroll to his studio, probably seeking Wang’s expert opinion.68 Declaring that this Admonishing in Chains is the very one by Yan Liben that Zhang Yanyuan had recorded in Record of Famous Paintings of Successive Dynasties, Wang claims that he can tell at a glance that the painting is genuine.69 Noting that its brushwork is like bent-iron thread and its coloring antique and tranquil, Wang pronounces it a “rare treasure in the garden of painting.”70 Probably soon after Wang Zhideng authenticated the scroll, Wu Kangyu sold it to Han Fengxi (1576 – after 1655), the son of an

eminent official and Suzhou collector, Han Shineng (1528 – 1598; js 1568).71 Han Fengxi’s colophon states that he acquired Admonishing in Chains from Wu in 1613 at the Office of Transmission in Nanjing, suggesting that one or both men were then serving there.72 Other distinguished officials and literati noted for their artistic interests were also present on the occasion, including Zhu Zhifan (1564 – after 1624; js 1595) and Yu Anqi (c.1551 – 1618).73 Only in the early Qing period does a single critic, Gu Fu (fl. later 17th c.), mildly question the attribution to Yan Liben.74 The scroll subsequently belonged to the great collector Liang Qingbiao (1620 – 1691) and entered the Qing palace collection, where it was included in the final installment of the imperial catalog.75 In certain respects Admonishing in Chains does fit Yan Liben’s received image, and its attribution to him makes considerable sense. Although more complex in visual structure than other paintings associated with his name, Admonishing in Chains evokes his large-figure mode of presentation and typically imperial subject matter. Like Emperor in a Sedan Chair Receiving a Tibetan Envoy (Figure 33) and Xiao Yi Obtains the Lanting Manuscript by Trickery (Figures 35, 36), the composition presents a dynamic but balanced confrontation between opposing parties on a largely blank silk background. The placement of figures facing into the scene from the right and left ends circulates its visual energies back to the center. The participants in the drama, many of them obviously foreign, are large and rendered with an objectifying clarity. Nonetheless, the painting exhibits certain styles and techniques that developed after Yan Liben’s period of activity. The women’s voluptuous proportions and the scene-framing tree and rock evoke eighth-century court painting, exemplified by Ladies Wearing Flowers in Their Hair (Zanhua shinü tu), attributed to Zhou Fang (c.730 – c.800).76 The twisting poses of many figures and their varied placements on the picture plane are used to create an impression of three-dimensional space, as in Night Revels of Han Xizai (Han Xizai ye yan tu), attributed to Gu Hongzhong (Figure 65).77 The interplay of glances and gestures sets up complex interactions that also recall Night Revels, as well as paintings associated with Li Gonglin. However, the figures in Admonishing in Chains seem less solid and substantial than those in Tang and Song paintings. Compared with Li Gonglin’s Guo Ziyi Receiving the Homage of the Uighurs (Figure 40), in which short, curved brushstrokes with accentuated ends vividly convey the illusion

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Figure 65. Attr. Gu Hongzhong. Detail from Night Revels of Han Xizai. 10th c. Handscroll, ink and color on silk. H: 28.7 cm. Palace Museum, Beijing.

of substantial figures in motion, Admonishing in Chains displays “nailhead” strokes used at random to form pleasing surface patterns. Such features have led modern scholars to reattribute the painting to the milieu of late fifteenth-century professional artists.78 One of the most prominent of these masters, Du Jin (fl. c.1465 – c.1509), actually painted a now-lost version of Admonishing in Chains that drew high praise from the connoisseur and official Li Rihua (1565 – 1635; js 1592).79 Whatever Wang Zhideng’s failings in connoisseurship, or possibly ethics (if he only pretended to believe that the painting was by Yan Liben), more than half of his colophon addresses the story portrayed in Admonishing in Chains. Treating it as a reflection in the mirror of history, Wang evaluates the famous act of remonstrance in the context of his own era. His comments make it abundantly clear that even in the overheated atmosphere of the Suzhou art market, the scroll signified something beyond its commodity status as a trophy of Tang painting. After noting that Chen Yuanda’s selfless bravery in admonishing the emperor resembled that of Zhu Yun, the hero of Breaking the Balustrade (Plate 17), Wang

expresses his concerns about the ominous state of contemporary court politics, using discreetly veiled allusions: Just now, many matters within the realm are troubling the altars of state, but I do not know whether any of the gentlemen making plans for the country are able to “disturb the scales and arrange the beard” [that is, admonish the emperor] like the man in the picture. The widow worries about her weft [while] they speak recklessly and leap over the sacrificial tables; moreover, they do not succeed at [being] servants of their lord.80

Wang seems to be saying that officials were preoccupied with private affairs, rather than the fate of the dynasty, and some were overstepping their positions to interfere with other people’s duties, but none was able to remonstrate with the emperor. By the middle years of the Wanli emperor’s long and troubled reign, when Wang wrote this despairing comment, the central government had become increasingly dysfunctional. Disgusted with his bureaucracy and its factional infighting, the emperor had retreated from active rule, abdicating considerable power Narrative Illustration Outside the Court  |  107

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to palace eunuchs. Many officials were punished for submitting memorials that angered him, especially when they urged him to designate his heir apparent or to reduce his extravagant spending.81 At the same time, partisan officials in the Censorate were denouncing members of rival factions for minor infractions, and many promising careers were being destroyed. Among Wang Zhideng’s friends in Suzhou was a retired senior grand secretary, Shen Shixing, who had spent eight difficult years attempting to mediate conflicts and keep the government functioning.82 Wang himself had abandoned ambitions for a career in the capital, put off by its treacherous politics and the cautionary examples of acquaintances who had been damaged by falling afoul of powerful figures.83 Viewing and inscribing Admonishing in Chains gave him a chance to express his concern about the country’s increasingly parlous state, even if he was in no position to remonstrate directly. Similarly, writing on Du Jin’s painting of the same subject, Li Rihua asserted that coming face to face with the bold integrity of loyal admonition aroused feelings of reverence and compelled the viewer to respond.84

Narrative Illustrations Commissioned by Literati: The Life of Confucius In addition to viewing and inscribing paintings of morally charged subjects, late Ming officials occasionally commissioned such pictures directly, using them as a means of expressing and promoting their convictions among their peers. Although highly literate men typically aired their concerns about social and political morality through their writings, visual representation validated their ideas by giving them a more tangible reality. Moreover, pictures could be discreetly ambiguous, making them useful in situations where the clarity of verbal discourse might be perilous, as in dissent or remonstrance. Such considerations help to explain why pictorial biographies of Confucius proliferated from the middle Ming period onward, often under the title Pictures of the Sage’s Traces (Shengji tu) or some close variant.85 Confucius was tantamount to a patron saint of learning in late imperial China. Worshiped in schools and temples throughout the empire, he received formal sacrifices twice a year.86 His life and teachings embodied lofty ideals for personal cultivation as well as for governance of the state, and Chinese scholars and of-

ficials memorized classic texts connected with his name. Furthermore, his unsuccessful career offered a heartening model to bureaucrats who found themselves thwarted by rivals or frustrated by the emperor’s erratic performance. Sponsoring illustrations of events in Confucius’s life, an impeccably orthodox theme, offered officials a safe outlet for their discontent and allowed them to express their desires for utopian political alternatives. By no coincidence, the earliest pictorial biography of Confucius appeared in 1444, shortly after the eunuch Wang Zhen (d. 1449) had shocked the bureaucracy by arresting Li Shimian (1374 – 1450; js 1404), the chancellor of the National University (Guozijian).87 Although Li was released after a mass protest by the students, the incident was a chilling demonstration of eunuch influence in the political affairs of the court and central government. Defying Ming Taizu’s ban on eunuch involvement in governance, midMing eunuchs had amassed power by making themselves indispensable, as emperors became less responsive to their officials and capricious in meeting their responsibilities. Even if eunuchs were not always as venal and unprincipled as history portrays them, they typically came from lowly backgrounds and had little education, to say nothing of the shame of the castration that qualified them to serve in the inner palace. By contrast, the civil service bureaucracy represented an erudite elite, steeped in Confucian values and committed to the established institutions and orderly procedures of Confucian governance. Perhaps the life of Confucius provided officials with a rallying point in their growing conflict with eunuchs as well as offering a standard by which to measure their own conduct. Significantly, the first pictorial biography of Confucius was created by a censor, Zhang Kai (1398 – 1460; js 1424), whose duties required him to evaluate the character and actions of other officials.88 Zhang Kai’s Pictures of the Sage’s Traces asserts ideals of selfcultivation and public service by showing Confucius in action. From Sima Qian’s biography of Confucius, Zhang selected twentynine events, had a painter illustrate them, and composed a poetic encomium (zan) for each one.89 As an introduction, Zhang transcribed Zhu Xi’s (1130 – 1200; js 1148) preface to the official edition of The Analects (Lunyu), in which Zhu summarized Confucius’s life, deleting details from Sima Qian’s account that he deemed inessential, superstitious, or unflattering.90 Because relatively few people would see the original handscroll, Zhang also had it

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Figure 66. “Confucius with his disciples.” Kongzi Shengji zhi tu (Pictures of the Sage Confucius’s Traces [Life of Confucius]), scene 25. 1682. Rubbing of incised stone tablets recreating Zhang Kai’s original 1444 set. H: 30.8 cm.

reproduced on carved stone tablets, from which rubbings could be made and circulated more widely. Disseminated in this form, Zhang’s annotated pictures and ancillary texts not only could be reproduced (for example, Figure 66), they also became the nucleus for several expanded treatments of Confucius’s life that were sponsored by later officials. A lengthy sequential narrative, Zhang Kai’s Pictures of the Sage’s Traces depicted events that epitomized Confucius’s moral character and encompassed his entire career as a itinerant statesmanadviser and teacher-scholar. Consistent with Zhu Xi’s orthodox interpretation, Zhang’s illustrated biography represented Confucius as an exemplary human, not as a god. The pictorial narrative began with a scene of his mother sacrificing on a mountaintop to obtain a son, followed by one showing Confucius as a young boy leading his playmates in a mock performance of sacrificial rites. A few scenes depicted him as a young adult learning from wise elders and working in humble positions. The majority of illustrations treated his principled encounters with feudal lords, brigands, commoners, and disciples (Figure 66) on his travels among the ancient states. The last composition documented an important milestone in the formation of his official cult (Figure 67). In 195 BCE the Han founding emperor Gaozu (r. 206 – 195 BCE) made a pilgrimage to Confucius’s hometown. There he performed a

grand sacrifice (tailao) in the offering shrine at the grave, creating a precedent that rulers of future dynasties followed to the end of the imperial period. By the middle of the fifteenth century, officials across the empire were offering regular sacrifices to Confucius twice a year in state-supported temples, one for every province, prefecture, and district.91 This network of temples shared elements of architecture and material culture with Buddhism, Daoism, and popular deity cults. Inside a Confucian temple’s sacrificial hall were enshrined sculptural icons of Confucius and his major followers, the Four Correlates (si pei) and Ten Savants (shi zhe). The corridors flanking the sanctuary served as a gallery for painted portraits of his canonized disciples and later followers. Such ritual images encouraged a perception that Confucius was a kind of god, reinforcing persistent ancient traditions that claimed miraculous origins and superhuman nature for him.92 Even though Zhang Kai’s Pictures of the Sage’s Traces focused on Confucius’s humanistic qualities, the very creation of a pictorial biography established another link with popular religious visual culture. Narrative illustrations of the gods’ lives made up a standard genre of religious art, for which the life of the Buddha served as the basic template.93 Shortly before Zhang Kai formulated his life of Confucius, Narrative Illustration Outside the Court  |  109

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Figure 67. “Han Gaozu sacrifices at the grave of Confucius.” From Kongzi Shengji zhi tu (Pictures of the Sage Confucius’s Traces [Life of Confucius]), scene 29. 1682. Rubbing of incised stone tablets recreating Zhang Kai’s original 1444 set. Frame H: 27.7 cm.

the publication of Origins and Evolution of Śākyamuni (Shishi yuan­liu) circa 1425 had revitalized Buddhist hagiography (Figure 68).94 Produced by the Baoensi, the great Nanjing monastery founded by the Yongle emperor, the compendium contained 208 annotated scenes. It detailed the events leading up to the birth of the Buddha, his life and deeds, and the early history of the Buddhist movement. During the fifteenth century, the work was widely circulated and occasionally reprinted, including a sumptuous edition issued by the Ming palace in 1486.95 Some of the compositions also inspired wall paintings in Buddhist temples.96 Compared with this grandiose presentation of the Buddha’s life, Zhang Kai’s humanistic portrayal of the life of Confucius might have seemed a bit inadequate. To address this weakness, in the 1480s a group of officials in Hengzhou (modern Hengyang, Hunan) published an expanded version of the life of Confucius in an album of woodblock prints, with nine new scenes.97 Entitled Pictures of the Sage Confucius’s Traces (Kongzi shengji zhi tu), this edition incorporates some explicitly hagiographical elements that transform Confucius into a superhuman sage sent by heaven. According to its colophon, Hengzhou prefect He Xun (zi Tingrui; js 1457)98 commissioned the revised edition after acquiring a worn and damaged set of Zhang Kai’s Pictures of the Sage’s Traces.99 Together with his

younger cohorts, He savored the images, investigated the events, and chanted Zhang Kai’s encomia. Feeling transported back to Confucius’s time and place, He wanted to share this inspirational experience with others and ordered artisans to copy the work for woodblock reproduction. However, he thought that Zhang Kai had left out several important events, so he compiled nine more and commissioned new illustrations for them. He Xun’s supplemental scenes are easy to identify because their accompanying texts do not include poetic encomia, unlike Zhang Kai’s core compositions. Three depict supernatural omens associated with the conception and birth of Confucius, based on apocryphal stories from the Warring States period that had been passed down and occasionally published by his descendants.100 These accounts claim that a qilin (unicorn), a fabulous creature that portended the appearance of a sage-king, had delivered an inscribed jade tablet to Confucius’s mother; a pair of dragons had cavorted above the roof on the eve of his birth; and the baby had been born with a five-character omen inscribed on his chest, while deities and musicians celebrated in the sky (Figure 69).101 To depict these events, the illustrators borrowed pictorial conventions from other hagiographical narratives. The manifestations associated with Confucius’s birth have close counterparts in the birth of the Buddha, who was conceived when his mother

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Figure 68. “Queen Māyā’s dream.” From Shishi yuanliu (Origins and Evolution of Śākyamuni [Life of the Buddha]), juan shang, p. 3b, upper half (scene 6). c.1425. Woodblock-printed book. Frame H: c.13.5 cm.

dreamed of a bodhisattva descending to her on a white elephant, and who was born with thirty-two unusual signs on his body (see Figures 28 – 31, 68). He Xun also added five episodes highlighting the brief periods when Confucius was honored or employed by local rulers, and one that shows him receiving auspicious signs as an adult. When Confucius presented his completed books to Heaven, the Northern Dipper sent down a red rainbow that turned into an inscribed jade tablet (Figure 70). Such extraordinary events in Confucius’s adult life bring to mind the exploits of Daoist and popular-cult gods. By adding such scenes, He Xun’s Pictures of the Sage Confucius’s Traces made Confucius more like the powerful deities of Buddhism, Daoism, and popular cults. During his term as prefect of Hengzhou, He Xun also rebuilt the prefectural Temple of Confucius and the Stone Drum Academy (Shigu shuyuan), famed for its association with Zhu Xi.102 All these projects suggest that He was eager to revitalize the material and visual traces of ancient sages in the locality under his jurisdiction. Although he left the post before the Pictures of the Sage Confucius’s Traces could be carved and printed, several other

local officials pooled their salaries to complete its production.103 The revised edition was republished several times in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, including recut versions produced in two Ming princely domains.104 After the Jiajing ritual reforms of 1530, which substituted inscribed wooden tablets for figural icons in state Confucian temples (except for Qufu’s), illustrated biographies became a major form of visual representations of Confucius.105 Between 1591 and 1593 a coalition of high-ranking officials and prominent members of the Kong family sponsored a vastly larger set of illustrations of the life of Confucius to display at his primordial temple in Qufu.106 Forming the centerpiece of a new Hall of the Sage’s Traces (Shengjidian), it consists of 112 pictures incised on rectangular stone tablets, flanked by celebratory inscriptions. Besides preserving the supernatural episodes of He Xun’s recension, the expansion includes several additional scenes in which Confucius demonstrates superhuman capabilities. The majority of new scenes depict his encounters with mentors, rulers, disciples, and assorted others. Toward the end, several added events celebrate the posthumous development of the official cult of Confucius. Instead of concluding with Han Gaozu’s offering at the temple in 195 BCE (Figure 67), the Shengjidian tablets portray Song Zhenzong’s sacrifice in 1008 (Figure 71), a major advance in imperial patronage of the Kong family and the temple cult. The accompanying texts, now transcribed inside the picture space, have been modified into more straightforward paraphrases of classical sources, omitting Zhang Kai’s poetic encomia. Each episode has a four-character title, making it easier for a viewer to recognize the scene and recall the event illustrated. By creating this impressive installation, the sponsoring officials and Kong clansmen promoted their own interpretations of Confucian values and ideals, while also embellishing the state cult and enhancing the clan’s prestige.107 The dedicatory inscriptions suggest that the patrons believed that an enduring pictorial record of the life of Confucius would inspire present and future generations of officials. Zhang Yingdeng (js 1583), the surveillance vice-commissioner for Shandong, writes: “[One] can respectfully regard them and have an audience with them, or take rubbings and transmit them. Whether one ascends the hall and enters the chamber, or opens a roll [of rubbings], one comes face to face with virtue.”108 Another official, the military circuit intendant Shao Narrative Illustration Outside the Court  |  111

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Figure 69. “The birth of Confucius.” From Kongzi Shengji zhi tu (Pictures of the Sage Confucius’s Traces [Life of Confucius]), scene 5. 16th c. Woodblock-printed album based on He Xun’s revised edition. Picture frame H: c.29.5 cm.

Figure 70. “Confucius receives a red rainbow/jade tablet from the Northern Dipper.” From Kongzi Shengji zhi tu (Pictures of the Sage Confucius’s Traces [Life of Confucius]), scene 37. 16th c. Woodblock-printed album based on He Xun’s revised edition. Picture frame H: c.29.5 cm.

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Figure 71. Yang Zhi, designer. “Song Zhenzong sacrifices in Lu.” From Shengji zhi tu (Pictures of the Sage’s Traces [Life of Confucius]), scene 112. 1592. Rubbing of incised stone tablet installed in the Shengjidian, temple of Confucius, Qufu, Shandong. Frame H: c.28.8 cm.

Yiren, recalls that he himself was transformed after visiting the places where Confucius had lived, then poses the rhetorical question: “Will not the establishment of a hall for pictures of the Sage now also stimulate later people’s intentions?”109 The dedicatory statements make it clear that the expected viewers are officials and students, the same audience as for most woodblock-printed illustrations of the life of Confucius. However, the installation in the Hall of the Sage’s Traces marks the first presentation of the hagiographical pictures in a temple setting. The hall’s placement at the end of the central axis is reminiscent of Buddhist and Daoist temples with buildings dedicated to the lives of deities and patriarchs for pilgrims to visit. Scholarly visitors to the Qufu temple made so many rubbings that the stones in the Hall of the Sage’s Traces soon became very worn. In the early Qing period the designs were reproduced and perpetuated in a new woodblock-printed edition that circulated far and wide (Figure 72).110

Painted Versions: Production and Reproduction Just as the woodblock-printed editions of Cultivating Rectitude, Explained and Illustrated inspired painted handscrolls of selected stories for collectors who wanted more overtly artistic renderings of the instructive theme, so too did rubbings and woodblock

prints lead to painted versions of the life of Confucius. However, accompanying colophons sometimes suggest that the pictorial biography was more difficult to adapt for aesthetic enjoyment and that efforts to appropriate it aroused moralistic reactions. As one might expect, the focus on content rather than artistry produced different sets of scenes in the various painted versions; by contrast, all of the Cultivating Rectitude handscrolls treat exactly the same ten stories from the sixty in the woodblock-printed source. Different choices of episodes and ways of presenting them may reflect the patrons’ views on contemporary issues. Several painted versions of the pictorial biography include almost as many scenes as He Xun’s woodblock-printed album, an unusually large number for a handscroll or album. Even in two examples that illustrate just ten events and have the pretentious attributions and concocted documentation typical of Suzhou fakes, the ten episodes chosen are not the same ones in both sets.111 Finally, painted versions of the life of Confucius employ several different kinds of text/image relationships and range widely in technique, style, and quality of execution. Perhaps the earliest and fullest of the painted sets is an anonymous thirty-six-leaf album in ink and color on silk, which is now in the collection of the Qufu Cultural Relics Bureau (Plates 21, 22).112 Probably early sixteenth century in date, the pictures and Narrative Illustration Outside the Court  |  113

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Figure 72. Yang Zhi, designer. “Great Heaven sends down the Sage” (The birth of Confucius). From Shengji zhi tu (Pictures of the Sage’s Traces [Life of Confucius]), p. 5 (scene 5). 17th c. Woodblock-printed reproduction of the Shengjidian tablets. Frame H: c.28.5 cm.

their accompanying texts closely follow He Xun’s recension (compare Plate 21 with Figure 69). However, the texts are transcribed directly on the paintings rather than outside the pictorial frame, unlike the woodblock-printed version. Moreover, although both sets of illustrations depict the same groupings of figures, the landscape backgrounds often differ considerably. Thus the anonymous painter combines a fidelity to the crucial elements of the narrative with freehand variations in the setting. Nonetheless, his occasional careless omission of important motifs suggests that he copied a set of printed pictures without knowing the details of the events they illustrated. For example, the birth scene is missing the five-character inscription on the baby’s chest (compare Plate 21 with Figure 69).113 Despite oversights of this sort, the Qufu paintings are lively and technically accomplished. Variations in width indicate that the paintings were once mounted in a handscroll and only later were put into an album. The circumstances of creation and transmission are obscure because the album now bears no documentation other than two colophons by eighteenthcentury Yangzhou literati, Cheng Man (fl. 1729) and Wei Zhizhang (fl. 1730).114 In the early seventeenth century, no less eminent a personage than Kong Yinzhi (1592 – 1648), the sixty-fifth-generation Duke

for Perpetuating the Sage, participated in creating and displaying a thirty-six-scene handscroll of the life of Confucius.115 Although the painted scroll does not survive, it was described in detail in a colophon, dated 1629, by Senior Grand Secretary Han Kuang (c.1565 – c.1644; js 1592) and reproduced in another woodblock-printed edition soon thereafter (Figures 73 and 74).116 The compositions feature the same arrangements of figures as the Qufu album (compare Figure 73 with Plate 22), but the settings are different and usually less detailed, although they may have been simplified when the scenes were adapted for woodblock reproduction.117 A short explanation precedes each scene and bears a slightly larger title of between three and six characters, ending in the word “picture” (tu).118 These annotations came from a chronological register of events in Confucius’s life in a Kong-clan genealogy, rather than Sima Qian’s biography of Confucius as adapted by Zhang Kai and He Xun. Kong Yinzhi himself transcribed the texts, assisted by Lü Weijie (d. 1643),119 and a skilled master who “did not lose the spirit-consonance of the Sage and Worthies” (bu shi shengxian qiyun) painted the illustrations. In Han Kuang’s opinion, they displayed Confucius’s “lifelong auspicious radiance” (bisheng zhi jingguang) and vividly recreated the visual appearance of his expeditions and court audiences. Kong

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Figure 73. “Duke Ling asks about military array” (and Confucius departs from Wei). From Shengji tu (The Sage’s Traces, Illustrated [Life of Confucius]), pp. 27b – 28a. c.1629. Woodblock-printed book. Frame H: c.18.5 cm.

Yinzhi showed the scroll at a grand feast in the Beijing palace, held to celebrate the Chongzhen emperor’s performance of a sacrifice to Confucius early in 1629.120 A handscroll in the Idemitsu Museum contains thirty-six paintings whose titles and sequence correspond exactly to those in the woodblock-printed book reproducing Kong Yinzhi’s scroll.121 Executed in ink and color on silk, the compositions likewise are smaller and sparser than those in the Qufu album, but they are not identical to the printed scenes. Although the illustrations in the Idemitsu scroll and the printed reproductions of Kong Yinzhi’s mostly display the same important narrative elements, such as figural groups, the background settings often vary substantially. More importantly, the two versions differ completely in their representations of the births of Confucius and his son. The Idemitsu illustrations for both episodes prominently portray mother and baby in a well-appointed interior (Plate 23), a scene common to many deity hagiographies.122 By contrast, the printed version depicts closed buildings in both instances (Figure 74). Significantly, the stone tablets in the Hall of the Sage’s Traces (as reflected in

Figure 72) also avoid intimate nativity scenes, in contrast to the other versions of the pictorial biography then in circulation (see Figures 69 and Plate 21).123 Perhaps the Qufu authorities disapproved of exposing proper women to public scrutiny, or the participating officials wanted to deemphasize the Sage’s flesh-andblood qualities in order to keep the focus on his teachings.124 As head of the Kong lineage in Qufu three decades later, Kong Yinzhi not only would have been familiar with the pictures in the Hall of the Sage’s Traces, but also would have upheld appropriate decorum in the paintings produced under his supervision. The Idemitsu handscroll also displays significantly less technical skill and expressive subtlety than either the Qufu album or the printed book preserving Kong Yinzhi’s version. Furthermore, the textual excerpts that precede the Idemitsu paintings are very close to Kong Yinzhi’s annotations, but with words omitted here and there. The last passage ends with the purported signature of another illustrious descendant of Confucius, Kong Zhenyun (c.1576 – 1644; js 1619), who held prestigious court positions under the last two Ming emperors.125 The placement of his name on the

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Figure 74. “Music is performed in the sky” (The birth of Confucius). From Shengji tu (The Sage’s Traces, Illustrated [Life of Confucius]), pp. 5b – 6a. c.1629. Woodblock-printed book. Frame H: 18.5 cm.

scroll implies that he wrote the explanatory texts, but the absence of his titles and seals and an error in identifying his generation suggest that the attribution is specious, as does the pedestrian quality of the calligraphy itself.126 In all likelihood the Idemitsu scroll is either a copy of a genuine work to which Kong Zhenyun really did contribute texts or a freehand adaptation made in his name from the printed reproduction of Kong Yinzhi’s scroll, with the standard birth scenes restored. Regardless of its exact origin, its alleged connection to an important Kong only enhanced the appeal of a work whose high-minded subject already ensured an appreciative audience. The scroll went to Japan during the Edo period (1615 – 1869) and acquired numerous laudatory colophons by Japanese Confucian scholars, which are now mounted separately.127 More than other subjects, the pictorial biography of Confucius was difficult to assimilate into the art market because he represented values antithetical to it. Indifferent to riches and hostile to ostentation and sensual pleasures, Confucius stood for uncompro-

mising devotion to principle and propriety. His sober personality dominated the illustrated narratives, and their sustained focus on his deeds and encounters encouraged veneration and emulation. Scholarly viewers were steeped in his writings and sayings, revering him as Ultimate Sage and Foremost Teacher (Zhisheng xianshi).128 As Zhang Yingdeng emphasized in his inscription on the Shengjidian tablets, Confucius became vividly present through the efficacy of pictures.129 Interposing the personality and style of a famous master (whether genuinely or otherwise) would contradict this seemingly unmediated vision and prevent a viewer from experiencing the inspiration of a direct encounter with the Sage. Although it is not surprising that the artists who succeeded in satisfying their patrons’ conceptions of the life of Confucius were unnamed or obscure, anonymous paintings held little appeal for people who wanted works with impressive attributions. Accordingly, there are a couple of painted versions of the life of Confucius that fit the previously described parameters of Suzhou fakes. Now of unknown whereabouts, both works contain just ten

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scenes, with paintings and calligraphy attributed to famous artists and connoisseurs. One is a handscroll with illustrations in the style of Qiu Ying (c.1494 – c.1552) and texts purportedly written by Wen Zhengming in 1538.130 The other is a set of album leaves that were fully reproduced and discussed in early twentiethcentury publications.131 Ostensibly painted by Wang Zhenpeng, the illustrations have accompanying texts “signed” by Yu He (fl. c.1330 – 1360), but the latter actually are the accounts and eulogies composed by Zhang Kai only in 1444. Colophons falsely ascribed to Yuan Jue (1266 – 1327), Zhan Xiyuan (fl. latter half of 14th c.), Shao Bao, and Wen Peng (1498 – 1573) are appended to the album and written in varied scripts. Unlike colophons on the more voluminous pictorial biographies, these invented testimonials say relatively little about Confucius, focusing instead on presenting the paintings as works of art by a famous court master. The ten paintings incorporate the same kinds of pictorial embellishments seen in the Cultivating Rectitude handscrolls, such as additional figures and more sumptuous material details, which suggest an attempt to entice the novice collector. Numerous seals attributed to the renowned collector Xiang Yuanbian (1525 – 1590) complete the album’s pedigree for the art market. Some moralistically inclined literati believed that pictures of the life of Confucius might lose their didactic efficacy if they were visually appealing. In his inscription for the tablets in the Hall of the Sage’s Traces, Shao Yiren expresses a concern that the pictures might encourage a viewer to focus superficially on incidents and deeds, rather than on the sagely heart-mind that had enabled Confucius to transmit the Way.132 More pointedly, in a colophon for the anonymous painted album now in Qufu, Wei Zhizhang warns its owner, the salt-merchant Wang Qinweng (fl. 18th c.), that placing the pictures on a table with bronze vessels and miscellaneous objects for mere enjoyment would be most disrespectful.133 Furthermore, Wei questions Wang’s motives for acquiring the album, implying that he considers a merchant unlikely to benefit appropriately from it. Approached in the proper spirit, visual representations of the life of Confucius could be inspirational, but an engaging artistry could also seduce viewers into merely enjoying morally instructive pictures. And, as Wei rudely insinuates, their value in the art market might lead the wrong kind of collector to commit the offense of treating them as antiquarian baubles.

Conclusion The examples reviewed above suggest that narrative art made by and for educated men outside the court was varied and served diverse functions. The illustrated stories about historical rulers and ministers in The Emperor’s Mirror, Illustrated and Discussed and Cultivating Rectitude, Illustrated and Explained embodied the belief that past events, correctly interpreted, offered a “mirror” to guide the leaders of later ages. Although initially created for the emperor, the works endorsed a conception of ruling-class morality that gave important responsibility to officials, some of whom sponsored subsequent editions to promote their own convictions. Commercial reprints reached a more diverse range of educated outsiders, offering them a glimpse of the material and social culture of the contemporary palace and catering to their presumed desires to enjoy its luxuries, at least vicariously. The pictures offered both edification and diversion, explicating lofty morality within the engaging genre of figural narrative. The instructive anecdotes also were readily excerpted and sumptuously repackaged as collectible art, as shown by the plethora of colorful Cultivating Rectitude handscrolls. Many of the stories take place in a palace, an environment appropriate to depict with the lavish details and aristocratic ambiance that might appeal to viewers seeking visual pleasure. Moreover, the attributions to court painters, even if spurious, are in keeping with the courtly associations of the tales and their initial audience. In addition, even though Jiao Hong had originally compiled Cultivating Rectitude, Illustrated and Explained for didactic purposes, his own appreciation for artistic quality had led him to commission pictures from a noted artist, Ding Yunpeng. Where the woodblockprinted editions hold artistry and instruction in perfect balance, the painted handscrolls tip toward sensual stimulation with their fantastic attributions and colorful elaborations. But even pretty paintings tricked out for the art market could still serve serious purposes, as Chen Riyu’s colophon on a Cultivating Rectitude scroll suggests.134 Compared with illustrated collections of stories that have many different protagonists and expound an assortment of moral precepts, the sustained treatment of the life of a single, transcendent exemplar is more consistently serious and deeply moving. Illus-

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trations of the life of Confucius symbolized lofty ideals for highly educated men, whether or not they achieved successful careers in government service. The pictorial biography of Confucius originated within the official elite and continued to circulate among the highly educated. In addition to the versions mentioned above, others were produced by coalitions of private scholars and serving officials, and by commercial publishers.135 The pictures were intended to encourage viewers capable of moral self-cultivation to strive for it, in order to bring utopian social ideals closer to realization. Because a wider distribution of pictorial representations of Confucius’s life would expose more people to his transformative influence, it was fitting to produce them in media that facilitated

replication and long-term preservation. Although woodblock printing was also used for disseminating both The Emperor’s Mirror, Illustrated and Discussed and Cultivating Rectitude, Illustrated and Explained, neither anthology was ever carved onto stone tablets, unlike the pictorial biography. Besides Zhang Kai’s own set and the much larger one carved for the Qufu temple from 1591 – 1593, others were created for additional sites in the seventeenth century. For example, the sponsors of a shrine to Confucius near Shanghai used rubbings from Zhang Kai’s stones to carve a set for display in a building adjacent to the sacrificial hall (see Figures 66, 67).136 A permanent installation depicting Confucius’s life made him vividly present and allowed scholar-pilgrims to immerse themselves in his milieu.

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Chapter 

T

Epilogue

he foregoing discussions amply demonstrate that narrative illustration continued to hold a significant place in the elite visual culture of late imperial China. Illustrated stories offered highly educated male viewers admonition and guidance, as well as inspiration and enjoyment. Much of the time such pictures can be clearly distinguished from paintings whose primary purpose was to be “artistic.” The difference involves the discursive categories of tu and hua.1 Visual depiction (tu) showed what things look like and was complementary to verbal representation (shu),2 while visual expression (hua) was the counterpart of verbal poetry (shi).3 Tu related to public concerns and furthered governance, and hua provided an outlet for the private and personal. Tu derived value from subject matter, hua from spirit consonance and brushwork. Tu was purposeful depiction, and hua was art for art’s sake. Without question, illustrations of historical events and exemplary lives were tu. With few exceptions, writers in recent centuries have focused their attentions on hua, following Dong Qichang, who emphasized calligraphic technique, dynamic composition, and visual allusion to ancient masters. Yet Dong’s contemporary, the “conservative” critic Xie Zhaozhi, advocated realism, historical accuracy, and sound craftsmanship.4 Impatient with the kinds of expressionistic abstractions and sketchy homages to earlier painters that were increasingly in vogue, Xie lamented that contemporary artists rarely painted historical subjects, human figures, portraits of sages and Buddhas, or other such salutary themes. Unlike Dong, Xie maintained that paintings should serve didactic purposes and promote propriety. Other literati who were not renowned critics undoubtedly shared his views. Implicitly endorsing them as well, the Kangxi emperor wrote in 1707: “Pictures and painting are matters of art, but they approach the Way.”5

Such distinctions became blurred when paintings depicting moralistic narrative subjects circulated in the art market. Because the market prized works that purported to embody the unique personal qualities of ancient masters, narrative illustrations often carried false attributions to famous artists. But the subjects they depicted also contributed to their intrinsic worth, in contrast to paintings whose value depended almost entirely on the artist’s identity. When a painting ascribed to a renowned master was revealed as a forgery, it no longer enabled the owner or viewer to commune with a prestigious cultural figure from the past.6 However, a phony attribution did not invalidate the worthy content of pictures that illustrated exemplary themes. The moralistic narratives in a fake “Liu Songnian” Cultivating Rectitude scroll, for instance, retained positive meanings that highly educated collectors and viewers found significant regardless of the painter’s identity, but a forged “Ni Zan” was useless or even counterproductive for associating the owner with that loft y paragon of Yuan eremitism.7 Nonetheless, circulation in the art market also created the possibility that didactic illustrations might elicit the viewer or collector’s superficial appreciation, rather than moral contemplation. The market transformed instructive or inspirational images into commodities. Writing in 1729, just months before the Yangzhou salt merchant Wang Qinweng bought the album depicting the life of Confucius (Plates 21, 22), Cheng Man suggested that the pictures were equivalent to a seven-foot piece of coral, a highly prized rarity.8 It is no wonder that Wei Zhizhang felt it was necessary to warn Wang not to treat the album like an extravagant bauble.9 To discourage that possibility, both writers devoted their colophons to the venerable subject of Confucius’s life, noting with approval that its visual representation was consistent with ancient texts. 119

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In a palace context, however, opulence was not considered a hindrance to didactic efficacy. The Ming officials who submitted beautiful albums of illustrated stories that were intended to mold young imperial pupils into ideal emperors believed that a prince would naturally absorb desirable moral lessons while enjoying the pictures. As Huo Tao and Zou Shouyi wrote in their 1539 memorial offering Pictures of Sagely Merit to the Jiajing emperor’s heir: We hope that the sage emperor [Jiajing] will glance at it and say whether our painted picture-album will have some slight usefulness as a means of making the heir apparent into a sage, and that he will order [palace] attendants who are careful and honest to take our painted picture-album in sometimes for the heir apparent to see and enjoy. There is no need to lecture and explain the meaning of the texts. Just by contemplating the pictorial images, he will get the idea.10

Even if most Ming rulers rejected such attempts to improve their morality, Qing emperors, by contrast, actually commissioned lavishly painted works that illustrated various kinds of moralizing stories and exemplary biographies.11 Among the examples produced by Qing court painters are sumptuous albums containing the ten-scene excerpt from Cultivating Rectitude and a now-incomplete version of The Emperor’s Mirror, Illustrated and Discussed. Unlike their Ming antecedents, which had been presented by court officials hoping to influence a young ruler or prince, the deluxe Qing compilations appeared under imperial sanction. Such works were part of the court’s enormous production of functional paintings for documentary, taxonomic, ritual, and celebratory purposes.12 Often accompanied by texts, narrative illustrations were among the many means by which Qing rulers consolidated Manchu authority over China and represented themselves as Confucian sovereigns. The Kangxi and Qianlong emperors were particularly energetic patrons of narrative illustrations that were both splendid and edifying. Leng Mei (c.1670 – c.1742), a noted master at the late Kangxi and early Qianlong courts, painted the Cultivating Rectitude album (Plate 24).13 Executed in rich color and intricate detail, the pictures clearly are based on one of the speciously attributed late Ming handscrolls (Plate 19), possibly the “Liu Songnian” scroll that Kong Yuqi presented to the Kangxi emperor in 1684.14 However, Leng’s compositions are larger and more carefully painted, with high-quality pigments and fine silk. Besides often including

more figures in each scene, Leng transformed the settings into architectural environments resembling the Qing palace, as if mapping exemplary deeds of antiquity onto its contemporary inhabitants. To the illustration of King Cheng pretending to enfeoff Shu Yu with a paulownia leaf, Leng added a wall, gate, and redlacquered railings (Plate 24). Furthermore, he reorganized the Ming composition to convey the story more effectively, by putting Shu Yu right in front of King Cheng and relegating the attendants to the gateway behind him. Nie Chongzheng has suggested that Leng Mei painted this album for prince Yinreng (a.k.a. Yunreng, 1674 – 1725), who was designated as the Kangxi emperor’s heir apparent in 1676 but removed in 1712 amid bitter factionalism. The succession was not settled until Kangxi’s death, when another prince triumphed over his rivals and became the Yongzheng emperor (r. 1722 – 1735).15 Despite his prominence as a court artist of the late Kangxi period, Leng Mei abruptly vanished from court records during the Yongzheng era, only to reappear at the start of the Qianlong reign. Nie suspects that Leng temporarily lost his position because the Yongzheng emperor punished men with ties to rival princes, even if only through painting. However, some of Leng Mei’s other paintings bear the seals of Prince Bao, the title held by the future Qianlong emperor, who was the Yongzheng emperor’s secretly designated heir.16 Moreover, the album has accompanying texts written on the facing leaves by Zhang Ruo’ai (1713 – 1746, js 1733), an illustrious official who began his career at court only in 1733.17 Accordingly, it seems more likely that the Cultivating Rectitude album dates to the 1730s. Perhaps Prince Bao/Qianlong commissioned it for his own secretly chosen heir, Yonglian (1730 – 1738), the eldest son of his favored first wife and eventual empress.18 Yonglian’s early demise might account for the album’s pristine condition. In contrast to the many glorious examples of narrative painting that were produced at court during the first half of the Qing period, later imperial commissions are little known and perhaps fewer in number. Recently the National Palace Museum in Taibei has promoted a late Qing painted version of The Emperor’s Mirror, Illustrated and Discussed as a “national treasure” (guobao). Possibly incomplete, it contains fifty-six illustrated stories in two albums.19 The large, sumptuously handpainted pictures call to mind the long-lost compendium that Zhang Juzheng originally

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submitted to the Wanli emperor in 1572 (reflected in Figure 57). The compositions may have been based on those in a woodblock-printed edition, or perhaps they were copied from an early Manchu version, which featured handpainted illustrations.20 In any case, the paintings bear the same four-character titles as the corresponding printed versions, and the accompanying texts are written only in Chinese. A noteworthy difference from earlier versions is that the calligraphy is signed. The leaf facing the illustration of “Dreaming that a good minister was conferred,” reproduced in Plate 25, bears the name of Yang Sisun (1823 – 1889; js 1852).21 Based on documentary evidence, National Palace Museum dates The Emperor’s Mirror: Illustrated and Discussed albums to the latter part of the nineteenth century and suggests that they were used to instruct the Tongzhi (1856 – 1875; r. 1862 – 1875) or Guangxu emperor (1871 – 1908; r. 1875 – 1908), both of whom ascended the throne as young boys.22 Both also received instruction from the Confucian erudite Weng Tonghe (1830 – 1904, js 1856 [optimus]), whose diary contains notes about lectures he presented on stories in The Emperor’s Mirror, Illustrated and Discussed.23 A mid-to-late nineteenth-century date also fits the style of the paintings, which exhibit idealized landscape settings in the “orthodox” mode. Unlike Leng Mei’s Cultivating Rectitude album, whose illusionistic perspective took inspiration from European techniques, the pictures in The Emperor’s Mirror display a more traditional Chinese ambiance. Their visual qualities symbolize the desire to return to the past for renewal (fugu), a time-honored recourse for literati faced with conditions that have diverged too far from the Confucian ideal.24 In the latter half of the nineteenth century, fugu was one response to the challenge of fortifying a civilization threatened by foreign imperialism and the forces of modernization. Even after both emperors attained their respective majorities, the Empress Dowager Cixi (1835 – 1908) and her conservative allies continued to dominate the affairs of the court and central government.25 At their instigation the late Qing palace published several sumptuously illustrated editions of texts that embodied the core ideals of the Confucian system of governance. Orders promulgated in 1895 in the Guangxu emperor’s name directed the palace printing workshop (Wuyingdian) to carve and publish a faithfully recut edition of Cultivating Rectitude, Illustrated and Explained,26 as well as a reconstruction of Wang Yun’s Sum-

maries of the Actions of a Crown Prince with new pictures (see Figures 55, 75).27 Among the editors were distinguished literatiofficials in the Imperial Study, such as Xu Fu (1836 – after 1905), Li Wentian (1834 – 1895, js 1859), and Wang Yirong (1845 – 1900, js 1880). Renowned as calligraphers, epigraphers, and collectors of books and rubbings, they shared Weng Tonghe’s faith in Confucian statecraft and institutions as the foundation for contemporary governance.28 The Guangxu emperor’s charge to the editors, quoted in the prefaces of the new editions, expresses his concern to preserve the precious compendia of instructive illustrations and his desire to make them more convenient to consult.29 His commands were issued just a few weeks after Kang Youwei (1858 – 1927, js 1895) submitted a celebrated memorial exhorting the emperor to introduce radical reforms and modernize official institutions. Appalled by China’s defeat in the Sino-Japanese War (1894 – 1895) and the humiliating terms of the ensuing Treaty of Shimonoseki, more than 1,200 degree-holders cosigned the memorial.30 Instead of pursuing reforms, however, the late Qing court chose to reaffirm traditional statecraft, a strategy signaled by its publication of Summaries of the Actions of a Crown Prince and Cultivating Rectitude, Illustrated and Explained.31 To Wang Yun’s thirty-nine exemplary crown princes from antiquity, Xu Fu and his colleagues added Zhenjin, the original recipient of Summaries of the Actions of a Crown Prince (Figure 75).32 Portrayed in an instructional context with Confucian officials, undoubtedly including Wang Yun, the seated Mongol prince pores over a book. Three younger princes seated nearby on stools also bend over open books, as if to substantiate early Ming historians’ claim that Zhenjin found Wang’s Summaries of the Actions of a Crown Prince so beneficial that he ordered his half-brothers to study it.33 The illustration not only presents Zhenjin as the model heir to a multicultural realm but also expresses perfectly the reactionary vision of the Manchu court itself. During a three-month period in 1898, the Guangxu emperor briefly wielded power directly and gave the reformers a chance to implement some of their ideas. To transform China into a unified, modern state under a more effective ruler, they abolished the “eight-legged essay” at the core of the civil service examinations and founded a new system of public schools based on foreign models.34 Practical subjects introduced from the West began Epilogue  |  121

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Figure 75. “Yuan Yuzong discusses Summaries of the Actions of a Crown Prince.” From Qinding Yuan Wang Yun Chenghua shilue butu (Wang Yun of the Yuan’s Summaries of the Actions of a Crown Prince, Supplemented with Pictures, Imperially Prescribed), juan 6, p. 61a. Wuyingdian edition, 1896. Woodblock-printed book. Frame H: 24.5 cm.

to be taught alongside the Confucian Classics and Chinese history. The new educational institutions survived the reactionary backlash of the Empress Dowager Cixi’s successful coup to regain control of the throne and the devastating Boxer Rebellion that soon followed. In an era of rising political ferment and foreign

encroachment, government-supported schools offered varying combinations of Confucian moral education and foreign-style instruction in modern subjects such as math and science. In 1903 Xu Fu and several other court literati received orders to create an “explained and illustrated” edition of the Classic of

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Figure 76. “Barbarians of the four quarters come to the ruler.” From Qinding Shujing tushuo (The Classic of History, Illustrated and Discussed, Imperially Prescribed), juan 3, p. 6a. 1905. Woodblock-printed book. Frame H: 23.8 cm.

History as a textbook for schools in the provincial capitals (Figure 76).35 The imperial edict, issued under the aegis of the empress dowager as regent for the Guangxu emperor, cited an urgent need to strengthen China from within by indoctrinating more people more quickly with appropriate moral values.36 The Classic of His-

tory was chosen because it preserved the foundations of Chinese governance and customs that the sage rulers had established in antiquity. In order to help young students to understand this important work more readily, the new edition was to include efficacious pictures and clear explanations of the orthodox interpretations. Epilogue  |  123

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Published two years later, The Classic of History, Illustrated and Discussed, Imperially Prescribed (Qinding Shujing tushuo) contains a total of 570 pictures and 408 explanations. Like the images in Summaries of the Actions of a Crown Prince, its woodblockprinted illustrations are rendered in a style clearly inspired by lithography, a modern Western printing technology introduced in the 1870s.37 Copies of the book reached the schools in 1905, just as the civil service examination system was abolished, an act that finally and completely severed the link between mastery of the Confucian canon and attainment of elite status.38 With the revolution that soon followed in 1911, the Qing dy-

nasty fell, and the new leaders abandoned the institutions of dynastic rule. Blamed by many for China’s failure to modernize and strengthen itself against the outside world, Confucian ideology fell into deep disfavor. Despite later revivals in various forms and contexts, it has never regained central importance as part of a system for governing China. Accordingly, it seems fitting to end this book here. And, although twentieth-century ideologies have used didactic narrative illustration to new ends, none more striking than the visual propaganda of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, that is a story for another book.

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Notes

Introduction. The Social Status of Narrative Illustration in China 1. Bush translates representative comments in The Chinese Literati on Painting. 2. For some classic articulations of this view, see Loehr, “Phases and Content in Chinese Painting”; Fong, “How to Understand Chinese Painting”; and Cahill, Hills Beyond a River, pp. 3 – 46. In his later publications Cahill challenges and rejects the literati-centered history of painting. Younger historians of Chinese painting now consider a much broader range of works to be legitimate objects of inquiry. 3. Barnhart discusses specific cases of such elision in “A Recent Freer Acquisition and the Question of Workshop Practices” and “Rediscovering an Old Theme in Ming Painting.” See also Chapter 7. 4. For example, Clunas uses narrative paintings by Shen Zhou (1427 – 1509) to show that works that contradict ideas about appropriate literati styles and subjects tend to be ignored; Pictures and Visuality in Early Modern China, pp. 22, 48. 5. Duggan, “Was Art Really the ‘Book of the Illiterate’?” 6. Apparently no longer extant, the scroll and its colophons were recorded by the collector-connoisseur Zhang Chou (1577 – 1643) in Qinghe shu­hua fang, wei ji (juan 8), pp. 13b – 20a. Zhang thought the painting even better than the Li Gonglin Nine Songs handscroll (Jiu ge tu) that had inspired the name of his studio, the Yu Li Zhai (Regal Li Studio). For the biography of Zhuang Chang, famed as one of the “Four Hanlin remonstrators” of the Chenghua reign (1464 – 1487), see Dictionary of Ming Biography, p. 96. 7. Like a number of later moralists, Zhuang Chang castigated Zhao Mengfu for serving the Mongols despite being a member of the Song imperial clan. Zhuang states that Zhao was morally deficient because he never learned the “basic distinctions” — the very values so clearly expounded in the Li Gonglin handscroll (which Zhao had owned; see Zhou Mi, Yunyan guoyan lu, juan xia, p. 23a), as well as in Zhu Xi’s (1130 –  1200; js 1148) ubiquitous primer, Xiaoxue (Elementary learning). By 1617, when Zhang Chou acquired the scroll, Zhao Mengfu’s colophon had been removed. Zhang laments that although Zhao fell short in Confucian self-cultivation and moral awareness, his connoisseurship

and calligraphy were a hundred times superior to Zhuang Chang’s and enhanced the scroll, as Zhuang’s did not; Zhang Chou, Qinghe shuhua fang, juan 8, pp. 16a – 20a. 8. The handscroll and its colophons are recorded in Shiqu baoji, xubian, pp. 364 – 365. For Gu Ningyuan’s biography, see Zhongguo meishujia renming cidian, p. 1548. 9. This flattering description of Shen Shixing contrasts with more typically unfavorable characterizations, which stress his weak performance as senior grand secretary from 1583 – 1591; see Dictionary of Ming Biography, pp. 1187 – 1190. 10. Liscomb, “Foregrounding the Symbiosis of Power,” p. 157. 11. Liscomb, “Li Bai, a Hero among Poets, in the Visual, Dramatic, and Literary Arts of China.” 12. Jang, “Form, Content, and Audience.” 13. Jang, “Form, Content, and Audience,” p. 21. 14. Laurent, “ ‘Le Principe de la rosée de jade dans le bois aux grues’.” 15. Nelson argues that this Red Cliff scroll was actually by Zhao Boju (? – c.1162), the older brother; “A Note on Chao Po-su.” Although the scroll is no longer extant, most scholars assume that its appearance is faithfully preserved in Wen Zhengming’s 1548 copy (Laurent mistakenly says 1526), which is now in the National Palace Museum, Taibei; reproduced in Chibi fu shuhua tezhan, pp. 37 – 38, 70 – 71. I discuss other Red Cliff illustrations in Chapter 5. 16. Now in the National Palace Museum, Taibei, the work’s full title is Jade Dew in the Crane Forest, One Section, A Compound Gem of Calligraphy and Painting (Helin yulu yize shuhua hebi), a designation that Laurent implies was given later; “ ‘Le Principe de la rosée de jade dans le bois aux grues,’ ” p. 111, notes 6 – 7. 17. Quoted by Zhang Yanyuan, Lidai minghua ji, v. 1, p. 2; translation modified from Acker, Some T’ang and Pre-T’ang Texts on Chinese Painting, v. 1, p. 73; also translated in Early Chinese Texts on Painting, p. 51. 18. Zhang Yanyuan, Lidai minghua ji, v. 1, pp. 1 – 3; translated in Acker, Some T’ang and Pre-T’ang Texts on Chinese Painting, v. 1, pp. 61 – 80; partially translated in Early Chinese Texts on Painting, pp. 50 – 52. 19. Zhang Yanyuan, Lidai minghua ji, v. 1, p. 1; translation modified from Acker, Some T’ang and Pre-T’ang Texts on Chinese Painting, v. 1, p. 64. 125

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20. Zhang Yanyuan, Lidai minghua ji, v. 1, p. 2; translation modified from Acker, Some T’ang and Pre-T’ang Texts on Chinese Painting, v. 1, p. 73; and Early Chinese Texts on Painting, p. 52. 21. Zheng Qiao, Tong zhi, juan 72, p. zhi-837 upper; for discussion, see Reiter, “Some Remarks on the Chinese Word T’u,” esp. pp. 313 – 315. 22. An alternative view prevalent in European studies is that combining written text with visual images creates an amalgam with its own unique properties and conventions, variously called an iconotext, imagetext, or picturebook; and pictures may resist or subvert the accompanying text, rather than always being mutually supportive. For discussion and further references, see Nikolajeva and Scott, How Picturebooks Work, pp. 5 – 8. 23. Zheng Qiao, Tong zhi, juan 72, pp. zhi-838 middle – zhi-840 middle. 24. Zheng Qiao, Tong zhi, juan 72, p. zhi-837 upper. 25. Clunas, Pictures and Visuality in Early Modern China, pp. 29, 42 –  49 passim. 26. Xie Zhaozhi, Wu za zu (Five miscellanies), quoted in Oertling, Painting and Calligraphy in the Wu-tsa-tsu, pp. 123, 194 (Chinese text). 27. See Chapter 7; see also Murray, “The Temple of Confucius and Pictorial Biographies of the Sage,” esp. pp. 277 – 280. Comparable claims were made in the West for Christian pictures; see Duggan, “Was Art Really the ‘Book of the Illiterate’?,” pp. 229, 232, 238­ – 239. 28. Dijian tushuo is discussed further in Chapters 6 – 8. The memorial, dated Longqing 6/12/18 (corresponding to January 21, 1573), is reproduced in many printed editions of the compilation, as well as in Zhang Juzheng’s collected writings, Zhang Juzheng ji, juan 3, pp. 103 – 107. 29. Quoted in Hegel, Reading Illustrated Fiction in Late Imperial China, p. 164. 30. Feng Ruzong, Nü fan bian, fanli, p. 4b. 31. The pictorial biography of Confucius is treated in Chapter 7. Shao Yiren’s “Statement on the Hall of the Sage’s Pictures” (“Shengtudian shuo”), dated Wanli renchen/12/1 (corresponding to January 3, 1593), is transcribed with minor abridgments in Kong Jifen, Queli wenxian kao, pp. 889 – 890; further discussed in Murray, “The Temple of Confucius and Pictorial Biographies of the Sage,” pp. 279 – 280. 32. Li Weizhen’s preface to Jin Lian’s 1604 edition of Dijian tushuo (discussed in Chapter 7, pp. 99 – 100) is reprinted in Li’s collected writings, Dabishanfang ji, juan 8, pp. 5b – 7a. 33. Carlitz, “The Social Uses of Female Virtue in Late Ming Editions of Lienü zhuan.” 34. See Chapter 7, pp. 95 – 97.

Chapter 1. Redrawing the Concept of Chinese Narrative Illustration 1. This chapter draws on more detailed arguments presented in my article “What is ‘Chinese Narrative Illustration’?” The two ways of writing gushi are used interchangeably in modern writings. 2. A prominent example is a much-colophoned and celebrated handscroll attributed to Li Gonglin, variously called Illustrated Stories of Rulers and Ministers (Junchen gushi tu) or Illustrated Stories of Former Ages (Qiandai gushi tu); Zhang Chou, Qinghe shuhua fang, wei ji (juan 8), pp. 20a – 26b. 3. There are actually two chronological sequences, one for men (juan 33 – 41) and the other for women (juan 42 – 44). Only rarely is the painter identified. Another work I discuss, The Emperor’s Mirror, Illustrated and Discussed, also associates the end of ancient times with the Song dynasty; see the Introduction and Chapter 6, pp. 91 – 92. 4. The section’s first entry is a poem ascribed to Xianyu Shu (1257 –  1302), on a painting of the ancient culture-hero Cang Jie creating Chinese characters, purportedly by Fang Congyi (fl. c.1340 – 1380); Yuding Lidai tihua shilei, p. 1435 – 1417. However, the entry poses a problem in that Xianyu Shu could not have inscribed a painting by the much later artist. 5. Mi Fu, Hua shi, p. 195; further discussed in Chapter 5, p. 62. 6. For examples, see Kohara, “Narrative Illustration in the Handscroll Format”; and Del Gais, “Li Kung-lin’s ‘Chiu-ko t’u’.” 7. Törmä premises her recent book, Landscape Experience as Visual Narrative, on the idea that long horizontal landscape compositions are “narrative.” Wu Hung uses the term “transitional narratives” to describe Han tomb pictures of funerary rites and processions, which symbolize the deceased’s journey from earth to a realm of eternal existence; “Beyond the ‘Great Boundary’,” esp. p. 91. 8. For example, see Wen Fong, Beyond Representation, chap. 1. 9. For brief but useful comments, see Lavin, The Place of Narrative, pp. 1 – 3, 9. Another relevant discussion is Pictorial Narrative in Antiquity and the Middle Ages, Introduction. The lack of consensus on a definition of narrative is apparent in the eclectic entry entitled “Narrative Art” in The Dictionary of Art, v. 22, pp. 510 – 523. Curiously enough, the many world regions surveyed do not include China, implying that its artistic traditions have nothing that satisfied the editorial board’s conception of narrative! 10. Hay, “Along the River During Winter’s First Snow,” p. 298. 11. Most scholars have interpreted Hay’s “literary narrative” simply to mean illustrations based on works of literature, but Hay’s remarks suggest something less straightforward, pictures that display a poetic sensibility.

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12. Wu Hung, The Wu Liang Shrine, pp. 132 – 135; also Wu Hung, “What is Bianxiang?” pp. 129 – 130. 13. Wu Hung, The Wu Liang Shrine, pp. 132 – 140. 14. Wu Hung uses the term “icon” more narrowly than other arthistorical scholarship, which includes compositions that are not frontal or bilaterally symmetrical. His description fits a particular kind of icon, the “cultic image,” a sculptural or painted representation that serves as the focus of liturgical or devotional activities. For relevant discussions, see Belting, Likeness and Presence; Schapiro, Words and Pictures, chaps. 3 and 4; and Ringbom, Icon to Narrative. Some icons have attributes that are explained by a narrative, even though the image is not “narrative” in itself; see Belting, Likeness and Presence, p. 10; Dehejia, “On the Modes of Visual Narration in Early Buddhist Art,” pp. 380 – 382; and Morgan, “Andachsbild,” in The Dictionary of Art. 15. Levy, Chinese Narrative Poetry, pp. 4 – 5. 16. Wen Fong, Beyond Representation; also Wen Fong, “The Classic of Filial Piety by Li Kung-lin.” 17. See also Barnhart, “Li Kung-lin’s Hsiao Ching T’u”; Barnhart, “Li Kung-lin’s Use of Past Styles”; Barnhart et al., Li Kung-lin’s Classic of Filial Piety; Brotherton, “Li Kung-lin and Long Handscroll Illustrations of T’ao Ch’ien’s ‘Returning Home’ ”; Brotherton, “Beyond the Written Word”; Wen Fong, “The Classic of Filial Piety by Li Kung-lin”; Harrist, Painting and Private Life in Eleventh-century China; Kohara, “Den Ri Kōrin hitsu Kyuka zu”; and Del Gais, “Li Kung-lin’s Chiu-ko t’u.” 18. Kohara, “Narrative Illustrations in the Handscroll Format.” A fuller and more extensively illustrated presentation of the same research appears in his “Emaki keishiki ni yoru Chūgoku setsuwaga ni tsuite.” 19. Kohara, “Narrative Illustrations in the Handscroll Format,” p. 252. Nonetheless, Kohara’s claims may be somewhat misleading because he takes Japanese narrative illustration to be synonymous with the select category known as emaki (literally, “picture scroll”), a term applied only to the greatest works that were made under the patronage of the imperial court and aristocracy during the Heian and Kamakura periods (roughly 11th – 14th centuries). 20. Todorov, Genres in Discourse, p. 28. 21. Goodman, “Twisted Tales.” 22. White, “The Value of Narrativity in the Representation of Reality.” 23. Lu, From Historicity to Fictionality, esp. pp. 6, 39, 61 – 62, 82. 24. Goodman, “Twisted Tales”; Chatman, “What Novels Can Do That Films Can’t (and Vice Versa).” See also Lavin, The Place of Narrative, pp. 9 – 10. 25. Smith, “Afterthoughts on Narrative.” 26. As a Chinese case in point, see Wu Hung’s discussion of various Song accounts of the “night revels” of the minister Han Xizai (fl. mid10th c.); The Double Screen, pp. 29 – 32, 41 – 48.

27. For particularly useful discussions, see Levy, Chinese Narrative Poetry; various articles in Chinese Narrative: Critical and Theoretical Essays; Lu, From Historicity to Fictionality; Hanan, The Chinese Vernacular Story; Hegel, “Traditional Chinese Fiction”; and Idema, Chinese Vernacular Fiction. 28. Lu, From Historicity to Fictionality, pp. 2 – 4; Plaks, “Towards a Critical Theory of Chinese Narrative,” p. 310; and Levy, Chinese Narrative Poetry, pp. 2 – 3. 29. Lu, From Historicity to Fictionality, chap. 1, esp. p. 14; Plaks, “Towards a Critical Theory of Chinese Narrative”; Hegel, “Traditional Chinese Fiction,” pp. 394 – 395. However, it should be noted that gushi may be listed as a subdivision (lei) of the History category in detailed bibliographies; for example, Song shi, juan 203, pp. 5085, 5108. 30. Lin, “Ritual and Narrative Structure in Ju-lin wai-shih”; also Levy, Chinese Narrative Poetry, p. 2. 31. Plaks, “Towards a Critical Theory of Chinese Narrative,” pp. 313 –  314. 32. Levy explores distinctions between lyric and narrative and the reader’s experience of each; Chinese Narrative Poetry, Introduction. Also useful are Kao, “Lyric Vision in Chinese Narrative Tradition,” esp. pp. 230 – 232; and Plaks, “Towards a Critical Theory of Chinese Narrative,” pp. 312 – 313. Although poetry expressed a poet’s feelings, its frame of reference was rarely just personal but typically extended into the public, political realm. 33. Plaks, “Towards a Critical Theory of Chinese Narrative,” p. 312; also DeWoskin, “The Six Dynasties Chih-kuai and the Birth of Fiction,” pp. 24 – 25. 34. Plaks, “Towards a Critical Theory of Chinese Narrative,” esp. pp. 312 – 313, 348; and Lu, From Historicity to Fictionality, esp. pp. 83 – 86. 35. John Wang, “Early Chinese Narrative,” p. 8. 36. Johnson, “Epic and History in Early China”; also Johnson, “The Wu Tzu-hsu Pien-wen and Its Sources.” Of related interest is Eugene Wang’s study of Wu Zixu’s image on mirrors, “Mirror, Death, and Rhetoric.” 37. In fact, Johnson does draw a major distinction between what he postulates as highly literate readers of early versions and the moderately literate audience for the considerably more entertaining bianwen version of the late Tang or Five Dynasties period; “The Wu Tzu-hsu Pien-wen and Its Sources,” esp. pp. 94 – 96. 38. Eoyang, “A Taste for Apricots,” pp. 65 – 67. 39. Drawing on scholarship in communication theory, Wolfgang Kemp proposes that the transformation that occurs (that is, exactly what happens) must be significant to the narrator or audience; see “Narrative,” in Critical Terms for Art History, esp. pp. 65 – 66. 40. Brilliant suggests that a picture may have as many as three “narrators”: the artist who depicts the story, the viewer who “reads” it, and the

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protagonist within it; see Visual Narratives, pp. 16 – 17. This point is developed in Narrative and Event in Ancient Art, Introduction. In my view the most important kind of “narrator” is the one who determines the content and tone of the illustration, surely a role sometimes played by its patron or sponsor. Writing about Japanese illustrated scrolls, Brock proposes that an “editor” decided what to illustrate and where to place the emphasis; “Chinese Maiden, Silla Monk.” 41. Nikolajeva and Scott discuss these extremes and the gradations between them, based on recent analyses of Western children’s literature; How Picturebooks Work, Introduction, esp. pp. 8 – 21. Also relevant is Todorov’s discussion of two different modes by which a text may evoke a phenomenon: “signification,” whereby the reader simply has to understand the words of the text, and “symbolization,” whereby the reader has to interpret elements of the imaginary universe constructed by the author; Genres in Discourse, p. 43. The difference may be paraphrased as “telling” versus “implying.” 42. For full reproduction and discussion, see Chūgoku sekkutsu: Tonkō Bakukō kutsu, v. 1, pls. 176 – 177. 43. See Chapter 4, p. 53. Leung discusses this genre in the late Tang through Song periods; “The Frontier Imaginary in the Song Dynasty”; for Qing works, see Hostetler, Qing Colonial Enterprise. 44. For discussion and reproductions, see Barnhart, “Li Kung-lin’s Hsiao Ching T’u”; and Barnhart et al., Li Kung-lin’s Classic of Filial Piety. 45. The story of Lady Fan comes from Liu Xiang’s Lienü zhuan, which I discuss in Chapter 2. 46. The Admonitions scroll in the British Museum bears seals of the late Northern Song court, roughly contemporary with the earliest mention of Gu Kaizhi’s association with the subject in Mi Fu’s Hua shi, p. 188. For reproductions of the scroll, translations of Zhang Hua’s text, and recent scholarship, see Gu Kaizhi and the Admonitions Scroll; also Kohara, “Jōshi shin zukan.” 47. The British Museum scroll is missing the text to the first scene, which may have been lost along with additional opening illustrations. Such scenes do appear in an ink-on-paper version in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrating the virtuous deeds of Lady Fan of Chu and a lady of Wei, the wife of Duke Huan of Qi (d. 643 BCE); see Yu Hui, “The Admonitions Scroll: A Song Version”; also Kohara, “Jōshi shin zukan” (McCausland translation), pp. 36 – 40. The visual evidence of the British Museum handscroll strongly suggests that the pictures were painted first and the passages of text transcribed afterward, perhaps centuries later. If the scroll originally bore only paintings, it would be comparable to Western Han scrolls that contained illustrative matter for texts that were kept separately in a different format, such as bundles of written strips (ce); some examples are mentioned in Han shu, juan 30, pp. 1701 – 1784. Once it became common for pictures and texts to share the same sur-

face, a later owner of the Admonitions paintings may have wanted the relevant passages transcribed next to their illustrations. 48. In the early sixth century, Xiao Tong (501 – 531) included Zhang’s piece as the model for admonitory writing in Selections of Refined Literature (Wen xuan); for detailed discussion of its subject, see my article, “Who Was Zhang Hua’s ‘Instructress’?” 49. I discuss the Biographies of Exemplary Women at greater length in Chapter 2. 50. Translation modified from Hsio-yen Shih, “Poetry Illustration and the Works of Ku K’ai-chih,” p. 11. 51. Ledderose has charted the categories named in Chinese texts on painting from the Period of Disunion through Song and noted the patterns of development they exhibit; “Subject Matter in Early Chinese Painting Criticism.” 52. The story is recorded in Jiu Tang shu, juan 51, p. 2180. See also Lawton, Chinese Figure Painting, cat. no. 5. 53. Pao-chen Chen minutely analyzes several extant versions in “The Goddess of the Lo River.” 54. Robert Bagley has suggested that the extreme case is realized in Sergei Eisenstein’s film notebooks, where the composition of figures, costumes, and scenery is drawn for every scene and from each camera angle (private communication, January 1997). In terms of scenes, one of Eisenstein’s notebooks is as complete as the corresponding portion of the finished film. 55. Dehejia, “On the Modes of Visual Narration in Early Buddhist Art,” later revised for her Discourse in Early Buddhist Art, chap. 1. Phillips criticizes Dehejia’s categories and defines additional terms for Japanese pictorial art in “The Price Shuten Dōji Screens.” Another relevant discussion, based on European art, is Andrews, Story and Space in Renaissance Art, pp. 120 – 126. 56. Weitzmann includes scenes of this type in his “simultaneous narrative” category, reserving the term “conflated narrative” to mean the combination of several scenes extracted from a larger cycle into one picture; Illustrations in Roll and Codex, pp. 13 – 14, 24 – 25. Kohara calls both conflated and synoptic compositions iji dōzu (“different moments, same picture”); “Narrative Illustration in the Handscroll Format,” p. 255. The terminology used by writers on Western art does not specify whether or not the protagonist is repeated, as Dehejia notes; “On the Modes of Visual Narration in Early Buddhist Art,” p. 382, n. 18. However, it seems useful to make such a distinction. Concerning the synoptic mode specifically, Dehejia emphasizes that the temporal sequence of the episodes is not indicated by formal means. 57. Although the paintings are now separate, they probably once formed sections of a handscroll; see reproductions in Shengji zhi tu. 58. I provide extensive discussion and reproductions of Auspicious

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Omens for Dynastic Revival in “Ts’ao Hsun and Two Southern Sung History Scrolls.” 59. Segmented compositions largely correspond to Dehejia’s “linear” category (“On the Modes of Visual Narration in Early Buddhist Art,” pp. 386 – 388), which she later renamed “sequential” narrative (Discourse in Early Buddhist Art, p. 20); they also fit Weitzmann’s “cyclical narrative” category (Illustrations in Roll and Codex, pp. 17 – 33). 60. Examples include a handscroll in the Beijing Palace Museum, Zhongguo lidai huihua: Gugong bowuyuan canghua ji, v. 1, pls. 2 – 19; and two in the Freer Gallery of Art, Lawton, Chinese Figure Painting, cat. nos. 1 – 2. A version in the Liaoning Provincial Museum has passages of text transcribed on unpainted portions of the picture surface, providing a degree of separation between scenes; Liaoning sheng bowuguan canghua ji, v. 1, 1 – 12. Kohara and Chen agree that the earliest portrayal incorporated the rhapsody’s text within the picture, and later renditions omitted it, leaving the depictions of events and rhetorical devices awkwardly juxtaposed; Kohara, “Narrative Illustration in the Handscroll Format,” pp. 252, 255 – 256; and Chen, “The Goddess of the Lo River,” pp. 1 – 2. Kohara also argues that although Chinese artists created the continuous-sequential narrative form, they were not much interested in it, unlike Japanese artists, who developed it to cinematic sophistication in the celebrated Shigisan engi emaki; Kohara, “Narrative Illustration in the Handscroll Format,” pp. 258 – 262. 61. The Metropolitan Museum’s version is fully reproduced in Fong and Rorex, Eighteen Songs of a Nomad Flute; others are discussed and reproduced in Rorex, “Eighteen Songs of a Nomad Flute.” Leung offers an alternative interpretation of the subject in “The Frontier Imaginary in the Song Dynasty.” For the literary evolution of the story, see Levy, “Transforming Archetypes in Chinese Poetry and Painting” (which Leung supplements). 62. This group corresponds to Dehejia’s “narrative networks”; see “On the Modes of Visual Narration in Early Buddhist Art,” p. 388; and Discourse in Early Buddhist Art, p. 27. 63. Several depictions of this theme are discussed in Wu Hung, “What is Bianxiang?” pp. 159 – 169; and Fraser, Performing the Visual, pp. 71 – 86. 64. Zhang Yanyuan observes that hanging scrolls were unknown before the Sui period (581 – 618); Lidai minghua ji, juan 2, p. 26; translated in Acker, Some T’ang and Pre-T’ang Texts on Chinese Painting, v. 1, p. 200. Hanging scrolls could be used to create appropriate ritual space, as demonstrated by sets of scrolls for the week-long Water and Land Assembly (Shuilu fahui); Latter Days of the Law, pp. 280 – 287. 65. Wu Hung compares paintings on screens and handscrolls in The Double Screen, esp. chaps. 1 and 2. Also thought-provoking are Pächt’s observations about relationships between scroll and codex (the latter analogous to Chinese album and book formats) in the European tradi-

tion in Book Illumination in the Middle Ages, Introduction. For stimulating analogies in literary media, see Chartier, Forms and Meanings. 66. Liscomb, “Li Bai, a Hero among Poets”; also Introduction, p. 2. 67. Clunas, Pictures and Visuality in Early Modern China, pp. 41 – 49; citing Carlo Ginzburg’s essay “Titian, Ovid, and Sixteenth-Century Codes for Erotic Illustration.” 68. Cahill convincingly attributes this painting to Zhang Lu (1464 –  1538) on the basis of style; Parting at the Shore, p. 131. 69. See discussion of The Emperor’s Mirror in the Introduction and in Chapters 6 through 8. The Su Shi episode concludes the section on exemplary rulers. 70. Plaks, “Towards a Critical Theory of Chinese Narrative,” pp. 313 –  314. 71. The same is true in literature; John Wang, “Early Chinese Narrative,” p. 8; and Plaks, “Towards a Critical Theory of Chinese Narrative,” pp. 343 – 344. 72. Wu Hung, The Wu Liang Shrine, pp. 132 – 135. 73. Huang’s comments, which were written for Li’s painting of the Han general Li Guang shooting at an enemy from horseback, are translated and discussed in Barnhart, “Survivals, Revivals, and the Classical Tradition of Chinese Figure Painting,” pp. 160 – 161. 74. For detailed discussion, see Hsio-yen Shih, “Early Chinese Pictorial Style,” pp. 26, 29 – 32; also Spiro, Contemplating the Ancients, chap. 2. 75. Kohara, “Narrative Illustration in the Handscroll Format,” p. 258. Ringbom discusses Western conventions for representing dreams in “Some Pictorial Conventions for the Recounting of Thoughts and Experiences in Late Medieval Art.” 76. For example, in a Ming set of thirteen hanging scrolls depicting the life of the Buddha, of which one is reproduced in Murray, “The Evolution of Pictorial Hagiography in Chinese Art,” p. 87, fig. 9. By contrast, nonnarrative hanging scrolls, such as paintings of scholars visiting the mountains, are usually read from the bottom up. 77. However, the second half of Lü Dongbin’s pictorial biography, on the facing wall, is laid out from left to right, so that the two sequences converge on an icon placed along the perpendicular wall; for reproductions and detailed discussion, see Yonglegong bihua quanji. 78. Jian’ge Jueyuansi Mingdai fozhuan bihua; also discussed in Lesbre, “Une vie illustrée du Buddha.”

Chapter 2. Early Narrative Illustration and Moral Suasion 1. Schaberg analyzes the political and polemical interpretations of past events in the Zuo Commentary (Zuo zhuan) and the Legends of the States (Guo yu), two early collections of historical anecdotes; see A Patterned Past.

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2. Often cited by later writers, the story appears under the title “Contemplating the Zhou” (“Guan Zhou”) in Kongzi jia yu, juan 3, p. 25 (sec. 11). The exemplary relationship between the weak young ruler and his sagely regent, who resisted the temptation to usurp power for himself, is detailed in the Shangshu (Book of documents); Shangshu zhengyi, v. 1, pp. 198 – 202. In the court politics of later dynasties, allusions to the duke carrying the child-king were used to admonish a regent to remain loyal to the dynastic house; Elman, “ ‘Where is King Cheng?’ ” pp. 23 – 24. 3. Lunyu 7.5, translated in Legge, The Four Books, p. 196. 4. The description appears in stanza 5; for the entire text, see Xiao Tong, Wen xuan (Knechtges translation), v. 2, pp. 262 – 277. For additional comments concerning the painted imagery, see Wu Hung, The Wu Liang Shrine, pp. 73 – 74; and Hou, “Recherches sur la peinture du portrait en Chine,” p. 39. 5. Xiao Tong, Wen xuan (Knechtges translation), v. 2, p. 263. 6. Wu, The Wu Liang Shrine, pp. 192 – 193. Wang Chong (27 – c.97) says that portraits were made of “the entire body of Han officers during the reign of Han Xuandi (74 – 49 BCE)”; see “The Necessity of Eulogies” (“Xu song”), in Lun heng jijie, juan 20, p. 404; also Wang Chong, Lun Heng (Forke translation), p. 223. 7. The Qilin’ge is mentioned in the biography of Su Wu (140 – 60 BCE), whose portrait was painted for it in 51 BCE; Han shu, juan 54, pp. 2468 – 2469; also Soper, Kuo Jo-hsu’s Experiences in Painting, pp. 116 – 117, n. 70. The meritorious ministers commemorated at the Yuntai are identified and the entire project described in the biography of Ma Wu (d. 61 CE) in Hou Han shu, juan 22, pp. 789 – 791. Based on indirect references by Sima Qian (145 – 86 BCE) and Wang Chong, Hou Ching-lang suggests that portraits of heroes who helped to found the dynasty were also displayed in the Xuanshidian (Great Chamber Hall) of the Weiyang Palace; “Recherches sur la peinture du portrait en Chine,” p. 38. 8. Zhang Yanyuan, Lidai minghua ji, v. 1, p. 6; translation slightly modified from Acker, Some T’ang and Pre-T’ang Texts on Chinese Painting, v. 1, p. 72. 9. Zhang Yanyuan, Lidai minghua ji, juan 9, p. 104; also Acker, Some T’ang and Pre-T’ang Texts on Chinese Painting, v. 2, part 1, pp. 212 – 213. 10. This compilation is recorded in Liu’s official biography in Han shu, pp. 1957 – 1958. For detailed discussion, see The Indiana Companion to Traditional Chinese Literature, pp. 583 – 584; Wu Hung, The Wu Liang Shrine, pp. 170 – 173; and Wu Hung, The Double Screen, pp. 85 – 87. The entire text of the Biographies of Exemplary Women is translated in O’Hara, The Position of Woman in Early China. 11. The screens are mentioned in a passage from Liu Xiang’s Qilue bielu that was excerpted in a Tang compilation, Xu Jian’s Chuxue ji, juan 25, pp. 598 – 600. Wu Hung discusses the reference in The Wu Liang Shrine, p. 171. 12. Han shu, pp. 4200 – 4201; cited in Wu Hung, The Double Screen,

p. 85 (correcting his erroneous association of the story with Han Wudi in The Wu Liang Shrine, p. 172). 13. Wang Chong, “On Intelligence” (“Bie tong”), Lun heng jijie, juan 13, pp. 274 – 275. My translation combines renditions by Forke, Lun Heng, p. 102; Acker, Some T’ang and Pre-T’ang Texts on Chinese Painting, v. 1, p. 79; and Early Chinese Texts on Painting, p. 25. Zhang Yanyuan paraphrased this passage in somewhat altered form in order to denigrate Wang’s point of view; Lidai minghua ji, juan 1, p. 3; cited and translated in Acker, Some T’ang and Pre-T’ang Texts on Chinese Painting, v. 1, pp. 79 – 80. 14. Wang Chong, “Falsehoods in Books” (“Shu xu”), Lun heng jijie, juan 4, p. 85; Forke translation, p. 250. For Wu Zixu, see Johnson, “Epic and History in Early China”; Johnson, “The Wu Tzu-hsu Pien-wen and Its Sources”; and Eugene Wang, “Mirror, Death, and Rhetoric.” 15. Wu Hung, The Double Screen, pp. 89 – 90, citing the biography of Song Hong in Hou Han shu, juan 26, p. 904. 16. See Introduction, pp. 4 – 5. 17. Hou Han shu, juan 60 xia, p. 1998, biography of Cai Yong; also cited in Gugong shuhua lu, juan 7, p. 62. Handscrolls preserving smallscale replicas of the portraits were still extant in the late Tang; Zhang Yanyuan, Lidai minghua ji, juan 3, p. 54. 18. The paintings are described in stanza 7 of the rhapsody; Xiao Tong, Wen xuan (Knechtges translation), v. 2, pp. 292 – 293. “Writing on a sash” alludes to Zi Zhang, a disciple of Confucius, who jotted down the master’s teachings on his sash, where he could refer to them frequently; Lunyu 15.5, translated in Legge, The Four Books, p. 296. 19. Wu Hung, The Double Screen, p. 86. 20. Xiao Tong, Wen xuan (Knechtges translation), v. 2, p. 292. Lü Yanji’s commentary was one of five by Tang officials in a 730s edition of the Wen xuan. These five were combined with Li Shan’s in Song and later editions under the title Six Officials’ Annotations to Selections of Refined Literature (Liuchen zhu Wen xuan); The Indiana Companion to Traditional Chinese Literature, pp. 891 – 892. 21. Quoted by Zhang Yanyuan, Lidai minghua ji, juan 1, p. 2; translation based on Acker, Some T’ang and Pre-T’ang Texts on Chinese Painting, v. 1, pp. 74 – 75. The quotation may be from Cao’s preface to a collection of eulogies on paintings; see Early Chinese Texts on Painting, p. 27. Some of the figures enumerated by Cao appear on the walls of the socalled Wu Liang shrine, discussed below. 22. Translation based on Acker, Some T’ang and Pre-T’ang Texts on Chinese Painting, v. 1, p. 1. 23. For useful discussions, see Loewe, Faith, Myth and Reason in Han China; James, A Guide to the Tomb and Shrine Art of the Han Dynasty; Rawson, “Cosmological Systems as Sources of Art, Ornament and Design in Han and Post-Han China”; Rawson, “The Power of Images”; Wu Hung, “Art in a Ritual Context”; Wu Hung, “From Temple to Tomb”; and Wu Hung, “Beyond the ‘Great Boundary’.”

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24. Wang Chong, “A Last Word on Dragons” (“Luan long”), in Lun heng jijie, juan 16, pp. 327, 329; Forke translation, part 2, pp. 349, 352. 25. The deceased was also propitiated with food, drink, and goods, as well as by the memorial rituals themselves; see discussions cited in note 23. 26. See Zhongguo meishu quanji, huihua bian, v. 1, no. 77; Watt, The Sumptuous Basket, no. 1; and Yoshikawa, “On the Painted Figures of a Han Lacquer found in Lolang.” 27. For details concerning the workshops, see Barbieri-Low, “The Organization of Imperial Workshops during the Han Dynasty”; he discusses the Lelang basket on pp. 244 – 245. 28. The three shrines that can be almost fully reconstructed from the slabs have long been known as the Left, Front, and Wu Liang Shrines. Recently Cary Liu et al. have neutrally designated them as Stone Chambers nos. 1 – 3; see Recarving China’s Past. Also useful are Chavannes, Mission Archéologique dans la Chine Septentrionale; James, A Guide to the Tomb and Shrine Art of the Han Dynasty; Powers, Art and Political Expression in Early China; and Wu Hung, The Wu Liang Shrine. 29. Wu Hung gives a detailed interpretation of the iconography and argues that Wu Liang (77 – 151) himself chose it; The Wu Liang Shrine, pp. 142 – 156 and Monumentality, pp. 224 – 238. Despite the reasons recently advanced by Cary Liu et al. to distrust the shrine’s association with Wu Liang (Recarving China’s Past), I use the name here as a convenient and recognized shorthand for a widely known monument. 30. Wu Hung, The Wu Liang Shrine, p. 169 and figs. 63 – 64. 31. Wu Hung accepts Liu Xiang’s authorship of illustrated stories of filial sons, variously called Pictures of Filial Sons (Xiaozi tu), Biographies of Filial Sons (Xiaozi zhuan), or Biographies of Exemplary Gentlemen (Lieshi zhuan); The Wu Liang Shrine, pp. 272 – 275. However, Knapp shows that Liu’s name was linked with such titles only from the seventh century, after the genre had evolved beyond its rudimentary Han form; “Accounts of Filial Sons,” Appendix. 32. Wu Hung argues that the compositions accompanied by written cartouches were specifically based on recorded history or copied from annotated illustrations, such as Han compendia of good and bad omens and Liu Xiang’s collections of biographical anecdotes concerning filial sons and virtuous women; see preceding note and The Wu Liang Shrine, p. 146. Cary Liu et al. suggest that the inscriptions were recarved in later centuries; Recarving China’s Past, pp. 74, 123, 126. 33. Wu Hung suggests instead that the scene embodies the Confucian ideal of sovereignty; The Wu Liang Shrine, pp. 145 – 147 and fig. 72. Cary Liu et al. explain the scene as a rebus for attaining office and high rank; Recarving China’s Past, pp. 126 – 127. 34. Wu Hung discusses the eight scenes of female exemplars in The Wu Liang Shrine, pp. 143 – 145, 167 – 180, 252 – 272. For Liu Xiang’s screen for Chengdi, see above in this chapter and note 11.

35. Probably buried as a precious possession that Sima Jinlong or his wife had used in life, the five-panel screen is fully reproduced in color in Zhongguo meishu quanji, huihua bian, v. 1, no. 100. For useful introductions, see Watt, China: Dawn of a Golden Age, no. 69; Wu Hung, The Double Screen, pp. 87 – 89; and Clunas, Art in China, pp. 36 – 39. For recent scholarship, see Hsieh Chen-fa (Xie Zhenfa), “Bei Wei Sima Jinlong mu de qihua pingfeng shixi”; for the excavation report, see “Shanxi Datong Shijiazhai Bei Wei Sima Jinlong mu.” 36. Zhang Yanyuan mentions paintings of Biographies of Exemplary Women in the biographies of Cai Yong (133 – 192), Sima Shao (Jin Mingdi; c.299 – 325, r. 323 – 325), Xun Xu (d. 289), Wei Xie (3rd c.), Wang Yi (276 – 322), Xie Zhi (5th c.), Pu Daoxing (5th c.), Wang Dian (fl. late 5th c.), and Chen Gongen (fl. late 5th c.); Lidai minghua ji, juan 4, p. 61; juan 5, pp. 65 – 67, 70, 72 – 73; juan 6, p. 83; and juan 7, p. 86; and Acker, Some T’ang and Pre-T’ang Texts on Chinese Painting, v. 2, part 1, pp. 12, 24, 28, 31, 38, 58, 59, 84 – 85, 148, 154, 155. Pei Xiaoyuan’s 639 inventory of the Sui palace collection also lists the attributions to Wei Xie, Chen Gongen, and Wang Yi; Zhenguan gongsi huashi, pp. 30, 36, 41. 37. For reproductions, see Zhongguo lidai huihua: Gugong bowuyuan canghua ji, v. 1, pls. 20 – 32. O’Hara translates the relevant biographies in The Position of Woman in Early China, pp. 76 – 86, 89 – 94, 95 – 97. Two illustrations are clearly fragmentary; there is a break in the silk in the seventh scene after the lone figure labeled “Guang, the heir apparent,” and the last scene consists only of two men, labeled “Middle Brother” and “Elder Brother.” 38. Wu Hung also points out that the women depicted on the Sima Jinlong screen are high-ranking palace ladies, unlike the ordinary women portrayed on the Wu Liang shrine; The Double Screen, pp. 87 – 89. 39. Another reason why the figures in the Beijing handscroll are stiff and inexpressive is because the work is a much later copy and probably distant from its prototype. 40. Han shu, juan 30 (yiwenzhi 10), pp. 1701 – 1784. Zhang Yanyuan’s opening essay discusses multiple meanings of the word tu, linking it to hexagrams, characters, and paintings; Lidai minghua ji, juan 1, p. 1; translated in Acker, Some T’ang and Pre-T’ang Texts on Chinese Painting, v. 1, p. 65. The range of illustrative matter encompassed by tu includes charts, tables, diagrams, and maps, as well as pictures. 41. Zhang Yanyuan, Lidai minghua ji, juan 3, p. 56. 42. Wu Hung, The Wu Liang Shrine, pp. 76 – 85. Because the legitimacy of the Eastern Han emperors was questionable, they had reason to be concerned about omens from heaven. Emperor Guangwu belonged to a distant branch of the Liu family and was two generations “older” than the last Western Han emperor; see Wu Hung, Monumentality, p. 120. 43. For a drawn reconstruction of the carved omen pictures on the ceiling, see Wu Hung, The Wu Liang Shrine, p. 81, fig. 38. 44. Wu Hung, The Wu Liang Shrine, p. 84, fig. 39. Notes to Pages 30 – 33  |  131

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45. Wu Hung, The Wu Liang Shrine, pp. 56 ff., 92 – 96, and fig. 32; the story comes from Shi ji, juan 6, p. 248. For further discussion of the legitimacy implied by the tripods, see Wu Hung, Monumentality, pp. 1 – 11; and Powers, Art and Political Expression in Early China, pp. 200 – 203. James interprets the scene very differently, as a bad omen expressing heaven’s displeasure with Eastern Han misrule; A Guide to the Tomb and Shrine Art of the Han Dynasty, pp. 120 – 123. 46. Wu Hung, The Wu Liang Shrine, pp. 264 – 266. 47. The story is recounted in both the Zhanguo ce and the Shi ji; see Wu Hung, The Wu Liang Shrine, pp. 315 – 319. 48. Chen, “The Goddess of the Lo River,” pp. 113 – 117. In a later study she revised her description to allow the possibility that the scene represents the climax of the story, following Weitzmann in terming it a “simultaneous” composition; Chen, “Three Representational Modes for Text/Image Relationships in Early Chinese Pictorial Art,” p. 96. 49. Chen, “The Goddess of the Lo River,” pp. 120 – 122; references to other scholars’ interpretations are given in her note 124. For a convenient introduction to the tomb and its paintings, see Chaves, “A Han Painted Tomb at Loyang.” 50. James, A Guide to the Tomb and Shrine Art of the Han Dynasty, pp. 45 – 47; and Chaves, “A Han Painted Tomb at Loyang,” pp. 10 – 11. 51. Eugene Wang, “Mirror, Death, and Rhetoric.” Stories about Wu Zixu are exhaustively analyzed by Johnson in “Epic and History in Early China” and “The Wu Tzu-hsu Pien-wen and Its Sources.” 52. Eugene Wang also mentions a mirror in the Yamaguchi Collection with two representations of Wu Zixu, which would clearly suggest two different times in the story; “Mirror, Death, and Rhetoric,” p. 513. Unfortunately his reproduction (his fig. 8) is too blurred to verify this identification, and he does not discuss it further. 53. The trope of history as the mirror of the past, to be consulted in governing the present, originated in high antiquity and appears in poems in the Shijing; see Schaberg, A Patterned Past, pp. 102, 361 n. 21. For its use by Sima Qian, see Durrant, The Cloudy Mirror, p. 145. I discuss the later compilation of illustrated texts as “mirrors” in Chapters 5 and 6. 54. Wu Hung, “The Earliest Pictorial Representations of Ape Tales,” pp. 90 – 91. 55. Wu Hung’s sole evidence for such copybooks in the Han period is the listing of a work entitled Kongzi turen tufa, which Wu translates as “Method of Depicting Confucius and His Disciples,” in the bibliography of Han shu, juan 30, p. 1717. However, Csikszentmihalyi renders the title as “Charts and Models of Confucius and His Disciples” and suggests that the work contained “encoded prophecies,” possibly being an early example of Han apocrypha (weishu, literally “weft texts”); see “Confucius and the Analects in the Han,” p. 142. Even if Kongzi turen tufa contained pictures, they were more likely to be portraits than illustrations to a story.

56. Weitzmann, Illustrations in Roll and Codex, chap. 1. 57. Kohara emphasizes that the perpetuation of early approaches is a feature of later Chinese illustration that differs sharply from Japanese practice; “Narrative Illustration in the Handscroll Format,” p. 265.

Chapter 3. New Strategies for Narrative Illustration in the Post-Han Period 1. This chapter summarizes a more detailed discussion in my article, “Buddhism and Early Narrative Illustration in China.” 2. For useful insights on the transmission, see Hansen, “The Path of Buddhism into China.” Campany makes a compelling argument for understanding early Buddhism in China as a new set of practices and resources, rather than as a doctrine in which people “believed” or an entity to which they could “belong”; “On the Very Idea of Religions.” 3. For example, early images of the Buddha appear in Sichuan in the Mahao tomb and in Jiangsu on the Kongwangshan cliff; see Wu Hung, “Buddhist Elements in Early Chinese Art.” Isolated though these Buddha figures are, Wu argues that they fostered the development of iconic representation in China, as seen in the hieratic, frontal depictions of the native deities Xiwangmu (Queen Mother of the West) and Dongwanggong (King Father of the East) in Eastern Han pictorial art. 4. Mair argues more emphatically that the Chinese forms have Indian origins; Painting and Performance. 5. My discussion of Indian examples is based on Dehejia, “On the Modes of Visual Narration in Early Buddhist Art”; Dehejia, Discourse in Early Buddhist Art; and Huntington, “Early Buddhist Art and the Theory of Aniconism.” 6. Hallade, Gandhāran Art of Northern India, pp. 103 – 107. Such an arrangement is depicted on several stone slabs from Amarāvatī, datable to the 2nd or 3rd c. CE; see Knox, Amarāvatī, esp. pls. 68 – 78. 7. Historians of Indian art offer different reasons why early Buddhist illustrations do not portray the Buddha in human form. Huntington suggests that such scenes represent pilgrims’ reenactments of significant events, not the events themselves, so there is no reason to include Buddha’s figure; “Early Buddhist Art and the Theory of Aniconism.” Dehejia defends the traditional view that early Indian Buddhist art was deliberately “aniconic” because the Buddha had transcended human form upon achieving nirvana; “Aniconism and the Multivalence of Emblems.” More recently Dehejia has discarded the overly charged term “aniconic” in favor of “indexical signs” that allude to the Buddha’s presence without depicting his figure; Discourse in Early Buddhist Art, p. 42. 8. Dehejia reproduces and discusses an example on the Ajātashatru Pillar at Bhārhut; “On the Modes of Visual Narration in Early Buddhist Art,” pp. 380 – 381. 9. For additional reproductions and discussions, see Karetzky and

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Soper, “A Northern Wei Painted Coffin”; Luo, “Lacquer Painting on a Northern Wei Coffin”; and Zhongguo meishu quanji, huihua bian, v. 1, no. 101. 10. Ningxia is part of a large region known until recent times as “Chinese Turkestan” and now one of the so-called autonomous regions set up to administer large non-Han populations; Gladney, “The Making of a Muslim Minority Nationality in China.” I do not mean to imply a stark dichotomy between Han and non-Han culture. Rather than being a fixed entity from ancient times onward, Chinese civilization evolved continuously and often assimilated practices that had originated elsewhere. And, of course, the boundaries of the territory comprising “China” changed frequently. 11. Yang Hong, “An Archaeological View of Tuoba Xianbei Art in the Pingcheng Period and Earlier.” 12. His story is part of the biography of the two daughters of Sage Emperor Yao, the first account in Liu Xiang’s Lienü zhuan, translated in O’Hara, The Position of Woman in Early China, pp. 13 – 17. 13. The sarcophagus is reproduced and discussed, with a list of further references, in Eight Dynasties of Chinese Painting, no. 4; also Wu Hung, Monumentality, pp. 264 – 267. Lady Yuan was related to the Northern Wei ruling family. 14. Wu Hung posits that the sarcophagus pictures exemplify a “binary mode” of representation that developed in the late Northern Wei period, as a means of depicting forms within a fully three-dimensional space and negating the solidity of the stone surface; Monumentality, pp. 264 – 267. 15. Knapp notes that written versions of Dong Yong’s story from the Period of Disunion say that Dong went into debt to pay for his father’s burial, while Han traditions suggest that the expenses were for a living father’s support; “Accounts of Filial Sons,” pp. 85 – 87. 16. Provocative recent studies of the decoration of these caves include Hsio-yen Shih, “Readings and Re-Readings of Narrative in Dunhuang Murals”; Donohashi, “Dunhuang bihua de bensheng tu ji qi kaizhan”; and Chen “The Goddess of the Lo River,” chap. 3. Also of interest is Schmid, “Dunhuang Buddhist Narratives and Their Performative Contexts,” esp. pp. 115 – 116. 17. Hsio-yen Shih, “Readings and Re-Readings of Narrative in Dunhuang Murals,” p. 88. 18. Chūgoku sekkutsu: Tonkō Bakukō kutsu, v. 1, pls. 33, 35; also Hsioyen Shih, “Readings and Re-Readings of Narrative in Dunhuang Murals,” pp. 61 – 63. A useful in-depth study of Cave 254 is Abe, “Art and Practice in a Fifth-century Chinese Buddhist Cave Temple.” 19. Hsio-yen Shih identifies the mural as the culminating narrative in the cave, whose program she interprets as instructing the monastic community on spiritual cultivation and discipline; “Readings and ReReadings of Narrative in Dunhuang Murals,” p. 63.

20. Dehejia, “On the Modes of Visual Narration in Early Buddhist Art,” pp. 384 – 385; Discourse in Early Buddhist Art, pp. 25 – 26. The scene is on a stūpa now in the Central Archaeological Museum, Lahore, Pakistan. 21. Chūgoku sekkutsu: Tonkō Bakukō kutsu, v. 1, pls. 36 – 37. 22. Chūgoku sekkutsu: Tonkō Bakukō kutsu, v. 1, pls. 130 – 132; the date is given as Western Wei (535 – 556). 23. Chen, “The Goddess of the Lo River,” pp. 144 – 146. 24. Chūgoku sekkutsu: Tonkō Bakukō kutsu, v. 1, pls. 168 – 169; see also Hsio-yen Shih, “Readings and Re-Readings of Narrative in Dunhuang Murals,” pp. 60 – 61, 65 – 67. 25. Chūgoku sekkutsu: Tonkō Bakukō kutsu, v. 1, pls. 166 – 167. 26. Hsio-yen Shih, “Readings and Re-Readings of Narrative in Dunhuang Murals,” p. 67. 27. Chūgoku sekkutsu: Tonkō Bakukō kutsu, v. 1, pls. 176 – 177; also Zhongguo meishu quanji, huihua bian, v. 14, pls. 126 – 131; and Karetzky, Early Buddhist Narrative Art. I treat the subject in greater detail in “The Evolution of Pictorial Hagiography in Chinese Art.” For a systematic discussion of events in the life of the Buddha, see Karetzky, The Life of the Buddha. 28. Chūgoku sekkutsu: Tonkō Bakukō kutsu, v. 3, pls. 63 – 68; and Zhongguo meishu quanji, huihua bian, v. 15, pp. 40 – 42. My discussion also draws from Ning, “Buddhist-Daoist Conflict and Gender Transformation.” 29. Ning, “Buddhist-Daoist Conflict and Gender Transformation,” pp. 55 – 56. 30. Ning, “Buddhist-Daoist Conflict and Gender Transformation,” p. 55. Zhang Qian’s mission is recorded in both the Shi ji and the Han shu. 31. Mair discusses shi and a related narrative marker, chu (place: “This is the place where [X happens]”) as evidence of the Buddhist origins of the later genres of Chinese vernacular literature that use alternating sections of prose and verse to advance the narrative; Tang Transformation Texts; and Painting and Performance. 32. For the ethnic diversity, see Eberhard, “The Origin of Commoners in Ancient Tun-huang”; Xinru Liu, Ancient India and Ancient China; and Zürcher, The Buddhist Conquest of China, pp. 59, 68. A useful general discussion is Du, “The Multi-Ethnic Character of Chinese Buddhism.” 33. For reproductions of the entire cave, see Chūgoku sekkutsu: Tonkō Bakukō kutsu, v. 1, pls. 114 – 148. 34. Theravada Buddhism emphasizes the individual practitioner’s efforts, modeled on those of the Buddha in his last earthly life. By contrast, Mahayana Buddhism gives a prominent role to bodhisattvas, as beings who help others to achieve salvation; see Sources of Chinese Tradition, pp. 415 – 420. 35. Nagahiro, Rikuchō jidai bijutsu no kenkyū, English summary, p. x. As evidence, he cites Zhang Yanyuan’s biography of Yuan Qian, who was Notes to Pages 39 – 44  |  133

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active in the Liu Song period (420 – 479); Lidai minghua ji, juan 6, p. 81 (translated in Acker, Some T’ang and Pre-T’ang Texts on Chinese Painting, v. 2, part 1, p. 138). According to Zhang’s annotations to the main entry, Yuan was renowned for his marvelous handscroll illustrating the Vimalakīrti Transformations (Weimoji bian), with over a hundred “matters” (shi); presumably referring to scenes. Soper also takes “a hundred matters” to mean a hundred scenes; Literary Evidence for Early Buddhist Art in China, p. 57, section 45. 36. Zhongguo meishu quanji, huihua bian, v. 19, no. 2; also Karetzky, Early Buddhist Narrative Art, fig. 62. The zigzag sequence from bottom to top is also seen in much later pictorial biographies; for example, in the individual panels of Ming murals illustrating the life of the Buddha at the Jueyuansi, Sichuan; see Jian’ge Jueyuansi Mingdai fozhuan bihua. 37. Tsiang, “Chinese Images of the Dharma,” p. 74, figs. 6a – 6b. 38. Excavated from the ruins of Wanfosi in Chengdu, Sichuan, the stele back displays an intriguing mixture of decoration; see Watt, China: Dawn of a Golden Age, no. 124. 39. Nagahiro, Rikuchō jidai bijutsu no kenkyū, English summary, chap. 3, and pl. 10. For the potential pitfalls of using rubbings as evidence for the features of an incised stone, see Cary Liu et al., Recarving China’s Past, pp. 71 – 74, 123 – 124, 514 – 518. 40. Nagahiro reads the stele’s eclectic combination of scenes from multiple Buddhist stories as evidence that the artist reproduced random sections of a very long handscroll; Rikuchō jidai bijutsu no kenkyū, En­ glish summary, p. ix. 41. Chen’s 1987 dissertation on The Goddess of the Lo River analyzes several extant versions in great detail, focusing particularly on their compositional structures and narrative techniques; she summarizes her main observations in “Three Representational Modes for Text/Image Relationships in Early Chinese Pictorial Art,” pp. 97 – 101. 42. The Liaoning scroll is fully reproduced in Zhongguo meishu quanji, huihua bian, v. 1, no. 96. Probably executed at the Southern Song court, it includes the text of the rhapsody, divided into sections of varying length and transcribed in blank areas of the picture surface. Chen concludes that the composition originated in the southern kingdom of Chen around 560, based on similarities between its visual structure and a Sui (589 – 618) mural at Dunhuang; “The Goddess of the Lo River,” esp. pp. 163 – 166, 169 – 172. 43. The opening scene, in which the poet travels in a grand carriage with a retinue of servants, is preserved in the later of two versions in the Palace Museum, Beijing; Zhongguo meishu quanji, huihua bian, v. 3, no. 23. Another survives in a sixteenth-century baimiao version in the Freer Gallery of Art (acc. no. F1968.12/22); Lawton, Chinese Figure Painting, no. 3. 44. Kohara, “Narrative Illustrations in the Handscroll Format,” p. 257.

A similar phenomenon in medieval European illustration is discussed in Schapiro, Words and Pictures, chap. 1. 45. For Sima Shao, see Pei Xiaoyuan, Zhenguan gongsi huashi, p. 30; and Zhang Yanyuan, Lidai minghua ji, juan 5, p. 65; translated in Acker, Some T’ang and Pre-T’ang Texts on Chinese Painting, v. 2, part 1, p. 24. For Gu Kaizhi, see Wang Yun, Shuhua mu, p. 2411; and Tang Hou, Hua jian, p. 405. Lawton gives a useful survey of texts that mention Luoshen paintings; Chinese Figure Painting, pp. 23 – 29. 46. Zhang Yanyuan, Lidai minghua ji, juan 5, p. 65; translated in Acker, Some T’ang and Pre-T’ang Texts on Chinese Painting, v. 2, part 1, pp. 24 – 28. 47. I discuss Sima Shao’s illustration of “Seventh Month” at greater length in “Patterns of Evolution in Chinese Illustration,” esp. pp. 136 –  137. 48. Recounted by Zhang Yanyuan, Lidai minghua ji, juan 5, pp. 68 – 69; translated in Acker, Some T’ang and Pre-T’ang Texts on Chinese Painting, v. 2, part 1, p. 45. 49. For further discussions of Gu Kaizhi, see Gu Kaizhi and the Admonitions Scroll; Spiro, “New Light on Gu Kaizhi”; and Hsio-yen Shih, “Poetry Illustration and the Works of Ku K’ai-chih.” 50. Xie He, Guhua pinlu, translated in Acker, Some T’ang and PreT’ang Texts on Chinese Painting, v. 1, p. 9. 51. Wei Xie’s illustrated biography of Wu Zixu was still extant in the Tang period; Zhang Yanyuan, Lidai minghua ji, juan 5, p. 66; translated in Acker, Some T’ang and Pre-T’ang Texts on Chinese Painting, v. 2, part 1, p. 32. It is tempting to see a parallel with the emergence of an integrated textual biography of Wu Zixu that displayed linear chronology and causality, the Wu Yue Chunqiu (Annals of the states of Wu and Yue); see Johnson, “Epic and History in Early China.” 52. Statistics appear primarily in reports of catastrophic losses. For example, Zhang Yanyuan describes how Liang Yuandi (r. 552 – 554), a painter himself, had amassed a great collection in his Jiangling palace, but ordered it all burned when the city was about to fall to the Western Wei. Although 240,000 scrolls (including calligraphy and books as well as paintings) were destroyed, Wei general Yu Jin (6th c.) saved over 4,000 scrolls and took them back to Chang’an; Lidai minghua ji, juan 1, p. 4; translated in Acker, Some T’ang and Pre-T’ang Texts on Chinese Painting, v. 1, pp. 122 – 123. 53. For varied uses of decorated screens, see Wu Hung, The Double Screen; and Rawson, “The Origins of Chinese Mountain Painting.” 54. Chartier’s studies of European book culture offer stimulating insights into the ways that a book’s physical form affects the user’s interaction with it; Forms and Meanings, esp. chap. 1. 55. Other factors are also important, of course, particularly the interest in personality and individuality that developed during this period; for

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a general discussion, see Yü, “Individualism and the Neo-Taoist Movement in China.” Wu Hung implies that artists emerged as individuals only after it became possible to conceive of art for something other than religious or political purposes; Monumentality, p. 14. 56. Pei Xiaoyuan, Zhenguan gongsi huashi, pp. 29 – 43. Pei’s appendix lists forty-seven temples that preserved wall paintings by these artists.

Chapter 4. Institutionalizing Narrative Illustration under the Tang Dynasty 1. For detailed discussions, see Sui and T’ang China, v. 3 of The Cambridge History of China; and Bol, This Culture of Ours, pp. 1 – 3, 76 – 107. 2. A brief introduction to late Tang texts on painting is Early Chinese Texts on Painting, pp. 45 – 47. 3. Zhu Jingxuan, Tangchao minghua lu, preface, p. 68; translation from Soper, “T’ang Chao Ming Hua Lu,” p. 206. 4. Zhang Yanyuan, Lidai minghua ji, juan 1, p. 1. 5. Zhang Yanyuan, Lidai minghua ji, juan 1, pp. 2 – 3; Acker, Some T’ang and Pre-T’ang Texts on Chinese Painting, v. 1, pp. 74 – 75, 79 – 80. For Cao Zhi and Wang Chong, see Chapter 2, pp. 28 – 29. 6. Zhang Yanyuan, Lidai minghua ji, juan 1, p. 2; translation modified from Acker, Some T’ang and Pre-T’ang Texts on Painting, v. 1, pp. 72 – 73. Elsewhere in the text Zhang notes the existence of handscrolls containing [replicas of] portraits from the Unicorn Pavilion and of Confucius and seventy disciples from the Hongdumen school; Lidai minghua ji, juan 3, p. 54. 7. For Yan Liben’s biography, see Zhang Yanyuan, Lidai minghua ji, juan 9, pp. 103 – 106; also Zhu Jingxuan, Tangchao minghua lu, p. 77; both are translated and annotated in Acker, Some T’ang and Pre-T’ang Texts on Chinese Painting, v. 2, part 1, pp. 210 – 222. Yan also has a biography in both the old and new Tang dynastic histories; Jiu Tang shu, juan 77, pp. 2679 – 2680; and Xin Tang shu, juan 100, pp. 3941 – 3942. Loehr provides a synthetic overview in The Great Painters of China, pp. 32 – 36. 8. Also known as Thirteen Emperors or Emperors of Successive Dynasties (Lidai diwang tu), the scroll has been much published. Major studies include Tomita, “Portraits of the Emperors”; Jin, Gu diwang tu; Tung Wu, Masterpieces of Chinese Painting from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, no. 1; Tung Wu, Tales from the Land of Dragons, no. 3; and Chen, “Painting as History.” For additional bibliography, see Cahill, An Index of Early Chinese Painters and Paintings, p. 24. The section with the first six emperors is a later replacement, perhaps from the Northern Song period, with less expressive and stiffer figures than the last seven. The first six labels also give minimal information compared with the lengthier inscriptions that accompany the last seven emperors, and the calligraphy differs as well.

9. Tomita, “Portraits of the Emperors,” p. 5. Jin Weinuo rejects Yan’s authorship and argues that the work was conceived by another early Tang painter-official, Lang Yuling, whose Portraits of Emperors from Antiquity (Zigu diwang tu) is described by Zhang Yanyuan (Lidai minghua ji, juan 9, pp. 111 – 112) as “firmly based on histories and biographies”; Gu diwang tu, pp. 11 – 12. Lang came from a prominent family of Sui officials, took the jinshi exam, helped to compile the Sui shu, and was renowned for painting; in other words, he was a man much like Yan Liben. Jin also notes a Northern Wei precedent for didactic imperial portraits. Under Emperor Xuanwudi (r. 499 – 515), Zhang Yi presented Emperors of Successive Ages (Li di tu), a set of five scrolls containing portraits of 128 rulers from antiquity to the end of the Jin dynasty, and Zhang’s accompanying memorial characterized them by moral quality; Wei Shou, Wei shu, juan 64, p. 1430, cited in Jin, Gu diwang tu, p. 15. 10. A colophon by Zhou Bida (1126 – 1204; js 1151) suggests that the scroll once had more than thirteen portraits. In 1188, while serving as lecturer to the crown prince (the future Guangzong, r. 1189 – 1194), Zhou wrote: “A previous owner, in respectfully submitting it to the palace, excised those rulers who were biased toward peace and were not good.” His remark was a thinly veiled criticism of the Song emperor Gaozong for making peace with the Jin invaders (see Chapter 6). 11. Because the northern and southern regimes were contemporaneous, there is no one correct way to order a combined list of their rulers. It has become customary to enumerate the regimes as “Wei, Jin, Nanbei chao” (Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern courts). The only figure who is truly out of sequence is Chen Xuandi, who is depicted as the first of four Chen rulers, but should follow Chen Feidi. Tung Wu suggests that if the Chen emperors were arranged in the correct order, there would be a visually logical progression from figures on fixed platforms (Wendi and Feidi), to a figure raised on a sedan (Xuandi), to a standing figure (Houzhu); Tales from the Land of Dragons, p. 129. While agreeing that Chen Xuandi is out of order, Pao-chen Chen argues that the two figures labeled as Chen Wendi and Chen Feidi actually represent two Liang rulers, Jianwendi and Yuandi; “Painting as History,” pp. 61 – 63. The scroll has obviously been repaired and remounted many times, making such mistakes possible. 12. Tomita outlines its transmission; “Portraits of the Emperors,” pp. 5 – 6. An important twelfth-century record missing from Tomita’s list is Zheng Qiao, Tong zhi, juan 72, p. zhi-839 upper; for the context, see Introduction, p. 3. 13. Although the Northern Zhou emperor Wudi died at age thirtysix, this portrait depicts a much older man. Chen takes the anomaly as evidence that Yan Liben did not paint the handscroll, because he was Wudi’s grandson and would not have made such a mistake; instead, she accepts Jin Weinuo’s reattribution to Lang Yuling (see note 9); “Painting as History,” p. 69. In my view it is just as likely that the label is wrong.

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14. In Chen’s interpretation, the role models are not starkly contrasting but instead collectively demonstrate that a successful emperor must balance his civilian and military pursuits, while his religious policies are irrelevant. However, she also quotes Taizong’s specific criticism of the Liang rulers, Chen Houzhu, and Sui Yangdi, from Essential Policies of the Zhenguan Era (Zhenguan zhengyao), a collection of official documents from Taizong’s reign, compiled in 720; see “Painting as History,” pp. 66 and 67, respectively. 15. Significantly, most of the early colophons were written by high officials, some of whom served as court lecturers to the emperor or crown prince. Among the more prominent are Fu Bi (1002 – 1083), Cai Xiang (1012 – 1067; js 1030), Qian Mingyi (dated 1058), Han Qi (1008 – 1075, dated 1059), and Zhou Bida (see note 10). 16. According to Wang Yinglin (1223 – 1296), who cites the Tang Veritable Records (Shilu; no longer extant), Taizong wrote The Golden Mirror to show to high officials; Yu hai, juan 28, p. 22b (551). Its text is included in Qinding Quan Tang wen, juan 10, pp. 24a – 29a (136 – 139); and translated and discussed in Twitchett, “How to Be a Emperor,” pp. 8 – 33. “Jin” may also be translated as “metal.” 17. Taizong’s postface, dated 648, is preserved in Qinding Quan Tang wen, juan 10, pp. 13a – 14a (131). For an annotated and punctuated edition of the entire text, with modern Japanese translation, see Teihan, Shinki, pp. 15 – 56. Twitchett provides an English translation and discusses its complicated history; “How to Be a Emperor,” pp. 33 – 92. Taizong composed the treatise because of difficulties in stabilizing his succession. After removing two older princes as heir apparent, he designated Empress Changsun’s fifteen-year-old youngest son as his successor in 643; for the contentious circumstances, see Sui and T’ang China, v. 3 of The Cambridge History of China, pp. 236 – 242. 18. Zhang Yanyuan, Lidai minghua ji, juan 9, p. 104; translated in Acker, Some T’ang and Pre-T’ang Texts on Chinese Painting, v. 2, part 1, pp. 210 – 212. Zheng Qiao records an anonymous work with this title; Tong zhi, juan 72, p. zhi-839 upper. 19. Zhang Yanyuan, Lidai minghua ji, juan 9, p. 104; translated in Acker, Some T’ang and Pre-T’ang Texts on Chinese Painting, v. 2, part 1, pp. 210 – 212. Taizong’s edict ordering the portraits to be created appears in Qinding Quan Tang wen, juan 7, pp. 1a – 2a (85); translated in Acker, Some T’ang and Pre-T’ang Texts on Chinese Painting, v. 2, part 1, pp. 212 – 214. For comments on their transmission, see note 31. 20. Reproduced and transcribed in Zhongguo lidai huihua: Gugong bowuyuan canghua ji, v. 1, pp. 6 – 8 and pls. 36 – 37. The handscroll includes twenty-two colophons: sixteen Northern Song (all written in the 1080s in Changsha), four Yuan, one late Ming, and one undated; discussed in Xu Bangda, Gu shu hua wei’e kaobian, v. 1, pp. 42 – 45. Cahill provides additional bibliography; An Index of Early Chinese Painters and Paintings, p. 23.

21. Following the text are the words “Seal-script by Zhang Boyi,” written in informal regular script by a different hand. Xu Bangda suggests that the notation was made by the same later person who wrote the title Bu nian tu at the top center of the painting, so it should be regarded as an attribution rather than a signature; Gu shuhua wei’e kaobian, v. 1, p. 43. Zhang Boyi is the style-name (zi) of Zhang Youzhi (1006 – 1062), an early Northern Song calligrapher known for his seal script; Zhongguo meishujia renming cidian, p. 922. A 1307-dated colophon by Yao Yun of Gao’an (js 1268) faults Zhang Youzhi’s text for historical inaccuracies; it points out that the official Tang History records three meetings between Ludongzan and Taizong to arrange the marriage, the first in 634. 22. Owned by a member of the Song royal house when Mi saw it, this recorded version had a colophon by Li Deyu (787 – 850); Zhongguo lidai huihua: Gugong bowuyuan canghua ji, v. 1, p. 8. There is no colophon by Li Deyu on the extant version in Beijing, which Qing palace connoisseurs deemed a Tang painting of inferior quality; Shiqu baoji, chubian, p. 1044. 23. The visual prominence of the man in red, who looks more important than the Tibetan envoy, is somewhat at odds with the ostensible subject. Jin Weinuo suggests that this figure is an official in the Ministry of Rites, and the attendant in white is a translator; Zhongguo meishu lunji, p. 121. It is also puzzling that the emperor is shown receiving the envoy while riding on a simple litter [that is, while traveling], rather than on his throne. 24. Transcribed in Xu Bangda, Gu shuhua wei’e kaobian, v. 1, p. 43. 25. Zhang Yanyuan, Lidai minghua ji, juan 9, p. 104. 26. Among the paintings attributed to Yan in the late Northern Song palace collection are two entitled Bringing Tribute (Zhigong tu), and one each entitled Tributaries Presenting Lions (Zhigong shizi tu), The Different Countries Compete in Treasure (Yiguo doubao tu), and Picture of the Western Regions (Xiyu tu); Xuanhe huapu, juan 1, pp. 9 – 10. Such attributions continue to turn up in later catalogs as well; for example, Zheng Qiao, Tong zhi, juan 72, p. zhi-838 middle; and Zhou Mi, Yunyan guoyan lu, juan shang, p. 35b and juan xia, p. 19b. Extant copies and imitations are noted by Cahill, An Index of Early Chinese Painters and Paintings, p. 23. 27. See Gugong shuhua tulu, v. 15, pp. 21 – 24. Li Lin-ts’an discusses it as a Tang or early Song copy that coincides with Tang historical records of a joint mission from southern kingdoms including Champa (Linyi) and Bali (? Poli); Zhongguo minghua yanjiu, pp. 1 – 10. Cahill calls it a Ming copy of an early original; An Index of Early Chinese Painters and Paintings, p. 23. Xu Bangda discusses another scroll of foreigners attributed to Yan Liben (or sometimes his brother, Yan Lide) in the Museum of Chinese History, Beijing; Gu shuhua wei’e kaobian, v. 1, pp. 36 – 41. The latter composition consists of isolated single figures not holding anything, each followed by long passage of text. A related version of the composition in

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the National Palace Museum, titled An Assembly of Kings (Wanghui tu), omits the lengthy texts and gives only a label identifying the country that each figure represents; Gugong shuhua tulu, v. 15, pp. 25 – 28. 28. The poem is transcribed in Li Lin-ts’an, Zhongguo minghua yanjiu, p. 9. Xu Shansheng of Yongjia also refers to Su Shi’s inscription on Bringing Tribute in his 1307-dated colophon for Emperor in a Sedan Chair Receiving a Tibetan Envoy; transcribed in Xu Bangda, Gu shuhua wei’e kaobian, v. 1, p. 43. 29. See Sui and T’ang China, 589 – 906, v. 3 of The Cambridge History of China, chaps. 3 and 4, esp. p. 189. For comments specifically on Taizong’s desire to replace his martial image with a civil one, see Eugene Wang, “The Taming of the Shrew,” pp. 146 – 149. 30. See note 19. The late Northern Song palace collection included a scroll version of the Lingyan’ge portraits; see Xuanhe huapu, juan 1, p. 9 (383). 31. Incised stone tablets attributed to the Northern Song period preserve the images of four of the Lingyan’ge figures; reproduced and discussed by Jin Weinuo, Zhongguo meishu lunji, pp. 136 – 137 and pl. 11. The most noteworthy later evocation is a privately printed woodblock album of 1669, designed by Liu Yuan (17th c.). Liu’s creative updating of the Tang compendium includes not only imaginary portraits and biographical sketches of the twenty-four exemplars, but also couplets from the poetry of Du Fu (712 – 770) and auspicious ornamental motifs; see Burkus-Chasson, “Turning the Page.” 32. Hay reviews several similar examples, as well as a variant version formerly in the Qing imperial collection and now in the National Palace Museum, Taibei; “Hsiao I Gets the Lan-t’ing Manuscript by a Confidence Trick.” For a connoisseurial analysis and review of the documentation on another version from the Qing palace collection, which is now in the Liaoning Provincial Museum, see Xu Bangda, Gu shuhua wei’e kaobian, I, pp. 45 – 48; the painting itself is reproduced in Zhongguo gudai shuhua tumu, v. 15, Liao 1 – 005. The Freer Gallery version, reproduced here, bears a spurious seal of the Yuan artist Qian Xuan (c.1234 – 1301) and is now attributed to the sixteenth century, largely on the strength of Wen Zhengming’s transcription, dated 1553, of the Lanting text, which is mounted with the painting; Lawton, Chinese Figure Painting, no. 12. Zhao Lin (fl. c.1350 – 1370) copied a version purportedly by Yan Liben for a Yuan emperor; Chu-tsing Li, A Thousand Peaks and Myriad Ravines, v. 1, pp. 13 – 19; v. 2, fig. 1. 33. For an introduction to the Preface to the Gathering at the Orchid Pavilion and its enormous bibliography, see Ledderose, Mi Fu and the Classical Tradition of Chinese Calligraphy, pp. 19 – 28. For a more recent perspective on its canonical status, see Eugene Wang, “The Taming of the Shrew.” 34. The early Northern Song palace renewed the court’s identification with Wang’s calligraphy by compiling and promulgating the Model Cal-

ligraphies in the Chunhua Pavilion (Chunhuage tie) in 992; for details, see Ledderose, Mi Fu and the Classical Tradition of Chinese Calligraphy, pp. 36 – 38, 48. In the early Southern Song, Emperor Gaozong revived the Wang style, referring explicitly to Tang Taizong’s example; see my Ma Hezhi and the Illustration of the Book of Odes, pp. 23 – 24. In the Qing period the Manchu emperors also adopted the style, as transmitted through Dong Qichang; for brief comments, see Xu Bangda, “Tung Ch’i-ch’ang’s Calligraphy,” pp. 121 – 122. 35. Although most art historians who write about the Orchid Pavilion Preface imply that Wang Xizhi’s manuscript may well still be in Taizong’s tomb, the tomb was actually looted during the Five Dynasties period, and calligraphies by Wang were among the treasures removed; Jiu Wudai shi, juan 73, p. 961. 36. For details, see Hay’s classic study of the subject (see note 32). The plot summary recounted below is essentially that of He Yanzhi, which was composed in 714 and later included in Fashu yaolu, compiled by Zhang Yanyuan in the 840s; see translation in Hay, “Hsiao I Gets the Lan-t’ing Manuscript by a Confidence Trick,” Part I, pp. 3 – 5. 37. In He Yanzhi’s account, Biancai left the Orchid Pavilion Preface manuscript on the table after comparing it with the calligraphy brought by Xiao Yi. Later, when no one was in the room, Xiao Yi went back and gathered all of the works into his scroll bag. Resuming his censorial identity, he went to the local magistrate and had him summon Biancai, who fainted upon learning that he had been deceived and that his treasure was being taken to the palace. In another version of the story, recounted in a recorded colophon by the early Southern Song official Wu Yue (12th c.), Xiao Yi took the calligraphy and tucked it into his sleeve as soon as Biancai produced it; for references and further discussion, see Hay, “Hsiao I Gets the Lan-t’ing Manuscript by a Confidence Trick,” Part II, pp. 1 – 3. 38. Formerly in the Qing palace collection, the scroll is in ink and color on silk, fully reproduced and documented in Gugong shuhua tulu, v. 15, pp. 15 – 20. Hay suggests that it is a Southern Song painting based on a late Tang composition, perhaps by the artist Wu Shen; Hay, “Hsiao I Gets the Lan-t’ing Manuscript by a Confidence Trick,” Part II, pp. 7 – 8. 39. If this interpretation is correct, the Taibei painting corresponds to the one described by Wu Yue (see note 37). Lou Yue (1137 – 1213; js 1163), who records Wu’s colophon, ridiculed him for not recognizing the subject as Xiao Yi winning Biancai’s trust; Qinding Peiwenzhai shuhua pu, juan 81, pp. 4a – 4b (2321 – 2322). However, it is more likely that there were two different compositions in circulation during the Southern Song, and that Wu and Lou had seen different ones. Lou mentions Xiao Yi’s attendant holding scrolls, a figure who does not appear in the Taibei scroll. Other Southern Song writers note further discrepancies, such as the color of Xiao’s cloak and the presence of an additional monk, which support the existence of two recensions, but Hay inexplicably discounts Notes to Pages 53 – 55  |  137

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this possibility; “Hsiao I Gets the Lan-t’ing Manuscript by a Confidence Trick,” Part II, pp. 1 – 3. 40. Although the role of a second monk in the story is unclear, his presence is noted in a Yuan inscription by Tong Zao (dates unknown) on a version attributed to the Southern Tang painter Gu Deqian (fl. mid10th c.), recorded by Tang Hou; see Hay, “Hsiao I Gets the Lan-t’ing Manuscript by a Confidence Trick,” Part II, p. 3. In the same entry, Tang Hou also quotes a colophon by the early Southern Song court connoisseur Bi Liangshi (12th c.), who mentions that Biancai held a fly-whisk, a feature also found only in the Taibei scroll; Hua jian, pp. 413 – 414. 41. Hay suggests that Xiao Yi’s servant did appear in the original composition, but was removed before the painting was submitted to the Qing palace, in order to match a recorded description specifying a total of five figures; “Hsiao I Gets the Lan-t’ing Manuscript by a Confidence Trick,” Part II, p. 8. However, if the main theme of the Palace Museum painting is Xiao Yi’s confiscation of the Orchid Pavilion Preface manuscript, rather than his cultivation of Biancai through discussions of connoisseurship, there was no need to show the attendant holding the scrolls that Xiao had borrowed from the palace to win Biancai’s trust. 42. Guo, Tuhua jianwen zhi, juan 2, p. 23 (169) and juan 3, p. 42 (188), respectively; also Hay, “Hsiao I Gets the Lan-t’ing Manuscript by a Confidence Trick,” Part I, p. 6 and Part II, pp. 1, 9. Zhi Zhongyuan was active in the kingdom of Shu, and Xiao Yi Obtains the Lanting Manuscript by Trickery is one of three narrative paintings still extant in Guo Ruoxu’s day, but it disappears from the documentary record thereafter. Gu Deqian was a painter-in-attendance at the Southern Tang court of Li Houzhu (r. 951 – 975); Guo gives the title of his painting as Xiao Yi Tells the Lanting Story (Xiao Yi shuo Lanting gushi) and notes that it was a horizontal handscroll (hengjuan) owned by the family of Lü Wenjing (d. 1044). By 1120 this famous work — by then called Xiao Yi Takes the Lan­ ting Manuscript, horizontal scroll (Xiao Yi qu Lanting hengzhou) — had disappeared; Xuanhe huapu, juan 4, p. 43. Later texts periodically invoke Gu’s name in connection with other versions (for example, see note 40). 43. Wu Shen is not mentioned by Zhang Yanyuan or Zhu Jingxuan, writing in the 840s, so he probably was active later. His only painting in the late Northern Song palace collection, called simply Painting of Xiao Yi and the Orchid Pavilion (Xiao Yi Lanting tu), is praised as “bringing the events of that time vividly to [the viewer’s] eyes”; Xuanhe huapu, juan 6, p. 64; and Hay, “Hsiao I Gets the Lan-t’ing Manuscript by a Confidence Trick,” Part I, pp. 6 – 7 and Part II, p. 8. 44. Hay, “Hsiao I Gets the Lan-t’ing Manuscript by a Confidence Trick,” Part II, p. 1. 45. In this colophon, which is preserved only in Lou Yue’s transcription (see note 39), Wu Yue describes a painting that bore evidence of having once been in the Southern Tang palace collection. Hay suggests that this painting was an anonymous work based on Gu Deqian’s version,

upgraded by Wu Yue with the attribution to Yan Liben; Hay, “Hsiao I Gets the Lan-t’ing Manuscript by a Confidence Trick,” Part II, pp. 1 – 2, 8 – 9. 46. Jiang’s colophon is recorded by Wu Zeng in Nenggaizhai manlu, juan 5, pp. 127 – 128. Wu’s own comment declares that the painting he himself had seen (not necessarily the same one that Jiang wrote about) could not be by Yan Liben because it took too many liberties with He Yanzhi’s text (see note 36). For instance, He Yanzhi wrote that Xiao Yi wore a yellow robe, but the painting showed a white one. Wu Zeng concludes that someone had appropriated Yan Liben’s name and attached it to the painting. For further details, see Hay, “Hsiao I Gets the Lan-t’ing Manuscript by a Confidence Trick,” Part II, pp. 2 – 3, 9. 47. Indeed, Lou Yue comments, “Nowadays, there are many copies of this picture”; Qinding Peiwenzhai shuhua pu, juan 81, p. 4a (2321). 48. See note 36. 49. Song Lian not only states that Yan Liben could not possibly have painted such a picture, he also disparages He Yanzhi’s reliability on the acquisition of the calligraphy; Hay, “Hsiao I Gets the Lan-t’ing Manuscript by a Confidence Trick,” Part II, pp. 3, 15 n. 17. 50. Ledderose, Mi Fu and the Classical Tradition of Chinese Calligraphy, pp. 36 – 38, 48. 51. Hay, “Hsiao I Gets the Lan-t’ing Manuscript by a Confidence Trick,” Part I, p. 5. 52. Xuanhe huapu, juan 1, p. 7 (381). 53. Sui and T’ang China, v. 3 of The Cambridge History of China, chap. 4. 54. In this regard, Mitchell’s discussion of realism in European painting offers relevant insights into the kinds of power relations that underlie seemingly objective representations; Picture Theory, p. 325. 55. See p. 54, and note 34. 56. Early sources for his biography (under the name Wu Daoxuan) are Zhang Yanyuan, Lidai minghua ji, juan 9, pp. 108 – 109 (translated in Acker, Some T’ang and Pre-T’ang Texts on Chinese Painting, v. 2, part 1, pp. 232 – 238); Zhu Jingxuan, Tangchao minghua lu, pp. 74 – 76 (translated in Soper, “T’ang Chao Ming Hua Lu,” pp. 208 – 210); and Xuanhe huapu, juan 2, pp. 13 – 16. Useful modern treatments are Loehr, The Great Painters of China, pp. 41 – 45; Sirén, Chinese Painting, v. 1, pp. 109 – 125; and Wang Bomin, Wu Daozi. 57. Zhu Jingxuan, Tangchao minghua lu, p. 74; translated in Soper, “T’ang Chao Ming Hua Lu,” p. 208. 58. Xuanhe huapu, juan 2, p. 13. 59. Mi Fu, Hua shi; quoted in Sirén, Chinese Painting, v. 1, p. 112. 60. Xuanhe huapu, juan 2, pp. 14 – 16. 61. Fraser, Performing the Visual, pp. 199 – 207 passim. 62. Zhu Jingxuan, Tangchao minghua lu, cited in Loehr, The Great Painters of China, p. 74; also Fraser, Performing the Visual, pp. 198 – 199.

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63. Zhang Yanyuan, Lidai minghua ji, juan 2, p. 22; translated in Early Chinese Texts on Painting, p. 61. Loehr suggests that Wu may not have originated the broken-line technique, because a rudimentary version of it appears in Tang royal tomb murals of c.706, while Wu was still a youth; rather, he became the consummate practitioner who developed its expressive potential; The Great Painters of China, pp. 41, 44. 64. Zhu Jingxuan, Tangchao minghua lu, p. 76; translation modified from Early Chinese Texts on Painting, p. 56. Akiyama suggests that the mural was used as a visual aid in popular lectures (su jiang), because Taiping guangji mentions that a mat for the lecturing monk was placed near it; “Tonkō-pon Komo-hen emaki ni tsuite,” p. 5 (47). 65. Mi Fu, Hua shi; translated in Early Chinese Texts on Painting, p. 226. The discord between the extroversion of the Wu Daozi style and the more intimate manner appropriate to smaller formats is explored in Barnhart, “Survivals, Revivals, and the Classical Tradition of Chinese Figure Painting.”

Chapter 5. Turning Points and Competing Values 1. In addition to the traditional Chinese texts discussed in this chapter, many modern Chinese and Western accounts portray the Tang period as the heyday of figure painting; for example, Clunas, Art in China; Mary Fong, “T’ang Tomb Murals Reviewed in Light of T’ang Texts on Painting”; Wen Fong, Beyond Representation; Lawton, Chinese Figure Painting; and Zhongguo meishu quanji, huihua bian, v. 2. 2. For Zhu’s comment, see Chapter 4, p. 50 and note 3; for representative Tang tomb paintings, see Zhongguo meishu quanji, huihua bian, v. 12, pls. 92 – 133. 3. Lidai minghua ji, juan 3 and 4 – 10, respectively. 4. Guo, “On the Good and Bad Points of Ancient and Modern Painting” (“Lun gujin youjie”), Tuhua jianwen zhi, juan 1, p. 14 (160). My translations differ somewhat from renderings in Early Chinese Texts on Painting, p. 94; and Soper, Kuo Jo-hsu’s Experiences in Painting, p. 21. Guo’s text marks an early stage in the articulation of literati painting theory. Besides providing capsule biographies for hundreds of artists and listing their surviving works, he includes several illuminating essays on trends in painting practices of his own day. 5. Guo, Tuhua jianwen zhi, juan 1, p. 14 (160). 6. Guo, “Talking about Advisory Mirrors [paintings] from Antiquity” (“Xu zigu guijian”), Tuhua jianwen zhi, juan 1, p. 3 (149). My translation diverges considerably from Early Chinese Texts on Painting, p. 93; and from Soper, Kuo Jo-hsu’s Experiences in Painting, p. 7. For explanation of the references to the Lu palace and the Unicorn Pavilion, see Chapter 2, p. 27 and note 7. 7. Guo, Tuhua jianwen zhi, juan 1, p. 4 (150). 8. Zhang Yanyuan’s essay “On the Origins of Painting”; see Introduc-

tion, p. 3. Guo Ruoxu knew Zhang’s compendium and intended his own as its continuation; Tuhua jianwen zhi, preface (143). 9. See detailed discussion in Chapter 6, pp. 76 – 77. 10. Guo, Tuhua jianwen zhi, juan 6, p. 85 (231). 11. For scholarship on the emergence of literati painting theory that ranges from the positivist to the deconstructionist, see Fong, Beyond Representation, esp. chap. 3; Harrist, Painting and Private Life in Eleventhcentury China, esp. chap. 6; Clunas, Art in China, esp. chap. 4; and Cahill, The Painter’s Practice, esp. chaps. 1, 4. Bol provides a richly detailed and persuasive account of the interrelated intellectual, social, and political changes that enabled literati culture to replace an older aristocratic culture in This Culture of Ours. Key primary texts are translated in Bush, The Chinese Literati on Painting. 12. Early Chinese Texts on Painting, pp. 39 – 40. 13. Guo, Tuhua jianwen zhi, juan 1, p. 8 (154); translated in Early Chinese Texts on Painting, p. 95. 14. For discussions of “orthodox” painting from opposite perspectives, see Cahill, The Compelling Image, chaps. 2, 6; and Wen Fong, “The Orthodox School of Painting,” in Fong and Watt, Possessing the Past, pp. 473 – 491. Wicks analyzes the role of Wang Shimin (1592 – 1680) in creating orthodox formulations in “Wang Shimin’s Orthodoxy.” 15. Tang Hou, Hua lun, pp. 71, 73; translation slightly modified from Early Chinese Texts on Painting, p. 261. 16. Several case studies examined in detail by Murck show how subtly this principle could be put into practice; see Poetry and Painting in Song China. 17. From a poem by Su Shi; see Early Chinese Texts on Painting, p. 203. 18. Guo, “On Different Systems in Clothing and Headgear” (“Lun yiguan yi zhi”), Tuhua jianwen zhi, juan 1, pp. 7 – 8 (153 – 154); partially translated in Early Chinese Texts on Painting, p. 110; also Soper, Kuo Johsu’s Experiences in Painting, pp. 13 – 14. Guo took his examples from Zhang Yanyuan, Lidai minghua ji, juan 2, p. 21; translated in Acker, Some T’ang and Pre-T’ang Texts on Chinese Painting, v. 1, p. 170. 19. The use of such models is perhaps most understandable for creating religious pictures, because the images had to conform to iconographical specifications. Temples might keep cartoons for reference, a situation that Guo Ruoxu documented; Tuhua jianwen zhi, juan 6, p. 89 (235); translated by Soper, Kuo Jo-hsu’s Experiences in Painting, p. 98. 20. Mi Fu, Hua shi, p. 195. Dating from around the turn of the twelfth century, Hua shi is a haphazardly organized collection of a noted connoisseur’s comments about painters and painting from the Jin period onward, plus miscellaneous information about varied topics. For a French translation of the text, see Vandier-Nicolas, Le Houa-che de Mi Fou; also useful are several studies by Kohara, introduced in his “Notes on Reading Mi Fu’s Huashi.” Notes to Pages 58 – 62  |  139

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21. Mi Fu, Hua shi, p. 199. 22. Mi Fu believed that Li Gonglin was too much influenced by Wu Daozi, whom he regarded as vulgar; Hua shi, p. 196. Li has been well studied by Western scholars. Particularly useful publications include Harrist, Painting and Private Life in Eleventh-century China; Barnhart et al., Li Kung-lin’s Classic of Filial Piety; and Barnhart, “Li Kung-lin’s Use of Past Styles.” Important early biographies of Li include Zhang Cheng (Li’s great-nephew), Hualu guangyi (1139), p. 2064; Xuanhe huapu, juan 7, pp. 74 – 79 (448 – 453); Deng Chun, Hua ji, juan 3, pp. 12 – 13 (282 – 283); and Song shi, juan 444, pp. 13125 – 13126. 23. Harrist, Painting and Private Life in Eleventh-century China, introduction. 24. Xuanhe huapu, juan 7, pp. 74 – 79 (448 – 453). The unusual organization of this catalog by genre of painting, each with its own introduction, suggests the relative standing of ten recognized categories of painting in late Northern Song court circles; for comparison with other catalogs, see Ledderose, “Subject Matter in Early Chinese Painting Criticism,” pp. 69 – 83. 25. Li painted his Longmian estate after leaving it to serve as an official in Kaifeng; Harrist rightly characterizes the work as “self-representation” rather than as “landscape,” suggesting that Li’s intended viewers read it differently than ordinary landscape, which had evolved sophisticated conventions for creating illusionistic space by the late eleventh century; see Painting and Private Life in Eleventh-century China. For my purposes it is also significant that Li included multiple images of himself and his cousins enjoying successive sites around the property. Even though the painting does not portray a story, it has the structure of a sequential narrative illustration. 26. Barnhart, “Li Kung-lin’s Use of Past Styles.” 27. The connection between Li’s copying and his versatility is first made in Xuanhe huapu, juan 7, p. 74 (448); see also Barnhart, “Li Kunglin’s Use of Past Styles.” Extant examples of Li’s copies of older works include Pasturing Horses after Wei Yan (Mufang tu, Palace Museum, Beijing; see below and note 35); Lady Guoguo and Her Sisters on an Outing after Zhang Xuan (Liren xing, National Palace Museum, Taibei); and Lion Piebald (Shizi cong) after Han Gan (Nanjing Museum). 28. The colophon dated 1131, by Zeng Yu (1073 – 1135), is transcribed in Shiqu baoji, xubian, p. 2699, and further discussed in note 33. Five Tribute Horses is not simply a copy of a Han Gan painting, because Li also made sketches of the living horses. For Han Gan, see Sirén, Chinese Painting, v. 1, pp. 136 – 139. 29. Barnhart, “Li Kung-lin’s Use of Past Styles,” pp. 53 – 55; and Barnhart, “Li Kung-lin’s Hsiao Ching T’u,” p. 244, n. 246. For an extant painting that purports to be Li’s copy of a Han Gan painting, see note 27. 30. Xuanhe huapu, juan 7, p. 74 (448).

31. Last known to be in the Kikuchi Collection, Tokyo, the scroll formerly belonged to the Qing palace and is exhaustively documented in Shiqu baoji, xubian, pp. 2698 – 2699. It is fully reproduced and extensively discussed by Nakagawa Chūjun, “Ri Ryūmin to hakubyō tai” (Li Gonglin and the baimiao style); and more briefly treated by Barnhart et al., Li Kung-lin’s Classic of Filial Piety, pp. 18 – 23; and Harrist, Power and Virtue, pp. 26 – 27. Del Gais critically reexamines the circumstances of the scroll’s creation and significance in an unpublished conference paper, “Portentous Horses.” 32. Nakagawa, “Ri Ryūmin to hakubyō tai,” p. 239. For Cao Fu’s biography, see Songren zhuanji ziliao suoyin, p. 2199. 33. Although Nakagawa says Zhang Lei received the scroll from Li, Del Gais presents a convincing argument that it was a gift to another official, Zhang Xun (11th c.), who had fallen from favor and is not mentioned by name in Huang Tingjian’s ending colophon (see note 39); “Portentous Horses.” Zeng Yu’s colophon (see note 28) says that he (Zeng) first saw the scroll at the capital in about 1090, shortly after Li had sketched the horses and Huang had written the inscriptions. At that time Huang told Zeng that the horse called Manjianghua had died, implying that Li’s painting had taken its life force. Zeng and Huang reminisced about this odd event when they met again in 1103, while both were in exile in the XiaoXiang region. Encountering the scroll again in a Zhejiang monastery in 1131, Zeng wrote the colophon to record the strange tale and to reminisce about his long-dead friends. The Qianlong emperor (r. 1735 – 1796), who also inscribed each horse, notes that Huang Tingjian’s inscription for Manjianghua was missing and suspected that it had been taken to authenticate a forgery; Shiqu baoji, xubian, p. 2698. 34. Del Gais, “Portentous Horses.” 35. The painting is fully reproduced and earlier references given in Zhongguo lidai huihua: Gugong bowuyuan canghua ji, v. 2, pls. 24 – 43 and catalog pp. 6 – 7. 36. Li refers to himself as chen (“Your servant”) in the undated inscription; the unnamed emperor is undoubtedly Zhezong, under whom Li obtained posts in the central government. Although the scroll displays the seals and style of mounting associated with Zhezong’s successor, Huizong (r. 1100 – 1125), the work is not listed in Xuanhe huapu, the catalog of Huizong’s collection. 37. See Barnhart et al., Li Kung-lin’s Classic of Filial Piety, pp. 16 – 17. 38. The founding emperor of the Ming dynasty, Taizu (r. 1368 – 1398), wrote a colophon in 1370 stressing the importance of a reliable supply of fine horses for the defense of an empire; a seal of the Wanli emperor (r. 1572 – 1620) suggests that the painting remained in the palace for most of the dynasty. After the Qing palace acquired the scroll, the Qianlong emperor touched on similar themes in his colophons; see Zhongguo lidai huihua: Gugong bowuyuan canghua ji, v. 2, catalog pp. 6 – 7.

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39. Huang’s colophon is transcribed in Shiqu baoji, xubian, p. 2698 and reproduced in Shōdo zenshū, v. 15, p. 15. 40. Xuanhe huapu, juan 7, p. 76. 41. Deng Chun, Hua ji, juan 3, p. 12. A Southern Song partisan of literati painting, Deng intended his text as a sequel to Guo Ruoxu’s Tuhua jianwen zhi. Maeda provides further information and partial translation in Two Twelfth Century Texts on Painting, pp. 5 – 6, 54 – 74. 42. Early Chinese Texts on Painting, pp. 233 – 234. 43. Tang Hou, Hua lun, pp. 67 – 68; translated in Early Chinese Texts on Painting, p. 260. 44. Song shi, juan 144, p. 13126. 45. Xia Wenyan, Tuhui baojian, juan 3, p. 46 (718). 46. Barnhart, “Li Kung-lin’s Use of Past Styles.” 47. Now in the National Palace Museum, the scroll is reproduced and documented in Gugong shuhua tulu, v. 15, pp. 289 – 294; see also Shiqu baoji, xubian, pp. 946 – 947; and Barnhart, “Li Kung-lin’s Use of Past Styles,” p. 57. The second half (from the figure of Guo Ziyi onward) is a replacement, perhaps a tracing copy of the original, and the signature of Li Gonglin at the end is not genuine. All but one of the early colophons mentioned in traditional catalogs have disappeared, leaving only that of Han Zhun (dated 1367). For Wu Daozi, see Chapter 4, pp. 57 – 59. 48. See Sui and T’ang China, v. 3 of The Cambridge History of China, esp. pp. 490 – 491, 569 – 570. 49. Huang’s discourse on yun appears in an inscription for Li’s painting of the Han general Li Guang (2nd c. BCE) shooting an arrow at an enemy pursuing him on horseback; the text survives in Huang’s collected works and is translated and discussed in Barnhart, “Survivals, Revivals, and the Classical Tradition of Chinese Figure Painting,” pp. 160 – 161. Barnhart later associated Huang’s comment with Li’s painting of the Tang general Guo Ziyi; see “Li Kung-lin’s Use of Past Styles,” p. 58. 50. Li’s illustrations of this text, and various later imitations, have been much studied by modern scholars; for example, Barnhart, “Li Kung-lin’s Hsiao Ching T’u”; Barnhart et al., Li Kung-lin’s Classic of Filial Piety; Wen Fong, “The Classic of Filial Piety by Li Kung-lin”; and Kohara, “Shikyōzu to Kōkyōzu.” 51. Although this so-called “New-text” edition includes titles for the eighteen chapters, Li did not use them. Some Northern Song scholars preferred the “Ancient-text” edition, which was divided into twenty-two chapters, without titles, and contained some additional material. For further discussion and references, see Barnhart, “Li Kung-lin’s Hsiao Ching T’u,” pp. 63 – 66; also Early Chinese Texts: A Bibliographical Guide, pp. 137 – 153. 52. For a detailed discussion of various kinds of discrepancies, see Barnhart, “Li Kung-lin’s Hsiao Ching T’u,” pp. 37 – 46. 53. Only fifteen pictures and seventeen texts (one fragmentary) are

now preserved in the scroll; for complete reproductions and discussion, see Barnhart et al., Li Kung-lin’s Classic of Filial Piety; for a fuller scholarly treatment, see Barnhart, “Li Kung-lin’s Hsiao Ching T’u.” Although scholars trained by Wen Fong at Princeton consider the Metropolitan scroll a major work in the Chinese painting canon, most disciples of the late Max Loehr at Harvard regard it as both inauthentic and insignificant. 54. Gugong shuhua tulu, v. 15, pp. 315 – 323; discussed in Barnhart, “Li Kung-lin’s Hsiao Ching T’u,” pp. 43 – 45, 74 – 129 passim. 55. Dated the sixth month of 1085, the inscription is not in Li’s calligraphy and probably was copied from Zhou Mi’s late thirteenth-century account of Li’s scroll; Yunyan guoyan lu, juan shang, pp. 24a – 24b. The otherwise unidentified Mr. Yang is called a Secretary in the Phoenix Pavilion (Fengge sheren), referring to the Secretariat (Zhongshusheng), an administrative unit of the central government. Although relatively low in rank, some of its officials were attached to the palace and to princely households; Hucker, A Dictionary of Official Titles in Imperial China, pp. 194, 214, 417. It is possible that Secretary Yang intended to show Li’s illustrated Classic of Filial Piety to the eight-year-old Zhezong, who had succeeded to the throne three months earlier. 56. Hui-liang Chu suggests that Li played an important role in bringing attention to Zhong You and may even have forged his calligraphy; “The Calligraphy of Li Kung-lin in the Classic of Filial Piety.” 57. Su’s colophon is mentioned in Bi Long’s first colophon on the scroll, translated in Barnhart et al., Li Kung-lin’s Classic of Filial Piety, p. 161. 58. Barnhart, “Li Kung-lin’s Hsiao Ching T’u, pp. 73 – 136 passim; and Barnhart et al., Li Kung-lin’s Classic of Filial Piety, pp. 81 – 151 passim. 59. Brotherton, “Li Kung-lin and Long Handscroll Illustrations of T’ao Ch’ien’s Returning Home,” p. 79. For background on the Northern Song guwen movement, see Bol, This Culture of Ours, introduction; for its Tang antecedents, see McMullen, “Historical and Literary Theory in the Mid-Eighth Century.” 60. See his discussions of individual illustrations in Barnhart et al., Li Kung-lin’s Classic of Filial Piety, pp. 81 – 151. 61. For a translation of the entire Elegies of Chu, see Hawkes, Ch’u Tz’u. 62. Del Gais, “Li Kung-lin’s Chiu-ko t’u”; and “Chang Wu: Study of a Fourteenth-Century Figure Painter,” esp. p. 22. 63. Del Gais, “Li Kung-lin’s Chiu-ko t’u,” pp. 9 – 15, 55 – 69. For Selections of Refined Literature (Wen xuan), see Chapter 2, note 20. 64. The Fujita handscroll is fully reproduced in Bunjinga suihen, v. 2, no. 65, pp. 148 – 149; also Del Gais, “Li Kung-lin’s Chiu-ko t’u,” pls. 99 – 107. In addition to the six illustrations that Del Gais believes are based on Li’s original version, the Fujita scroll contains three other compositions, which she explains as fabrications by a copyist laboring under

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the mistaken impression that there should be nine scenes to match the title; Del Gais, “Li Kung-lin’s Chiu-ko t’u,” p. 56. 65. Del Gais, “Li Kung-lin’s Chiu-ko t’u,” p. 79. 66. Kohara, “Narrative Illustration in the Handscroll Format,” pp. 252, 257 – 258. 67. Del Gais, “Li Kung-lin’s Chiu-ko t’u,” pp. 20 – 25; and “Chang Wu,” pp. 22 – 31. 68. For detailed discussion of Zhang Wu’s version, see Del Gais, “Chang Wu.” 69. Del Gais, “Chang Wu,” p. 85. The other two poems, “The Ritual Cycle” (“Li hun”) and “Hymn for the Fallen” (“Guo shang”), do not address individual deities. 70. Brotherton, “Li Kung-lin and Long Handscroll Illustrations of T’ao Ch’ien’s Returning Home” and “Beyond the Written Word”; Nelson, “What I Do Today Is Right,” “Tao Yuanming’s Sashes,” and “Catching Sight of South Mountain”; and Powers, “Love and Marriage in Song China.” 71. Most scholars consider the Freer scroll a close copy of an original by Li Gonglin, following Lawton, Chinese Figure Painting, cat. 4. When Charles L. Freer purchased the work in 1919, the first illustration and its text were separate from the other six pairs. Documentation by Weng Fanggang (1733 – 1818; js 1752) on both parts of the handscroll suggests that the work was divided only in the nineteenth century. The calligraphy of the textual passages closely resembles that of the first colophon, written by Li Peng in 1110. Brotherton hypothesizes that Li Peng wrote his remarks for the original scroll. Subsequently, he helped make a copy — the present Freer scroll — by transcribing Tao’s rhapsody onto it; “Li Kung-lin and Long Handscroll Illustrations of T’ao Ch’ien’s Returning Home,” pp. 103 – 120 passim. She further suspects that Li Peng’s colophon was subsequently moved from the original version to the copy, which would explain why it is on different silk; Brotherton, “Li Kung-lin and Long Handscroll Illustrations of T’ao Ch’ien’s Returning Home,” p. 129. Li Gonglin is known to have painted more than one version of the subject. Besides the handscroll colophoned by Li Peng, the late Northern Song palace had two other handscroll versions; Xuanhe huapu, juan 7, p. 77 (451). Li Peng’s colophon also mentions that Li Gonglin had also depicted the theme on a screen for Huang Tingjian. 72. Brotherton also relates the painting to the late Northern Song fashion of matching Tao’s rhapsody; “Li Kung-lin and Long Handscroll Illustrations,” p. 86. Powers clarifies that the latter-day composer did not have to follow Tao’s complex pattern of rhyme and meter, thus making Li’s response-in-painting less startling; “Love and Marriage in Song China,” p. 52. 73. The preface, which narrates the circumstances of Tao’s retirement, is not included with the body of the rhapsody in the Freer scroll. Brotherton suggests that the preface was left off because it gave an unremark-

able reason for Tao’s resignation from office, contradicting the widely believed story that he could not abide having to flatter his superiors in order to keep his job; “Li Kung-lin and Long Handscroll Illustrations,” pp. 8, 12, 188. 74. Brotherton, “Li Kung-lin and Long Handscroll Illustrations,” p. 2. Mi Fu mentions a Tang painting of the subject owned by a contemporary aristocrat; Hua shi, p. 193. 75. Li Peng mentions the screen for Huang Tingjian, his cousin, in his colophon of 1109 on the Freer scroll; see note 71. A representative later painting of Tao standing in a boat that approaches the shore is a handscroll by Qian Xuan (c.1235 – before 1307) in the Metropolitan Museum of Art; reproduced in Wen Fong, Beyond Representation, pp. 316 – 317. 76. Brotherton, “Li Kung-lin and Long Handscroll Illustrations,” p. 198. Although she refers to even- and odd-numbered scenes for convenience, there are no numbers actually on the scroll. 77. Brotherton, “Li Kung-lin and Long Handscroll Illustrations,” p. 195. 78. Powers, “Love and Marriage in Song China,” pp. 53 – 54. 79. Brotherton, “Li Kung-lin and Long Handscroll Illustrations,” pp. 180 – 183, 191 – 192, respectively. Although she interprets such doublings to mean that Li did not intend his scroll to be read as a temporal narrative, uninformed viewers would interpret a scene containing two images of Tao as exactly that. Common sense suggests that the same person can be in two different places only if the picture shows two different moments in the story. For example, Plate 22 shows Confucius both engaging in an interview with Duke Ling of Wei and approaching his cart in order to leave, after having become disgusted with the duke. 80. Brotherton, “Li Kung-lin and Long Handscroll Illustrations,” p. 195. 81. For an example in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, see Tung Wu, Tales from the Land of Dragons, no. 89; for one in the National Palace Museum, Taibei, see Gugong shuhua tulu, v. 15, pp. 303 – 310; Zhan Jingfeng (juren 1567) also mentions an opening portrait, in a colophon written either for Li’s original version or the Freer copy; see Brotherton, “Li Kung-lin and Long Handscroll Illustrations,” pp. 130, 196. 82. Nelson, “Tao Yuanming’s Sashes,” pp. 1 – 6; and “What I Do Today Is Right,” p. 62. 83. A possible objection to Brotherton’s suggestion is that the addition of an iconic portrait of Tao Yuanming to Returning Home would be redundant if the entire scroll were, as she argues, a composite portrait of Tao. 84. This opening scene is lost from the version in the Metropolitan Museum, but it survives in the National Palace Museum scroll (see note 54), as well as in later copies. Ma Hezhi’s illustrations of the Book of Odes also began with a portrait of Confucius, in a now-lost scroll recorded in Sun Chengze, Gengzi xiaoxia ji, juan 1, p. 17. 85. Brotherton, “Li Kung-lin and Long Handscroll Illustrations,” p. 79. 86. Itakura, “The Words and Images Surrounding The Ode on the

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Red Cliff”; Kent, “Ch’iao Chung-ch’ang’s Illustration of Su Shih’s ‘Latter Prose Poem on the Red Cliff ’ ”; and Silbergeld, “Back to the Red Cliff.” Silbergeld cites and draws extensively on earlier scholarship on the painting, particularly writings by James Cahill, Stephen Wilkinson, and Esther Jacobsen. 87. Now in the Nelson Gallery-Atkins Museum, the unsigned scroll is attributed to Qiao in a now-lost, unsigned colophon; Shiqu baoji, chubian, p. 969. The earliest documentation still attached to the scroll is a 1123-dated colophon by Zhao Lingzhi (hao Delin), a collector related to the Song ruling house. The painting itself bears seals of Liang Shicheng (d. 1126), a high official at court. For details concerning Qiao Zhongchang’s relationship to Li Gonglin, see Harrist, “A Scholar’s Landscape,” pp. 60 – 62, 78, 249 (cited in Silbergeld, “Back to the Red Cliff,” n. 9). 88. Ronald Egan translates and discusses this text and related works in Word, Image, and Deed in the Life of Su Shi, pp. 221 – 250. 89. Nonetheless, some Ming and Qing catalogs of painting list some examples under Li Gonglin’s own name, probably later works made more attractive by being associated with him; Ferguson (Fu Kaisen), Lidai zhulu huamu, pp. 116b – 125a passim. 90. See note 25. 91. See Chapter 3, pp. 47 – 48. Chen also notes similarities of text-image relationships between the Liaoning Luoshen painting and Qiao Zhong­ chang’s Red Cliff scroll; “The Goddess of the Lo River,” pp. 230 – 242. 92. Most of these attributions probably were later pastiches and forgeries, like the illustrations of the Red Cliff ascribed to Li; see note 89. 93. Reproduced in Barnhart et al., Li Kung-lin’s Classic of Filial Piety, p. 145. 94. Reproduced in Barnhart et al., Li Kung-lin’s Classic of Filial Piety, pp. 152 – 153. 95. For the appropriation of Li’s subjects and methods of illustration by later painters at court, see Brotherton’s “Beyond the Written Word” and “Two Farewell Handscrolls of the Late Northern Song”; Silbergeld, “Back to the Red Cliff”; Murray, Ma Hezhi and the Illustration of the Book of Odes, chap. 3, and “The Ladies’ Classic of Filial Piety and Southern Sung Textual Illustration”; and Barnhart, “Li Kung-lin’s Hsiao Ching T’u,” chap. 3. Murck treats the court’s transformations of other kinds of literati painting in Poetry and Painting in Song China, chaps. 8 – 10 and epilogue.

Chapter 6. Later Narrative Illustration at Court 1. Clunas makes this observation with reference to Shen Zhou’s copy of Dai Jin’s Xie An at East Mountain, a hanging scroll painted on silk in a meticulous blue-and-green style, which portrays a well-known story about the famous Southern Dynasties official Xie An (320 – 385) moving

his family; Pictures and Visuality in Early Modern China, pp. 22, 46, 48, and pl. 29. Zhang Chou’s criticism of Zhuang Chang (see Introduction, note 7) shows a late Ming critic’s vehement bias against content. Zhuang had praised the morally uplifting themes of Li Gonglin’s handscroll Illustrated Stories of Parental Love and Filial Piety and criticized Zhao Mengfu for writing only about its artistry. Zhang Chou concludes that, for all his moral cultivation, Zhuang Chang did not know how to appreciate a work of art or embellish it with appropriate comments. 2. See Belting, Likeness and Presence, esp. chap. 20. 3. Zheng Qiao, Tong zhi, juan 72, p. zhi-837. 4. Weitz, Zhou Mi’s Record of Clouds and Mist Passing Before One’s Eyes, Appendix I; also Weitz, “Allegories, Metaphors, and Satires.” 5. Yuding Lidai tihua shilei, zongmu, preface by Ji Yun et al., pp. 16a – 17a (1435 – 12), dated 1781, when the authors were working together on the Siku quanshu project. Their remarks refer to the Kangxi emperor’s preface to the same work, dated 1707; Yuding Lidai tihua shilei, yuzhi xu, pp. 1a – 2a (1435-1 – 1435-2). 6. Clunas offers many examples in Pictures and Visuality in Early Modern China, chap. 2. For a striking group of seventeenth-century Transition-ware porcelains decorated with well-known stories and drama scenes, see Curtis, “Tales Told in Porcelain.” 7. Guo, Tuhua jianwen zhi, juan 1, p. 3 (149). 8. Guo’s account comes from Han shu, juan 68, pp. 2932 – 2933. For the significance of the duke’s relationship with the young king, see Chapter 2, note 2. 9. Guo, Tuhua jianwen zhi, juan 6, pp. 83 – 84 (229 – 230). Barnhart translates Guo’s account, discusses the subject, and compares later paintings of it in “Rediscovering an Old Theme in Ming Painting.” For Ding Wei’s biography, see Songren zhuanji ziliao suoyin, v. 1, pp. 6 – 7. Guo Ruoxu refers to him as Ding, Duke of Jin (Ding Jin [guo] gong), an enfeoffment awarded him in 1022. 10. Hou Han shu, juan 45, p. 1518, note 4. 11. Barnhart, “Rediscovering an Old Theme in Ming Painting,” p. 55. 12. Guo Ruoxu quotes what he calls the epigram (jingju) of Wang’s poem: “The ancients have already transformed into heavenly cranes/It’s hard for later officials to find a picture of Sleeping through a Snowfall”; Tuhua jianwen zhi, juan 6, p. 84 (230). 13. Wang Yinglin, Yu hai, v. 2, juan 56, pp. 22b – 23a [1068]); Fan Zuyu, Dixue, juan 4, p. 8b; and Song shi, juan 203, p. 5103. Wang Ming­qing claimed that the young Renzong’s regent, Empress Dowager Liu (970 –  1033), commissioned this set of illustrated scrolls, as well as two others that I discuss below; Huizhu hou lu, juan 1, p. 53. However, unlike Wang Yinglin, who provided detailed citations, Wang Mingqing characterized his information as hearsay from vague forebears (xian ren), and he may have gotten it wrong. It is also possible that Renzong commissioned new versions of instructive works initiated by Empress Dowager Liu. A bibNotes to Pages 71 – 76  |  143

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liography compiled before 1057 includes an entry for Guanwen jiangu tu dating it to 1044; see Wang Zhu (997 – 1057), Wangshi tanlu, p. 36a. 14. Renzong held viewings at the end of the seventh month of 1041 and in the second month of 1044; Fan Zuyu, Dixue, juan 4, p. 9a; and Wang Yinglin, Yu hai, v. 2, juan 56, pp. 22b – 23a (1068, citing Song huiyao). In this period a reform faction led by Fan Zhongyan (989 – 1052; js 1015) was roiling the government with its efforts to reduce favoritism in official recruitment and to promote economic prosperity; James Liu, “An Early Sung Reformer.” 15. Wang Yinglin, Yu hai, juan 49, p. 8a (928), and juan 56, p. 23a (1068). The building was also known as the Western Pavilion (Xige) of the Chongzhengdian. 16. Wang Yinglin, Yu hai, juan 56, p. 23a (1068). They were presented by one Mao Gangzhong, otherwise unrecorded. 17. Guo, Tuhua jianwen zhi, juan 6, p. 85 (231); also Wang Mingqing, Huizhu houlu, juan 1, p. 53; Wang Yinglin, Yu hai, juan 56, pp. 23a – 24a; Song shi, juan 203, pp. 5103 and 5105, and juan 291, p. 9741; and Songren zhuanqi ziliao suoyin, v. 2, pp. 862 – 863 (entry for Li Shu, 11th c.). Again, Wang Mingqing placed the project earlier in Renzong’s reign and identified Empress Dowager Liu as its sponsor; see note 13. Guo Ruoxu, who had direct knowledge of painting at Renzong’s court, implies that court scholars composed written accounts and encomia after the incidents were illustrated, while Wang Yinglin suggests that the texts were assembled before illustrations were made. 18. Fan Zuyu also described this grand viewing; Dixue, juan 5, p. 6a. 19. Wang Yinglin records a memorial by Hu Su (996 – 1067; js 1024) that thanks the emperor for bestowing the work; Yu hai, juan 34, p. 1a (635); also included in Hu’s collected writings, Wengong ji, juan 11, pp. 1a – 1b. 20. Reproduced and cataloged in Gugong shuhua tulu, v. 17, pp. 29 – 32; see also Cary Liu, “Sung Dynasty Painting of the T’ai-ch’ing-lou Library Hall.” 21. For detailed references, see Cary Liu, “Sung Dynasty Painting of the T’ai-ch’ing-lou Library Hall,” pp. 99 – 101. 22. Cary Liu, “Sung Dynasty Painting of the T’ai-ch’ing-lou Library Hall,” p. 102. 23. See note 17. 24. For example, Cahill puts it in the Yuan or Ming period; An Index of Early Chinese Painters and Paintings, p. 219. 25. The scroll, 51.4 cm. high, and 14.8 meters long, is discussed and partially reproduced in Ebrey, “Taking out the Grand Carriage”; for color details, see A Journey into China’s Antiquity, v. 3, pp. 238 – 243; for full reproduction, see Zhongguo gudai shuhua tumu, v. 1, jing 2 – 107. Wang Mingqing suggests that illustrations of imperial ceremonial regalia were commissioned by Empress Dowager Liu as regent for Renzong; Huizhu houlu, juan 1, p. 53; see also note 13.

26. Ebrey summarizes the arguments of Chen Pengcheng dating the Beijing scroll to 1053 and identifying minor alterations made to it by the Yuan official Zeng Sunshen, who submitted the scroll to the throne in 1318 in hopes that the Yuan emperor would adopt its protocols; “Taking Out the Grand Carriage,” pp. 41 – 42. Ebrey also suggests that a similar but shorter and more cursorily rendered handscroll in the Liaoning Provincial Museum may represent the reduced pomp of Southern Song imperial processions; see its full reproduction in Zhongguo gudai shuhua tumu, v. 15, liao 1 – 60. 27. Shiqu baoji, chubian, pp. 1069 – 1070. 28. Even though “Gaozong” is a posthumous name for the Southern Song founder, its familiarity makes it preferable to historically more appropriate names that refer to him as a living person, such as Prince Kang or Zhao Gou. For his political uses of painting, see Murray, Ma Hezhi and the Illustration of the Book of Odes, chap. 2; Murray, “The Role of Art in the Southern Sung Dynastic Revival”; Fong, Beyond Representation, pp. 194 – 231 passim; and Fong and Fu, Song and Yuan Paintings, pp. 29 – 40. For the history of the turbulent period, see James Liu, China Turning Inward. 29. Song Gaozong explicitly imitated Tang Taizong’s practices of political art, particularly in calligraphy; Murray, “The Role of Art in the Southern Sung Dynastic Revival,” esp. pp. 49, 52; and Murray, Ma Hezhi and the Illustration of the Book of Odes, chap. 2. For Gaozong’s comments on Tang Taizong, see Wang Yinglin, Yu hai, juan 34, p. 22 (645); and Xiong Ke, Zhongxing xiaoji, juan 30, p. 778. Gaozong also owned and inscribed a now-lost version of a Yan Liben painting, Emperor [Tang Taizong] in a Sedan Chair Receiving a Tibetan Envoy [cf. Figure 33]; Tang Hou, Hua jian, pp. 406 – 407. 30. Liu Zheng, Huang Song zhongxing liangchao shengzheng, juan 1, p. 382. The Empress Dowager Meng had avoided capture in 1127 because she was living outside the palace; Chaffee, Branches of Heaven, p. 134. 31. Bissell analyzes the different forms of this story in the Zuo zhuan, Guo yu, and Shi ji; “Literary Studies of Historical Texts: Early Narrative Accounts of Ch’ong’er.” 32. Zhuang Su was the first to record a painting of Duke Wen’s odyssey, a work attributed to Gaozong and Li Tang (c.1080 – c.1163); Huaji buyi (1298), juan 2, p. 8. 33. Reproduced and discussed in Wen Fong, Beyond Representation, pp. 195 – 209; Fong and Fu, Sung and Yuan Paintings, pp. 29 – 36; and Weitz, Zhou Mi’s Record, pp. 287 – 289. 34. For reproductions of the calligraphy, see Wen Fong, Beyond Representation, pp. 196 – 203. Chaffee discusses the coup and other early crises; Branches of Heaven, pp. 132 – 135. 35. For Gaozong’s development as a calligrapher, see Murray, Ma Hezhi and the Illustration of the Book of Odes, chap. 2; and Chu, “Imperial Calligraphy of the Southern Sung,” pp. 290 – 299.

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36. Rogers reassesses the scattered evidence concerning Li’s career; “Lives of the Painters.” 37. For the story, see Shi ji, juan 61, p. 2123. Zhou Mi recorded Li Tang’s painting of the subject under the title Caiwei tu (Picking Ferns); Yunyan guoyan lu, juan shang, p. 12a. 38. The painting and its colophons are reproduced in Zhongguo lidai huihua: Gugong bowuyuan canghua ji, v. 3, pls. 20 – 22 and catalog pp. 4 – 7. Wu Rongguang (1773 – 1843; js 1799) transcribes the colophons and seals; Xinchou xiaoxia ji, juan 2, pp. 15a – 20a. 39. The notation may be a later addition, rather than Li Tang’s own signature. Its presence is first mentioned in a colophon by Wu Rongguang, dated 1811, who calls the painting Lofty Recluses of Shouyang (Shouyang gaoyin tu); Xinchou xiaoxia ji, juan 2, p. 19a. 40. Colophon by Song Qi, dated 1362, reproduced in Zhongguo lidai huihua: Gugong bowuyuan canghua ji, v. 3, catalog p. 4, transcribed on p. 6. I have not found Song Qi in biographical references. He identifies himself as a native of Qiantang and successful prefectural nominee to the jinshi examination of 1362, and gives his alternate name as Shouzhi. 41. Chaffee describes the clan’s residence patterns in the late Northern Song and the flight of members not in Kaifeng during the invasion; Branches of Heaven, chaps. 5 and 6. 42. Zhou Mi, Yunyan guoyan lu, juan shang, p. 12a. The son of Zhao Xiyi (1155 – 1212) and a tenth-generation descendant of Song Taizu, Zhao Yuqin (hao Lanpo) had an outstanding painting collection, including many famous masterpieces of narrative illustration; Zhou Mi, Yunyan guoyan lu, juan shang, pp. 1a – 12a. For biographical references, see Song­ ren zhuanji ziliao suoyin, v. 3, p. 3591. 43. Wu Rongguang, Xinchou xiaoxia ji, juan 2, p. 18b. 44. For references, see Chapter 1, note 61. 45. The metamorphosis of Cai Yan’s story is examined by Levy, “Transforming Archetypes in Chinese Poetry and Painting”; and Leung, “The Frontier Imaginary in the Song Dynasty,” esp. chap. 2. Cai’s poems are appended to her official biography in Hou Han shu, juan 84, pp. 2800 – 2803; Leung (pp. 64 – 65) discusses doubts about their authenticity. Cao Cao (155 – 220) arranged Cai Yan’s ransom because she was the last surviving member of a prominent Han family and might help legitimize his usurpation of Han authority. 46. Moreover, rumor in the South had it that she had been forced to serve as a concubine to a Jurchen general; Chaffee, Branches of Heaven, p. 118. 47. Guo, Tuhua jianwen zhi, juan 2, p. 23 (169); Leung, “The Frontier Imaginary in the Song Dynasty,” p. 103. 48. Leung describes how the category fanzu, first named in Xuanhe huapu, was initially formed and later restricted to depictions of northern nomad livelihood; “The Frontier Imaginary in the Song Dynasty,” chap. 1.

49. Leung lays out the argument for this interpretation in “The Frontier Imaginary in the Song Dynasty,” chap. 2. 50. Leung does not suggest this possibility, but it follows naturally from her observation that “mistreated officials” identified with the mythologized conception of Cai; “The Frontier Imaginary in the Song Dynasty,” p. 133. 51. Xuanhe huapu, juan 7, p. 77 (451); Leung, “The Frontier Imaginary in the Song Dynasty,” p. 131. 52. Leung, “The Frontier Imaginary in the Song Dynasty,” chap. 4. See also Tung Wu, Masterpieces of Chinese Painting from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, nos. 12 – 15; and Tung Wu, Tales from the Land of Dragons, nos. 17 – 20. The pictures illustrate verses 3, 5, 13, and 18 of the Eighteen Songs. 53. Leung, “The Frontier Imaginary in the Song Dynasty,” pp. 164 – 165. 54. Bol, This Culture of Ours, pp. 246 – 253. 55. Zhuang Su, Huaji buyi, juan 2, p. 8. 56. For the Metropolitan Museum scroll, see Wen Fong, Beyond Representation, pp. 209 – 214; Fong and Fu, Song and Yuan Paintings, pp. 36 –  40; and Fong and Rorex, Eighteen Songs of a Nomad Flute. These publications suggest dates for the scroll ranging from the Southern Song to early Ming period. Numerous other versions of the illustrations, including album and hanging scroll treatments, survive from various periods; Rorex, Eighteen Songs of a Nomad Flute. 57. Most scholars agree that the writing is not literally from Gaozong’s hand but was intended to pass for it. I discuss evidence that Gaozong used ghostwriters to produce final versions of illustrated texts; Ma Hezhi and the Illustration of the Book of Odes, chap. 6. For references on the stages of his development as a calligrapher, see note 35. 58. Tung Wu considers the details of northern livelihood and material culture more characteristic of the Khitan Liao than of the Jurchen Jin, who replaced the Liao as the dominant power in the North, and suggests that the artist used the Khitans as stand-ins for the Xiongnu to avoid upsetting the uneasy truce between the Southern Song and Jin; Tales from the Land of Dragons, p. 146. As discussed above, Leung considers the portrayals sympathetic to the northerners, although based on romantic ethnographical stereotypes that were not entirely accurate for either the Khitans or the Jurchens. To these observations I would add that if the Southern Song illustrations reflected Li Gonglin’s prototype, they could not depict the Jurchens, because Li died before they emerged on the northern frontier. 59. Xu Bangda identifies the painting’s subject in “Songren hua Renwu gushi ying ji Yingluan tu kao.” For further discussion and references, see Murray, “A Southern Sung Painting Regains Its Memory” and “Ts’ao Hsun and Two Southern Sung History Scrolls.” For color reproduction, see Zhongguo meishu quanji, huihua bian, v. 4, pl. 18; or Zhongguo huihua quanji, v. 5, pls. 57 – 58. Notes to Pages 80 – 82  |  145

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60. Gaozong’s mother, née Wei, is known by several names and titles. Her biography in the dynastic history is titled “Wei Xianfei” (Worthy Consort Wei) for her position at Huizong’s court; Song shi, juan 243, pp. 8640 – 8643. In 1129 Gaozong officially made her Huizong’s empress in absentia, with the title Xuanhe huanghou; when news of Huizong’s death reached Lin’an in 1137, she became an empress dowager (huang taihou). Informally, she was called Taimu (Great mother) and Ciyan (Maternal countenance) after her arrival in Lin’an in 1142; see, for example, Cao Xun’s record of her return (see note 64). After her death in 1159, her posthumous title was Xianren huanghou (Manifestly humane empress). 61. For further discussion of Empress Dowager Wei’s return, see James Liu, China Turning Inward, pp. 57 – 58; I examine primary sources in “Ts’ao Hsun and Two Southern Sung History Scrolls,” p. 14, n. 68. 62. I offer possible explanations for several discrepancies first noted by Xie Zhiliu; “Ts’ao Hsun and Two Southern Sung History Scrolls,” pp. 9 – 10. 63. These motives are also stressed in his mother’s official biography; see note 60. 64. Cao’s manuscript survives as a calligraphy scroll in the Ogawa collection, Japan; reproduced in Murray, “Ts’ao Hsun and Two Southern Sung History Scrolls,” pls. 22 – 24. Originally a Jurchen captive himself, Cao escaped in 1127 and made his way south to serve Gaozong. Soon thereafter, Cao wrote a detailed report on the condition of the royal prisoners, Beishou jianwen lu (Record of what I saw and heard in northern captivity; preface dated 1128). He and Wei Yuan led the 1141 mission to negotiate peace terms. For details of Cao’s biography, see Sung Biographies, v. 3, pp. 1048 – 1050. 65. This information comes from an inscription dated 1631 by Cao Xun’s descendant Cao Gongzhen, cited by Xu Weiren (d. 1853) in a colophon dated 1828 – 1829 on the Ogawa calligraphy scroll; further discussed in Murray, “A Southern Sung Painting Regains Its Memory,” pp. 117 – 118. 66. Reprinted in Cao Xun’s collected works, Songyin [wen]ji, juan 1, pp. 1a – 4b. I discuss discrepancies in the number and titles of the prosepoems in “Ts’ao Hsun and Two Southern Sung History Scrolls,” p. 14, notes 69 and 78. 67. Although the body of Cao’s text refers to the empress dowager by names indicating that he composed it while she was still alive (see note 60), his signature uses a title that his son says Cao acquired some ten years after her death in 1159; Songyin [wen]ji, postface (dated 1190). After Cao died in 1174, Lou Yue wrote a colophon describing a handscroll entitled Yingqing taihou huiluan tu (Picture of welcoming the Empress Dowager’s returning carriage), which contained the painting and Cao’s transcription of his own text; Gongkui ji, juan 69, p. 933. 68. Cao appended his injunction at the end of his preface. His sons recognized the work’s importance by placing the text at the start of Cao’s collected writings, Songyin [wen]ji.

69. Shiqu baoji, xubian, pp. 296 – 297. I summarize Qing arguments for and against several possible subjects, and additional ones made by the modern scholars Xu Bangda and Xie Zhiliu, in “A Southern Sung Painting Regains Its Memory,” pp. 111 – 115. Until recently, the Shanghai Museum called it simply Illustration of a Figural Narrative (Renwu gushi tu). 70. Cao Xun, Songyin [wen]ji, juan 29, pp. 1a – 4b, entry entitled “Shengrui tu” (Pictures of sagely auspicious omens). I discuss Auspicious Omens in detail and provide extensive references for various versions of the paintings in “Ts’ao Hsun and Two Southern Sung History Scrolls.” 71. DeWoskin, “Famous Chinese Childhoods”; also Murray, “The Evolution of Pictorial Hagiography in Chinese Art,” in which I suggest that indigenous beliefs combined with imported Buddhist hagiography to produce the characteristic thematic and visual conventions of later pictorial biography. 72. The second omen describes how, when Gaozong was a baby, four warrior-deities appeared to his mother to warn her not to feed him leftover food; the fifth omen recounts how a child saw them attending Gaozong when he was about to set out on a dangerous mission. After Gaozong’s mother settled in Lin’an, she founded a shrine to the four guardians; Song shi, juan 243, p. 8643. 73. In all, nine compositions have been preserved (for all but omens 1, 2, 8). Seven are in handscrolls likely to be of Southern Song date, and two are in a bona fide Ming copy; all reproduced in Murray, “Ts’ao Hsun and Two Southern Sung History Scrolls,” pls. 1 – 13, 15 – 16. Three pictures (for omens 7, 9, 12) are in a handscroll now in the Tianjin Art Museum, reproduced in color in Zhongguo lidai huihua: Tianjin, v. 1, pl. 6; also Zhongguo huihua quanji, v. 5, pls. 53 – 55. Four illustrations (for omens 3 – 6) are in a scroll of unknown whereabouts, reproduced in Tang Wudai Song Yuan mingji, pls. 65 – 81. A scroll by Qiu Ying (c.1494 – c.1552) with no texts and four paintings (for omens 7, 10 – 12) is in the Palace Museum, Beijing; reproduced in Murray, “Ts’ao Hsun and Two Southern Sung History Scrolls,” pls. 14 – 17; also see Xiao Yanyi, “Qiu Ying he tade mozuo Zhongxing Ruiying tu.” Qiu probably copied a handscroll in Xiang Yuanbian’s (1525 – 1590) collection, containing omens 7 – 12 and attributed to Xiao Zhao (12th c.), possibly including the fragment now in the Tianjin Museum. A handscroll attributed to Li Song (fl. c.1190 – c.1230) in the National Palace Museum, Taibei, is a crude forgery probably of late Ming or early Qing date; it contains four pictures, but no texts, for omens 12, 9, 4, and 5; and fake colophons of Xiang Yuanbian (ostensibly dated 1541) and Dong Qichang; Gugong shuhua tulu, v. 16, pp. 273 – 276. 74. For citations, see Murray, “Ts’ao Hsun and Two Southern Sung History Scrolls,” pp. 12 – 13, notes 9, 10, 44, 48. 75. Xiao Zhao was a follower of Li Tang, whom he met while living as a bandit in the Taihang mountains, then followed to the South; see Zhuang Su, Huaji buyi, pp. 8 – 9; also Richard Edwards’s entry on Xiao

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Zhao in The Dictionary of Art, v. 33, p. 468. The style and technique of the extant Auspicious Omens scenes are consistent with a twelfth-century date. 76. In addition to the seven scenes in Southern Song scrolls, two more are preserved in Qiu Ying’s Ming copy; see note 73. 77. Kohara, “Narrative Illustration in the Handscroll Format,” esp. p. 260; see also discussion in Chapter 1. 78. Cao Xun had left retirement in 1169 and returned to serve at court. His preface to Auspicious Omens refers to Gaozong as Guangyao shou­ sheng xiantian tidao taishang huangdi, a title awarded to the retired emperor in the twelfth lunar month of 1170 (January 1171); Cao died in 1174. 79. Song Gaozong, Hanmo zhi. Gaozong’s text existed by 1180, when Zhou Bida (1126 – 1204) mentioned it in a colophon; Yigong tiba, juan 7, p. 4b. For Gaozong’s comments quoted in other texts, see note 29. 80. I analyze the project and reproduce many scenes in Ma Hezhi and the Illustration of the Book of Odes. The scrolls surviving in mainland Chinese collections are fully reproduced in color in Zhongguo huihua quanji, v. 4, pls. 26 – 31. Ma’s designs suggest considerable familiarity with illustrations by Li Gonglin. 81. Guo, Tuhua jianwen zhi, juan 1, p. 4 (150). 82. The commission is also recorded in Jiu Tang shu, juan 17 shang, p. 529. In a similar account given by Wang Yinglin, the pictures are referred to as Junchen shiji tu (Illustrated deeds of rulers and ministers); Yu hai, juan 56, p. 11a (1062). Zheng Qiao lists the title without reference to Wenzong; Tong zhi, juan 72, p. zhi-838 lower. 83. Zhu Jingxuan, Tangchao minghua lu, p. 83. The same information is recorded in Cheng Xiuji’s epitaph; see Jin Weinuo, “Wan Tang huajia Cheng Xiuji muzhi.” Cheng Xiuji was an educated man who passed the civil service examination in classics (ming jing) during the Baoli era (825 – 826). 84. Most recently discussed by Rogers, “Lives of the Painters,” pp. 58 – 59; and Cahill, “The Imperial Painting Academy,” in W. Fong and Watt, Possessing the Past, pp. 174 – 177; see also Shih Shou-chien, “Nan Song de liangzhong guijian hua.” Catalog information appears in Gugong shuhua tulu, v. 3, pp. 81, 82, respectively. Xu Bangda notes that there is another Southern Song painting of Breaking the Balustrade in the Xu Beihong Memorial Hall in Beijing, suggesting that multiples were made; see his notes in Zhongguo huihua shi tulu, v. 1, p. 229, pl. 111. 85. Han shu, juan 67, p. 2915. Zhu is described as unusually tall, strong, and fearless. 86. Yuan Ang’s biography appears in Han shu, juan 49, pp. 2267 – 2276; the confrontation over seating protocol is described on p. 2271. 87. Song shi, juan 321, pp. 10435 – 10436. For the contrast between Zheng Xia’s painting and court productions that celebrated cosmic harmony, such as Guo Xi’s Early Spring (1072), see Murck, Poetry and Painting in Song China, chap. 2.

88. Song shi, juan 321, pp. 10436 – 10437. The good Tang officials he chose were Wei Zheng (580 – 643), Yao Chong (7th – 8th c.), and Song Jing (7th – 8th c.); the bad ones were Li Linfu (d. 752) and Lu Qi (8th c.). 89. On imperial education, see Chaffee, Branches of Heaven; De Bary, Neo-Confucian Orthodoxy and the Learning of the Mind-and-Heart; also Wang Yinglin, Yu hai, juan 26 – 27 (“di xue”). 90. See Chapter 1, p. 21. Titled Xuanren taihuang taihou (Greatly humane grand empress dowager), she was Zhezong’s grandmother, Shenzong’s mother, and Yingzong’s empress. 91. Wang Mingqing says that copies were also distributed to close officials; Huizhu houlu, juan 1, p. 53. The empress dowager is not credited with ordering the reprints in otherwise similar accounts by Wang Yishan, Jiacun leigao, juan 20, p. 5b; and Wang Yinglin, Yu hai, juan 56, p. 23a (1068). 92. Wang Yishan, Jiacun leigao, juan 20, pp. 5a – 5b; and Wang Yinglin, Yu hai, juan 56, p. 23a (1068). Fan had helped Sima Guang compile Zizhi tongjian (Comprehensive mirror for aid in governance) and wrote the equally moralistic Tang jian (Mirror of the Tang, 1086); A Sung Bibliography, p. 78. Michael Freeman observes that Fan sought the “moral reform of his students”; see his biography of Fan Zuyu in Song Biographies, pp. 338 – 345, esp. p. 344. 93. De Bary, Neo-Confucian Orthodoxy and the Learning of the Mindand-Heart, pp. 29 – 30; also Elman, A Cultural History of Civil Examinations in Late Imperial China, pp. 68 – 69, 101. 94. De Bary, Neo-Confucian Orthodoxy and the Learning of the Mindand-Heart, pp. 29 – 30. 95. De Bary, Neo-Confucian Orthodoxy and the Learning of the Heartand-Mind, pp. 87 – 89. 96. Franke, “Wang Yun.” As noted below, the original work does not survive but was reconstructed and printed at the late Qing court under the title Qinding Yuan Wang Yun Chenghua shilue butu. It included Wang Yun’s preface to the original work and his submission memorial. 97. The twenty thematic sections are listed by name in Wang’s biography; Yuan shi, juan 167, p. 3934. The progression is strongly reminiscent of Zhu Xi’s Xiaoxue, a primer of moral cultivation; see Introduction, note 7. 98. According to Franke, twenty-six examples came from dynastic histories, nine came from Confucian classics, and five from other Han or Tang works; “Wang Yun,” esp. p. 170. 99. Yuan shi, juan 167, p. 3934. It is possible that the Ming compilers exaggerated the prince’s reaction, not only to glorify Wang Yun but also to suggest that Chinese ways were compellingly attractive to an intelligent “barbarian.” 100. For Wang’s memorial, see note 96; also his collected works, Qiujian xiansheng daquan wenji, juan 78, p. 751 shang. 101. Wang Yun, Qiujian xiansheng daquan wenji, juan 78, pp. 753 shang – 762 shang. Notes to Pages 84 – 87  |  147

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102. Xu Fu (1836 – after 1905) et al., submission memorial; included as a preface to Qinding Yuan Wang Yun Chenghua shilue butu, of which an example is in the Princeton University Library (Oversize 4691/1195). See Chapter 8, p. 121, for further discussion. 103. Xu Fu et al., memorial submitting Qinding Yuan Wang Yun Cheng­ hua shilue (see note 102), p. 2a; also Chapter 8, p. 121. 104. For early but mutually contradictory accounts of the creation, reproduction, and submission of Yangzheng tujie, see Shen Defu (1578 –  1642), Wanli yehuo bian, juan 4, pp. 102 – 103, and juan 25, p. 13a; Zhu Guozhen (1557 – 1632; js 1589), Yongchuang xiaopin; and Ming shi, juan 288, p. 7393. For modern discussions, see Ying-shih Yü, “The Intellectual World of Chiao Hung Revisited,” p. 28; and Ch’ien, Chiao Hung and the Restructuring of Neo-Confucianism in the Late Ming, pp. 51 – 52. Yangzheng tujie exists in several late Ming editions, one of which is fully reproduced in Wanwei biecang, v. 62. Isolated pages or details from other editions are reproduced in Bussotti, Gravures de Hui; and in Berliner, “Wang Tingna and Illustrated Book Publishing in Hangzhou.” See also Murray, “Squaring Connoisseurship with History.” 105. An educated artist from Huizhou, Ding Yunpeng was active primarily in Nanjing and Songjiang; see Oertling, “Ting Yun-p’eng.” Ding’s participation in Yangzheng tujie is mentioned both in Zhu Shilu’s (1539 – 1610; js 1589) preface to the work (see note 132) and in Shen Defu, Wanli yehuo bian, juan 25, p. 13a. 106. King Wen’s solicitous concern for his parents is immortalized in the “Wenwang shizi” (King Wen as heir) section of the Li ji (Rites classic); for translation, see Li Chi: Book of Rites, v. 1, pp. 343 – 363. 107. For details of the Wanli emperor’s fractious relations with officialdom, particularly after a son was born to his favorite concubine in 1586, see Ray Huang, 1587, A Year of No Significance, esp. chap. 1. Zhu Changluo was officially invested as heir apparent only in 1601. 108. Jiao Hong, preface to Yangzheng tujie, which is reproduced in all editions of the book as well as in his collected writings, Jiaoshi Danyuan ji (1606), juan 15, pp. 1a – 2a (541 – 543). A punctuated transcription appears in Guoli zhongyang tushuguan xuba jilu, zi bu, v. 1, p. 197. 109. This view was based on ideas associated with Wang Yangming (1472 – 1529; js 1499) and particularly his Taizhou-school follower Geng Dingxiang (1524 – 1596; js 1556); see Handlin, Action in Late Ming Thought. Wang’s ideas about innate moral knowledge began showing up in civil service examination answers soon after his death and grew increasingly influential during the later sixteenth century; see Elman, A Cultural History of Civil Examinations in Late Imperial China, pp. 412 – 415; also The Ming Dynasty, Part II, v. 8 of The Cambridge History of China, chap. 11. 110. Jiao Hong’s preface; as in note 108. 111. Sakai, Chūgoku zensho no kenkyū, pp. 9 – 10. The chief compilers were Tao Kai (juren 1347) and Zhang Du (14th c.), and Song Lian con-

tributed a preface. The work probably had no pictures and had become fragmentary by the late Ming. 112. The Ming palace’s didactic compilations are cataloged in Sakai, Chūgoku zensho no kenkyū, pp. 8 – 27. 113. For detailed information, see The Ming Dynasty, Part II, v. 8 of The Cambridge History of China, chap. 1, esp. pp. 74 – 75. 114. Zheng Ji’s submission is recorded and his accompanying memorial excerpted in Ming shilu, v. 55, “Xiaozong shilu,” juan 105, pp. 2b – 3a (1914 – 1915); the full text appears in Zheng’s collectanea, Dongyuan wenji, juan 3, pp. 8b – 13a. Biographical references on Zheng are collected in Dongyuan wenji, appendix; see also Mingren zhuanji ziliao suoyin, p. 787. 115. See note 114. 116. Zheng Ji, Dongyuan wenji, juan 3, p. 9b. 117. The entry in Ming shilu specified the style of painting and related it to palace taste; see “Xiaozong shilu,” juan 105, p. 3a (1915). Extant examples of the “gold and green” style by court artists include an eightyfour-leaf album depicting events in the Buddha’s life, done c.1483 for the Chongshansi, a Buddhist monastery in Taiyuan patronized by the Prince of Jin; reproduced in Taiyuan Chongshansi wenwu tulu. 118. Zheng Ji discusses these and other points not only in his memorial to the Hongzhi emperor (see note 114), but also in a foreword to the album itself, written as a memorial to the crown prince; Dongyuan wenji, juan 1, pp. 13a – 16a. 119. Ming shilu, v. 55, “Xiaozong shilu,” juan 105, p. 3a (1915). 120. The submission of the album and a resumé of its thirteen stories are recorded in Ming shilu, v. 81, “Jiajing shilu,” juan 226, pp. 6a – 6b (4703 – 4704), and in Shen Defu, Wanli yehuo bian, juan 4, p. 102; an exhaustive account is given in Huo Tao’s collected works, Weiyai wenji, juan 4, pp. 62b – 78a. For brief biographies of Huo and Zou, see Dictio­ nary of Ming Biography, pp. 681 – 682 and 1310; and Mingren zhuanji zi­ liao suoyin, pp. 864 and 741 – 742. 121. Taizu had instituted the ritual honoring agriculture early in the dynasty, but the sericulture ritual only started under the Jiajing emperor, in 1530. The Ming court was not known for its frugality, and the rites were to remind its denizens that farmers and silk workers suffered to produce the goods it consumed. Huo and Zou’s commentaries to these illustrations vividly describe the miserable subsistence that commoners had to endure to meet levies and tax quotas. 122. The Jiajing emperor was sensitive to criticism because he had roiled officialdom at the beginning of his reign by refusing to adopt the Hongzhi emperor (his uncle) as his father for ritual purposes, instead insisting on imperial titles for his birth parents; for a nuanced account of the Great Ritual Controversy, see Fisher, The Chosen One. For supporting the emperor’s position, Huo Tao had gained so much favor that

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Jiajing did not punish him (or Zou Shouyi, who had opposed Jiajing’s action) for the unfavorable insinuations in Pictures of Sagely Merit; Ming shi, juan 283, p. 7270. 123. Jiao Hong attributes the submission to the early Tiansheng era (1023 – 1031), when Empress Dowager Liu was serving as regent for the young Renzong (see note 13). Although Wang Zeng’s biography in Song shi (juan 310, pp. 10182 – 10186) does not mention the compilation, he was appropriately placed to offer one after being appointed Vice Director of the Chancellery and Grand Academician of the Institute for the Glorification of Literature in the twelfth lunar month of 1025; Song shi, juan 9, p. 181. Fan Zuyu and Wang Yinglin agree that between 1027 – 1032, Wang Zeng oversaw the compilation of Sanchao baoxun (Precious instructions from the three courts), a thirty-juan text describing events in the first three Song reigns; see Fan, Dixue, juan 4, pp. 4a – 4b and Wang Yinglin, Yu hai, juan 49, pp. 5b – 6a (927), respectively. The similarity in name to the illustrated Sanchao xunjian tu of 1049 (see discussion on pp. 61 and 76 – 77), may have led Jiao Hong to conflate the two. 124. Jiao Hong’s submission memorial is excerpted in Ming shilu, v. 110, “Shenzong shilu,” juan 314, p. 4 (5871); it is fully reproduced in some editions of Yangzheng tujie and in Jiao’s collected writings, Jiaoshi Danyuan ji, juan 3, pp. 6a – 7a (187 – 189). 125. The Wanli emperor’s response is recorded at the end of Jiao’s memorial in some editions of Yangzheng tujie; for example, one in the National Library, Taibei (Rare Book 05656); and in somewhat abbreviated form in Ming shilu, v. 110, “Shenzong shilu,” juan 314, p. 4 (5871). 126. See Introduction, p. 4; also detailed discussion and references in Murray, “From Textbook to Testimonial,” pp. 68 – 74. 127. The memorial, cosigned by Lü Tiaoyang, is excerpted in Ming shilu, v. 96, “Shenzong shilu,” juan 8, pp. 7b – 8a (0290 – 0291) and is reproduced in full at the front of many early printed editions of Dijian tushuo under the title “Jin tu shu” (Memorial on submitting the pictures), and in Zhang Juzheng’s collected writings; for a punctuated and annotated transcription, see Zhang Juzheng ji, juan 3, pp. 103 – 107. 128. Among the many treatments of the turbulent period, particularly useful are Ray Huang, 1587; The Ming Dynasty, Part I, v. 7 of The Cambridge History of China, pp. 528 – 556; and Dictionary of Ming Biography, esp. pp. 208 – 211, 324 – 337. 129. In November 1573 the painted album was removed from the palace by the metropolitan censor Pan En (1496 – 1582; js 1523) when he retired to Huai’an, where his son Pan Yunduan (1526 – 1601; js 1562) had woodblocks carved to reproduce it. Now owned by the Japanese Imperial Household Agency, the woodblock version is only two-thirds complete; the extant pictures are reproduced in Kinsei Nihon kaiga to gafu, v. 2, cat. no. 21. Japanese scholars have incorrectly assumed that this printed edition, which they call the “A” version, was produced in the Ming palace;

see Kobayashi, “Kyūraku-zu byōbu ni tsuite Teikan zusetsu no tensei.” 130. The frames around the pictures and texts each measure approximately 40 x 38 cm. 131. Zhang Juzheng succeeded in identifying himself as the modernday Fu Yue, because the Wanli emperor honored him with a commemorative arch in Zhang’s hometown, inscribed “A good minister conferred on the emperor” (“Di lai liang bi”); Jiangling xian zhi (1784), juan 24, p. 1a (1075). 132. From Zhu Shilu’s preface to Yangzheng tujie, reproduced in all editions of the book; a punctuated transcription appears in Guoli zhongyang tushuguan xuba jilu, zi bu, v. 1, pp. 197 – 198. 133. See Handlin, Action in Late Ming Thought; also Ch’ien, Chiao Hung and the Restructuring of Neo-Confucianism. 134. For a discussion of negative views on the power of representational images, particularly erotic ones, see Clunas, Pictures and Visuality in Early Modern China, esp. chap. 6. 135. Li Weizhen, preface to the 1604 Jin Lian edition of The Emperor’s Mirror; reprinted in Li Weizhen, Dabishanfang ji, juan 8, p. 6a.

Chapter 7. Later Narrative Illustration Outside the Court 1. For relevant discussions, see Hegel, The Novel in Seventeenthcentury China, preface and chap. 1; C. Li and Watt, The Chinese Scholar’s Studio; Brook, The Confusions of Pleasure; Jang, “Form, Content, and Audience”; and The Ming Dynasty, Part II, v. 8 of The Cambridge History of China, chaps. 9–11. 2. For a useful overview, see The Ming Dynasty, Part II, v. 8 of The Cambridge History of China, chap. 11; also Brokaw, The Ledgers of Merit and Demerit; and Handlin, Action in Late Ming Thought. 3. Imperial and other compilations are cataloged and discussed in Sakai, Chūgoku zensho no kenkyū. 4. Zhong Huamin’s illustrated version is missing from Sakai’s enumeration of works based on the founding emperor’s Six Injunctions; Chūgoku zensho no kenkyū, pp. 34 – 57. For Zhong’s biography, see Ming­ ren zhuanji ziliao suoyin, p. 910. 5. This information appears on the stele itself; for partial reproduction of a rubbing in the Field Museum, Chicago (acc. no. 245254), see Clunas, Pictures and Visuality in Early Modern China, p. 50. 6. Handlin, Action in Late Ming Thought, pp. 143 – 144, 147 – 148. Raphals summarizes late Ming versions of stories of exemplary women in Sharing the Light; also see Carlitz, “The Social Uses of Female Virtue in Late Ming Editions of Lienü zhuan”; and Waltner, “Representations of Children in Three Stories from Biographies of Exemplary Women.” 7. In 1595 one of these later editions was published in the name of the Wanli emperor’s favorite consort, Zheng Guifei (c.1568 – 1641), by her

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uncle. Subsequently Lü Kun was accused of supporting her son to be named crown prince instead of Zhu Changluo; see Handlin, Action in Late Ming Thought, p. 110; Dictionary of Ming Biography, p. 210; also Zhu Guozhen, Yongchuang xiaopin, juan 10, p. 217; and Liu Ruoyu, Zhuozhong zhi, juan 1, pp. 1 – 5. 8. As Knapp points out, filial-son stories originally circulated among the elite. Only in the late-imperial period, after Guo Jujing revised them, did they become a primer for ordinary people; “Accounts of Filial Sons,” pp. 1 – 4. 9. Genette, Paratexts. 10. An early collection of artists’ biographies was Xie He’s sixthcentury Guhua pinlu (Record of ancient painting evaluations), now lost except for its preface. The earliest widely accepted signatures on extant paintings are from the eleventh century; for example, Cui Bo, Hare and Magpies (Shuangxi tu, 1061); and Guo Xi, Early Spring (Zaochun tu, 1072). 11. Stanley-Baker, “Forgeries in Chinese Painting”; for additional insights, see Clunas, Pictures and Visuality in Early Modern China, chap. 5. 12. New Interpretations of Ming and Qing Paintings, p. 7. 13. Laing, “Suzhou pian and Other Dubious Paintings in the Received Oeuvre of Qiu Ying”; and Rogers, “Second Thoughts on Multiple Recensions.” A representative selection appears in Yang Renkai, Zhongguo gujin shuhua zhenwei tudian. 14. I discuss the evolution of Dijian tushuo at length in “Didactic Illustrations in Printed Books” and “Changing the Frame,” and that of Yangzheng tujie in “Squaring Connoisseurship with History”; I treat both compilations more summarily in “Didactic Illustrations in Printed Books.” Based on direct examination of many surviving editions, as well as documentary research, my conclusions differ significantly from those of other writers. 15. The preface and postface to Zhang’s edition identify his intended audience, as discussed below. The blocks were probably carved in a palace workshop under the Silijian (Directorate of Ceremonial), which was directed by Zhang’s eunuch ally Feng Bao (fl. 1530 – 1583); see Liu Ruoyu, Zhuozhong zhi, juan 5, pp. 1a – 1b; also Ray Huang, 1587, chap. 1. Many examples of Zhang’s edition survive today; I have personally examined those in the National Library, Taibei (Rare Book no. 05239), the National Library, Beijing (Rare Book no. 17486), and Princeton University’s East Asian Library (Rare Book TB-367). For further details, see my “From Textbook to Testimonial,” pp. 71 – 73. 16. For the memorial, see Chapter 6, note 127. Lu Shusheng was a prominent cultural figure who was also politically innocuous; see Ming shi, juan 216 (lie zhuan 104), pp. 5694 – 5696; and Mingren zhuanji ziliao suoyin, p. 571. His preface, dated March 4, 1573, also appears in his collected writings, Lu Wendinggong ji, juan 9, pp. 1a – 3a; for a punctuated transcription, see Guoli zhongyang tushuguan shanben xuba jilu, shi bu, v. 4, pp. 398 – 399.

17. Wang Xilie, the son of Wang Tingwang (1492 – 1574), was a native of Yuzhang (modern Nanchang, Jiangxi); Mingren zhuanji ziliao suoyin, p. 34. His signature on the postface indicates that he had directed the Household Administration of the Heir Apparent; that is, of the Wanli emperor before his enthronement. 18. Wang Xilie’s postface, dated May 1, 1573; punctuated transcription in Guoli zhongyang tushuguan shanben xuba jilu, shi bu, v. 4, pp. 399 – 400. 19. Sakai discusses the didactic works promulgated by Ming Taizu and the Yongle emperor; Chūgoku zensho no kenkyū, pp. 8 – 30. 20. I have examined the example in the National Library, Taibei (Rare Book no. 05242). One in the National Library, Beijing, apparently lacking Guo’s preface, is reproduced in Beijing tushuguan guji zhenben cong­ kan, v. 14. I discuss Guo’s edition further in “From Textbook to Testimonial,” pp. 76 – 77. 21. It may be no coincidence that Guo’s next official posting was in Beijing, and he served in or near one of the two capitals well into the 1580s; for the positions he held from 1578 – 1587, see Guochao lieqing ji, pp. 5101, 5152, 5338, 6162, 7183. 22. For details concerning the publication of three commercial editions, see my “From Textbook to Testimonial,” pp. 74 – 82. 23. I have seen the two examples of Hu’s edition in the National Library, Taibei (Rare Book nos. 05240 – 05241). 24. The page numbers in Zhang Juzheng’s edition were outside the upper left edge of the block frames, and Hu Xian moved them into the pictorial space; also he revised the numbering of pages in the first section from simply yi er san (1, 2, 3) etc. to qian yi, qian er (former 1, former 2) and so forth, to match Zhang’s numbering in the second section, which started over as hou yi, hou er (latter 1, latter 2), etc. 25. The story comes from Sima Qian; Shi ji, juan 10, p. 433; I discuss the illustration in “From Textbook to Testimonial,” p. 79. 26. I have examined an example in the British Library (OR 74 d.45), and two in the National Library, Beijing (Rare Book nos. 14125 and 15767, the latter fragmentary). 27. I discuss Jin Lian’s sketchy biography and preface in “From Textbook to Testimonial,” pp. 77 – 82 and notes 68 – 69. 28. The signatures of Huang Jun (1553 – 1620) and Huang Yingxiao (1582 – 1662) appear on the work. They evidently were among the members of the Huang workshop who worked at least temporarily in other cities of the lower Yangzi delta. Zhou Wu notes that they are listed in the 1830 Huang clan genealogy as members of the twenty-fifth and twentysixth generations, respectively, and identifies other publications whose blocks they carved; Huipai banhua shi lunji, pp. 39, 42. For a recent study of the Huangs, see Bussotti, Gravures de Hui. 29. Helliwell gives a well-illustrated discussion of relationships between the block-printed sheet and the book’s binding in “The Repair and Binding of Old Chinese Books.”

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30. Kobayashi concludes that Jin Lian’s edition was made purely for aesthetic pleasure, based on one picture that seems less didactic than the equivalent scene in Zhang Juzheng’s edition; “Kyūraku-zu byōbu ni tsuite Teikan zusetsu no tensei,” p. 20. However, most of Jin’s pictures make obvious reference to the stories on which they are based, and the accompanying texts and prefaces articulate a moralistic mission. 31. Li Weizhen’s preface is missing from the British Library’s example (see note 26); it is reprinted in his collected works, Dabishanfang ji, juan 8, pp. 5ab – 7a. His official biography appears in the “eminent literati” (wenyuan) section of the Ming shi, juan 288, p. 7385; see also Mingren zhuanji ziliao suoyin, p. 220; and Dictionary of Ming Biography, pp. 458, 548, 1407, 1444. 32. Li Weizhen’s preface; Dabishanfang ji, juan 8, p. 7a. 33. For other fine woodblock-printed books that appealed to this group, see Hegel, Reading Illustrated Fiction in Late Imperial China; Jang, “Form, Content, and Audience”; and C. Li and Watt, The Chinese Scholar’s Studio. Wanli-era factional conflicts are vividly described in Ray Huang, 1587. 34. For Zhu’s preface, see Chapter 6, note 132; for information on Ding Yunpeng, also see Chapter 6, note 105. Huang Qi is probably Huang Deqi (zi Weizheng), active in both Huizhou and Nanjing, who is recorded in the twenty-sixth generation of the Huang genealogy and who carved blocks for fine editions of books published between 1589 and 1614; see Zhou Wu, Huipai banhua shi lunji, 28 – 30, 40, 55 (notes for pls. 22 – 23). 35. Clunas discusses the significance of the late Ming emergence of “name” craftsmen from previously anonymous traditions; Art in China, chap. 5. 36. For example, Rare Book 05656 in the National Library, Taibei, is unmistakably printed from the original blocks, but the paper is browner and much lower in quality than that of Rare Book 05654, and the text of Jiao Hong’s 1597 submission memorial has been added. I provide further details in “Squaring Connoisseurship with History.” 37. This example, Rare Book 05655 in the National Library, Taibei, has been reproduced in facsimile by the Zhongguo shudian chubanshe (Beijing, 1999). Favorable mention of Zhang Juzheng suggests a date after 1622, when his posthumous honors were restored. 38. The table of contents first appears in a version that also includes the text of Jiao Hong’s 1597 memorial; see note 36. 39. In his signature at the end of the British Museum’s example, Wang Yunpeng identifies himself as a guozi sheng (student in the National University), but other sources indicate that he was a Huizhou commercial publisher also active in Nanjing; see Carlitz, “The Social Uses of Female Virtue in Late Ming Editions of Lienü zhuan,” p. 137; and Chia, “Of Three Mountains Street,” pp. 127, 133. I present detailed evidence that his edition was not the first in “Squaring Connoisseurship with History.” 40. The two sections, containing two string-bound fascicles (ce) each,

are called shang bu and xia bu in the tables of contents, but juan shang and juan xia in the page margins. There are no titles actually with the pictures, despite being listed in the tables of contents. 41. Huang Lin (zi Ruoyu) is listed in the twenty-fifth generation of the Huang genealogy and cut blocks for other Wanhuxuan editions, such as Bei xixiang ji (Northern romance of the western chamber) and Chengshi moyuan (Mr. Cheng’s ink garden, 1606); Zhou Wu, Huipai banhua shi lunji, pp. 29, 31, 38 and pls. 23 – 29. A misreading by Zhou Wu has led to the much-repeated assertion that Huang Lin’s version of Yangzheng tujie was dated 1593 and Huang Qi’s 1594. However, Jiao Hong became the prince’s tutor only in mid-1594, and the physical evidence suggests that Huang Lin’s designs were based on Huang Qi’s; see my “Squaring Connoisseurship with History.” 42. For Jiao’s preface, see Chapter 6, note 108. 43. Carlitz describes Wang Yunpeng’s appropriation of another book, which he reconfigured even more blatantly: “He adapted an existing Biographies of Notable Immortals (Liexian zhuan) and attributed it to Wang Shizhen (1526 – 1590; js 1547), made minor changes to the preface and attributed it to Li Panlong (1514 – 1570; js 1544), modestly added another preface and a chapter of his own, and sent the book off to market”; “The Social Uses of Female Virtue in Late Ming Editions of Lienü zhuan”; p. 137. 44. There are several examples whose paintings are very similar in composition but arranged in slightly different order and whose accompanying texts show different degrees of simplification. The National Palace Museum, Taibei, has published a ten-section Yangzheng tu handscroll with painting and calligraphy both purporting to be by the Southern Song court artist Liu Songnian (12th c.); Gugong shuhua tulu, v. 16, pp. 255 – 259. I have examined three unpublished Yangzheng tu in the Freer Gallery of Art in Washington. Two bear forged signatures of Liu Songnian; one contains eight episodes (acc. no. F1909.221), and the other ten (acc. nos. F1914.60 – F1914.61, now mounted in two scrolls with five sections each). The third (acc. no. F1911.514) is a ten-section handscroll with the forged signature of the Yuan court artist Wang Zhenpeng (c.1280 – c.1329) on the last painting, with texts purportedly added in 1454 by Shang Lu (1414 – 1486; js 1445); their wording sometimes differs significantly from the other versions. 45. This is the sixth story in Yangzheng tujie. The account is based on Shi ji, juan 39, p. 1635. 46. The example reproduced here (Freer handscroll F1909.221) has texts written on strips of paper, while the pictures are on silk; in the other handscrolls (see note 44), texts and pictures are both on silk. 47. The Freer “Wang Zhenpeng” scroll (see note 44) has no label. 48. See note 44. 49. The luminaries who purportedly wrote the colophons on the “Wang Zhenpeng” scroll (see note 44) include Wu Kuan (1436 – 1504; js Notes to Pages 99 – 103  |  151

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1472), an eminent court official and literatus; Wang Ao (1450 – 1524; js 1475), a Grand Secretary and literateur; Wen Zhengming, the renowned scholar-painter and calligrapher; and Chen Jiru (1558 – 1639), a noted private scholar. The calligraphy is highly varied and appears to have been written by different hands. 50. F1909.221 and F1914.60 – F1914.61, all attributed to Liu Songnian; see note 44. The “Shao Bao” colophon is written in running-regular script on the former and in cursive script on the latter. 51. A search of his Rongchuntang ji (Collected writings of Shao Bao) using the Siku quanshu electronic database turns up nothing on Liu Songnian or Yangzheng tu. Although it is possible that a genuine colophon might fail to be recorded, I think it unlikely in this case. 52. See note 13. 53. A classic statement on Suzhou fakes and their ignorant buyers is a poem by Shao Changheng (1637 – 1704), translated by Waikam Ho in C. Li and Watt, The Chinese Scholar’s Studio, p. 31. Cahill quotes He Liangjun (1506 – 1573) to similar effect in The Distant Mountains, p. 35. Stanley-Baker suggests that most Ming collectors believed the famous names and offers a compelling explanation for this credulity; “Forgeries in Chinese Painting,” pp. 56, 58, 62. 54. For his biography, see Kong Decheng, Kongzi shijia pu (1937), juan 3 part 1 (3 zhi 1), pp. 14a – 15a. 55. Kong Yuqi, Xing Lu shengdian (1689), juan 4, p. 10a (652 – 49). I do not know the current location of the scroll. 56. I have not seen this scroll, but it is reproduced and its colophons transcribed in Gugong shuhua tulu, v. 16, pp. 255 – 259. 57. For their biographies, see Dictionary of Ming Biography, pp. 932 – 938 and 1225 – 1231, respectively. Song Lian was particularly appropriate because he had written colophons on paintings for instructional purposes, such as illustrations of the Classic of Filial Piety and the Shijing poem “Seventh Month” in the “Odes of Bin”; see Qinding Peiwenzhai shuhua pu, juan 83, p. 1a (2373) and juan 85, p. 1a (2425), respectively. The National Palace Museum “Liu Songnian” scroll also displays a fake seal of a Yuan palace connoisseur, Ke Jiusi (1290 – 1343). 58. Chen Riyu’s signature gives his alternate names as Zipan and Yueshan. He appears to have been a Fujian literatus who remained loyal to the Ming after the Qing conquest. A search of the Siku quanshu electronic database shows that Chen wrote a preface to Gao Zhao’s Xu Gaoshi zhuan (1662); and that Mao Qiling (1623 – 1716) referred to him as qian bei (previous generation) in Xihe heji (1720), juan 153, p. 11b. A poem Chen wrote upon visiting the former home of Zheng Shanfu (1485 – 1523; js 1505) is included in an appendix to Zheng’s collected writings, Shaogu ji, reprinted in Yingyin Wenyuan’ge Siku quanshu 1269 (Taibei, 1983), juan 25, p. 29b (1269 – 328). Zheng was a Fuzhou poet and calligrapher, famous for filial piety and integrity, who clashed more than once with

the Zhengde emperor (r. 1505 – 1521) and lived very simply when out of office; see Dictionary of Ming Biography, pp. 211 – 212. 59. Zhuge Liang figures importantly in the novel Sanguo zhi yanyi (Romance of the Three Kingdoms), traditionally attributed to Luo Guanzhong (c.1330 – c.1400); for an annotated English translation, see Roberts, Three Kingdoms: A Historical Novel. For a succinct discussion of the Three Kingdoms’ heroes in traditional Chinese historiography and fiction, see Wai-yee Li, “Full Length Vernacular Fiction.” 60. Gugong shuhua tulu, v. 16, p. 259. 61. Wai-yee Li, “Full Length Vernacular Fiction,” p. 625. A Ming literati publication devoted entirely to Zhuge Liang is Shen Jin, Zhongwu lu (Record of the loyal warrior, 1540); see facsimile reproduction in Beijing tushuguan guji zhenben congkan, v. 14. 62. Moody suggests that the Romance of the Three Kingdoms was appealing because it so effectively presented history as a cyclical alternation between unity/order and division/chaos; “The Romance of the Three Kingdoms and Popular Chinese Political Thought,” esp. pp. 181 – 183. 63. See the biographies of the princes Zhu Yihai, Zhu Youlang, Zhu Yousong, and Zhu Yujian in Eminent Chinese of the Ch’ing Period, pp. 180 – 181, 193 – 198; also Struve, The Southern Ming, 1644 – 1662. 64. See Shi Kefa’s biography in Eminent Chinese of the Ch’ing Period, pp. 651 – 652. Like Zhuge Liang, Shi had a reputation for “administrative talent in military and civil affairs,” had to be persuaded to join the royal pretender’s cause, shared hardships with his men, and earned their devotion. 65. It is also possible, although in my view unlikely, that Chen wrote his colophon for another work, and some later person remounted it here. 66. For full reproduction, documentation, and relevant bibliography, see Lawton, Chinese Figure Painting, pp. 70 – 73. The story is based on Fang Xuanling, Jin shu, juan 102, pp. 2663 – 2664. My discussion has benefited from an unpublished paper by Noelle Giuffrida, prepared for my 1998 graduate seminar on Confucian ideology in art. 67. For Wang Zhideng’s biography, see Dictionary of Ming Biography, pp. 1361 – 1363. His authenticating comments appear on many paintings, suggesting that he made some of his living as an appraiser. Shen Defu suggests that Wang often validated forgeries; cited in Clunas, Superfluous Things, p. 112. 68. Although Wang Zhideng gives only the name, other sources identify Wu Kangyu as a native of Xin’an, Anhui, and suggest that he was an inkmaker. Two of his inks, dated 1604 and 1610, are recorded in Sun Chengze, Yanshanzhai zaji, juan 4; and in Song Luo, Xipi leigao, juan 27, p. 18b. Wu supervised the blockcarving for Miao Xiyong’s (d. 1627) Shennong bencao jingshu (Commentary to the Divine Farmer’s Classic of Herbals); see its fanli. Dong Qichang refers to Wu as a taixue sheng (student in the National University) and says he had a fake Li Gong-

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lin Dwelling in the Mountains painting; quoted in Qinding Peiwenzhai shuhua pu, juan 83, p. 5a (2381). 69. The colophons and seals are transcribed in the painting’s entry in Shiqu baoji, sanbian, pp. 1353 – 1354. Wang Zhideng refers to Zhang Yanyuan’s book as Tangchao minghua ji, perhaps confusing it with Zhu Jingxuan’s Tangchao minghua lu; however, neither book has an entry for Yan Liben’s Suojian tu. The earliest author to mention such a painting is Guo Ruoxu, who pairs it with a Breaking the Balustrade painting by Wu Daozi, Tuhua jianwen zhi, juan 1, pp. 4 – 5 (150 – 151). Wang Zhideng’s colophon also refers to Breaking the Balustrade; for this other famous remonstrance, see Chapter 6, pp. 85 – 86. 70. Shiqu baoji, sanbian, p. 1353. 71. For the biography of Han Shineng, see Mingren zhuanji ziliao suoyin, pp. 892 – 893. 72. Han Fengxi refers to Nanjing as “the old capital” and to the Office of Transmission by its nickname, Silver Terrace (Yintai); it was responsible for transmitting memorials to the emperor. The date is given as Wanli guichou / 8th month / 13th day; corresponding to September 26, 1613. 73. A note giving their names appears at the end of Han Fengxi’s colophon. Zhu Zhifan (called by his hao, Lanyu), a member of the Ming imperial clan and the optimus of the 1595 jinshi examination, was well known as a calligrapher and had a substantial art collection; see his biography in Dictionary of Ming Biography, pp. 304 – 305. Yu Anqi (called by his zi, Xianchang) was the author or compiler of several books and encyclopedias; see Dictionary of Ming Biography, pp. 1606 – 1608. The other two men present were Cao Gongyuan (dates unknown; called by his hao, Mingdou), recorded in Mingren zhuanji ziliao suoyin, p. 507; and Ding Gongxi (unidentified). 74. Because Gu Fu felt that the painting lacked a Tang ambiance, he was struck by Wang Zhideng’s vehemence that it was by Yan Liben. Finding an entry in Xuanhe huapu for a painting of the same subject by Chang Can, a late ninth-century artist, Gu briefly considered reattributing the work. In the end he decided to put the entry at the end of the Yan Liben section and “wait for a talented eye” (si ju yan); Pingsheng zhuangguan, juan 6, p. 15. 75. See note 69. Admonishing in Chains probably entered the collection during the reign of the Jiaqing emperor (r. 1796 – 1820), whose seals appear on the painting. 76. Now in the Liaoning Provincial Museum; conveniently reproduced in Barnhart et al., Three Thousand Years of Chinese Painting, pl. 74. 77. Now in the Palace Museum, Beijing; conveniently reproduced in Barnhart et al., Three Thousand Years of Chinese Painting, pl. 103. 78. Lawton, Chinese Figure Painting, p. 70. 79. Li Rihua’s colophon on Du Jin’s painting indicated that Du had

copied a work attributed to Wang Zhenpeng and had greatly surpassed his model; quoted in Sun Xingyan (1753 – 1818), Pingjinguan jiancang shuhua ji, pp. 36a – 36b. For exhaustive discussion of Du Jin’s life and art, see Little, “Du Jin, Tao Cheng, and Shi Zhong,” chaps. 1 – 3. 80. Shiqu baoji, sanbian, p. 1353. My translation of this very difficult passage (omitted by Lawton) is indebted to Giuffrida (see note 66) and to Stephen Allee’s research on the classical allusions in the last sentence, which he paraphrases as “Worrying about their personal affairs, they overstep their place by speaking out recklessly and cannot overcome their fear” (private communication, November 12, 2003). 81. The fifteen-year struggle over naming the heir began after the Wanli emperor’s favorite consort gave birth to a son, Zhu Changxun (1586 – 1641), causing many officials to fear that the oldest son, Zhu Changluo, would be set aside. The emperor indulged his taste for luxuries after Zhang Juzheng’s death in 1582 ended a decade of imposed austerity. In the later 1590s Wanli spent lavishly to rebuild the palace after it was damaged by fire, just when military conflicts in the northeast also required extra funds. See Ray Huang, 1587, chap. 1; and Dictionary of Ming Biography, pp. 324 – 338. 82. Shen Shixing retired in 1591; for his biography, see Dictionary of Ming Biography, pp. 1187 – 1190; also Introduction, p. 2. 83. Although Wang had passed only the first level of examinations, he had been invited to work in the Hanlin Academy on historical compilations; see Dictionary of Ming Biography, pp. 1361 – 1363. 84. Recorded in Sun Xingyan, Pingjinguan jiancang shuhua ji, p. 36b. 85. I have published several detailed studies of these pictures, including “Illustrations of the Life of Confucius”; “The Temple of Confucius and Pictorial Biographies of the Sage”; and “Varied Views of the Sage.” 86. For the evolution of his cult, see essays in On Sacred Grounds; also The RoutledgeCurzon [sic] Encyclopedia of Confucianism. 87. The incident, which occurred in 1443, provoked a massive demonstration by outraged students that eventually brought Li’s release; see Dictionary of Ming Biography, pp. 865 – 867. Wang Zhen’s power continued to grow, however, lasting until his death in the Tumu Incident, when he inadvertently caused the emperor to be captured by the Mongols; Dictionary of Ming Biography, pp. 1347 – 1349. 88. A biography of Zhang Kai, written by his friend Yang Shouchen (1425 – 1489; js 1451), mentions the Shengji tu project; see “Nanjing you qiandu yushi Zhang gong xingzhuang” (“Career summary of Mr. Zhang, Nanjing Assistant Censor-in-chief of the Right”), in Yang Wenyigong wenji, juan 7, pp. 13b – 18a (607 – 609). Yang himself advocated raising Confucius’s posthumous rank to the equivalent of emperor; see Wilson, “Ritualizing Confucius/Kongzi,” pp. 55 – 56. 89. Although neither Zhang’s handscroll nor the stone tablets on which he had it reproduced survive, additional sets of stones were later carved

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from rubbings (for example, Musée Guimet Library MG 23283 – 23284), and his compositions can be reconstructed; see my “Illustrations of the Life of Confucius,” pp. 86 – 87, 115 – 116. Zhang’s texts are preserved in Kongzhai zhi, juan 5, pp. 7a – 12a (343 – 353). Sima Qian’s biography of Confucius appears in Shi ji, juan 47, pp. 1905 – 1947. 90. Zhu Xi’s edition of the Lunyu was familiar to all educated people as one of the Four Books, which were canonized in 1315 as part of the core curriculum of the civil service examinations. Zhang Kai notes Zhu Xi’s omissions in his colophon to Shengji tu, reprinted in Kongzhai zhi, juan 5, pp. 2a – 3a (333 – 335). 91. Tang Taizong established the network of state temples in 630. Confucius also received offerings at private academies and Kong family shrines, in addition to sacrifices performed in official temples; Wilson, “Ritualizing Confucius/Kongzi,” pp. 75 – 77. 92. These ancient traditions are treated in Wilson, “Ritualizing Confucius/Kongzi,” pp. 46 – 49; Jensen, Manufacturing Confucianism, p. 20; and Csikszentmihalyi, “Confucius and the Analects in the Han.” 93. For illustrations of the life of the Buddha, see Chapter 3. I argue that the creation of a pictorial biography itself is part of the cultic construction of a god in China; “The Evolution of Pictorial Hagiography in Chinese Art.” 94. The work is also known as Shijiarulai chengdao yinghua shiji ji (Record of Śākyamuni Buddha’s attainment of the Way and transformation of his life’s traces); an example containing a preface dated 1425 is in the National Library, Taibei (Rare Book no. 8967). The compiler, the monk Baocheng (dates unknown), was a native of Siming (Ningbo), as was Zhang Kai. For detailed discussion, see Lesbre, “Une vie illustrée du Buddha.” 95. An example of the 1486 palace edition in the National Library, Beijing (Rare Book no. 8987), is photographically reproduced in Zhongguo gudai banhua congkan, erbian, v. 2, pp. 1 – 420. A 1556 edition has been reproduced in facsimile by Zhongguo shudian (Beijing, 1993). 96. In addition to murals dated 1489 at the Jueyuansi in northern Sichuan (see Chapter 1, note 78), two earlier examples from temples in Taiyuan, Shanxi, have been published: wall paintings dated 1458 at the Duofusi (Shanxi siguan bihua, pls. 231 – 238); and now-lost murals at the Chongshansi, preserved in an album of meticulous copies made in 1483 (Taiyuan Chongshansi wenwu tulu). I discuss all three sets in “The Childhood of Gods and Sages,” pp. 120 – 123. 97. To my knowledge, this edition is not extant, but its contents and colophon are preserved in a version published in 1497 in the Prince of Ji’s domain near Changsha, represented by examples in the Harvard University Art Museums (acc. no. 1985.842) and National Library, Beijing (Rare Book 14385); see detailed discussion in my “Illustrations of the Life of Confucius,” pp. 86 – 90. 98. He Xun, a native of Luoshan, Henan, became prefect of Hengzhou

in 1477 or 1478. Discrepancies among different editions of the Hengzhou gazetteer make it impossible to determine exactly when he left, although certainly by 1491; see (Jiajing) Hengzhou fu zhi, juan 1, pp. 16a – 16b and juan 6, p. 15a; (Kangxi) Hengzhou fu zhi, juan 9, p. 20a (318); and (Qianlong) Hengzhou fu zhi, juan 21, p. 13a (212) and juan 22, pp. 20b – 21a (287). 99. The colophon is reproduced without a signature or date in Harvard’s version, and Beijing’s example is missing the entire last section (see note 97). The same text, bearing a date of 1485 and signature of Ke Han, vice-prefect of Hengzhou, accompanies a hand-colored version that is partially reproduced in Zhongguo Jiade guoji paimai youxian gongsi, Guji shanben: 1995 chunji paimai hui (China Guardian ‘95 spring auctions: rare books [May 10, 1995]), Sale no. 455, Lot 427. 100. Recent scholarship on these stories is cited in note 92. 101. The mysterious inscription read: “Sign [of the one who was] made to stabilize the world” (zhi zuo ding shi fu). The texts for the three scenes were taken from Kong Yuancuo, Kongshi zuting guangji, juan 8, pp. 1b – 2b. For earlier versions in a fourth-century anthology of zhiguai (anomalies), see Shiyi ji, juan 3, pp. 4 – 5. 102. (Jiajing) Hengzhou fu zhi, juan 5, p. 1a and juan 2, pp. 1b – 2a, respectively; also (Qianlong) Hengzhou fuzhi, juan 16, p. 31b (167) and juan 16, p. 44b (174), respectively. 103. The colophon (see note 99) identifies them as assistant prefects Gao Chang of Changshou, Xu Feng of Guixi, and Shi Yinglin of Siming; and prefectural judge Li Ti of Jinhua. 104. For the Prince of Ji’s edition, see note 97. Another was published by the Prince of Shen in 1548 at Luzhou (modern Changzhi, Shanxi); two examples are in the National Library, Beijing (Rare Book nos. 16646 and 16164). 105. For the 1530 ritual reform, see Sommer, “Destroying Confucius.” Paintings and incised stele portraits of Confucius in buildings other than sacrificial halls were not affected by the ban on icons at state temples of Confucius; see my “Portraits of Confucius,” pp. 24 – 25. 106. I discuss this set in detail in “The Temple of Confucius and Pictorial Biographies of the Sage,” and more briefly in “Varied Views of the Sage,” pp. 243 – 247. Its main sponsors were the censors He Chuguang (js 1583) and Zhang Yingdeng (js 1583) and Qufu county magistrate Kong Hongfu (fl. late 16th c.; a sixty-first-generation descendant of Confucius). Unobtrusive signatures on the last picture identify the designer as Yang Zhi of Weiyang (Yangzhou), the stonecarver as Zhang Cao of Wujun (Suzhou), and the text-collator as Mao Fengyue, a scholar in the Qufu district school. Complete sets of rubbings of the tablets are in the Field Museum (244657a-h [texts] and 244658.1 – 112 [illustrations]) and Marquand Library, Princeton University (ND 1043.C351e). 107. I examine these specific interests in relation to several of the added episodes in “Varied Views of the Sage,” pp. 241 – 245. 108. Zhang Yingdeng’s “Record of the Hall of Pictures of the Sage”

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(“Shengtudian ji”), dated Wanli renchen, tenth lunar month (largely corresponding to November 1592). I discuss his text further in “The Temple of Confucius and Pictorial Biographies of the Sage,” pp. 277 – 279. 109. For Shao Yiren’s colophon, see Introduction, note 31. 110. Along with Zhang Yingdeng’s inscription, 105 of the 117 compositions were faithfully copied from the tablets to the woodblock edition, whose blocks are preserved by the Cultural Relics Commission in Qufu. Examples are in the Harvard-Yenching Library (T1786.2/1346), National Library, Beijing [Rare Book no. 16825 and zhuan 50/16.11], and Tōhoku University Library (bing B 2 – 3/14); I discuss them in “Illustrations of the Life of Confucius,” pp. 114 – 115 and Appendix C2 – C5. 111. See discussion below, and notes 130, 131. 112. The album is fully reproduced in Shengji zhi tu; also Kaji, Kōshi gaden. An eighteenth-century colophon attributes it to the HongzhiChenghua era (1465 – 1505), an assessment the Qufu authorities accept (Shengji zhi tu, foreword). Kaji (p. 5) suggests that the album belongs to the first half of the sixteenth century. I discuss it further in “Illustrations of the Life of Confucius,” pp. 118 – 119 and Appendix A17. 113. In another scene the painter inadvertently omits the set of stone chimes that Confucius is playing when a passing Daoist chides him for stubbornness; see my “Illustrations of the Life of Confucius,” p. 119 and figs. 23 – 24. 114. The colophons by Cheng Man and Wei Zhizhang are reproduced in Shengji zhi tu, unpaginated. I have not found biographical information on these men, nor on the album’s owner, a Yangzhou salt merchant whom Wei refers to as Wang Qinweng (fl. c.1730). 115. Kong Yinzhi (zi Duihuan) inherited his ducal title in 1621 and was awarded rank 1B as Grand Guardian of the Heir Apparent (Taizi taibao) by the Tianqi emperor in 1624 and Grand Preceptor of the Heir Apparent (Taizi taifu) by the Chongzhen emperor in 1628; Ming shi, juan 284, p. 7299. His position required him to travel frequently to Beijing. 116. Han Kuang’s 1629 colophon enumerates most of the illustrated scenes and is reproduced as the preface to this edition, which is titled simply Shengji tu, the name by which Han Kuang referred to the painted scroll. Examples are in Princeton University’s Marquand Library (ND1043.S52 SA), the National Library, Beijing (zhuan 50/16.12), and Harvard-Yenching Library (T1786.2/1346B; missing the preface). For additional comments, some of which I now amend, see my “Illustrations of the Life of Confucius,” pp. 120 – 121 and Appendix A14 – A15 and A19. For Han Kuang’s biography, see Dictionary of Ming Biography, pp. 483 – 485. 117. Despite having the same number of pictures as the Qufu album, Kong Yinzhi’s handscroll differs slightly in content, with three scenes that do not appear in the Qufu set: an opening portrait of a standing Confucius, a depiction of Confucius in his office as Minister of Justice, and an illustration of Confucius ordering the Three Clans to reduce their fortifications. Conversely, the Qufu album includes two scenes ab-

sent from the woodblock-printed book reproducing Kong’s scroll (Confucius identifying an arrow in a dead bird, and Confucius singing a song of Qiuling) and has two pictures instead of one to illustrate the episode in which Confucius departed from Wei because Duke Ling and his wife shared a carriage. 118. The titles differ slightly from the consistently four-character titles on the corresponding scenes in the Shengjidian stone tablets. Moreover, the Shengjidian titles do not contain the word tu, whose absence implies unmediated views of Confucius in action, as Zhang Yingdeng’s dedicatory inscription claimed (see note 108). 119. Lü Weijie was the younger brother of the more eminent Lü Weiqi (1587 – 1641; js 1613); see Dictionary of Ming Biography, p. 1017. The Lü brothers also cooperated with Kong Yinzhi in 1629 to publish Zongsheng zhi (Treatise on the Clan Sage [Yan Hui]), a collection of pictures and texts documenting the cult of Confucius’s disciple, Yan Hui; an example is in the East Asian Library, Princeton University (TB-117/2466). 120. The emperor’s sacrifice at the National University, a few days after the new year, is documented in Chongzhen shilu, juan 2, p. 57. 121. The Idemitsu scroll is fully reproduced in Chūgoku kaiga sōgō zuroku, zokuhen, v. 3, JM18-041. 122. For examples in addition to depictions of the birth of the Buddha, see my “The Evolution of Pictorial Hagiography in Chinese Art,” figs. 2, 13, 14. 123. For a convenient list of the major versions of the pictorial biography, see my “Varied Views of the Sage,” pp. 234 – 235, Table 5.1. 124. For fuller discussion of both possibilities, see my “Varied Views of the Sage,” pp. 252 – 255; for views expressed in Shao Yiren’s “Statement on the Hall of the Sage’s Pictures,” see p. 124 and Introduction, note 31. 125. A sixty-third-generation descendant of Confucius, Kong Zhenyun (zi Kaizhong) belonged to a southern branch of the Kong clan and was registered in Jurong, near Nanjing. He lectured to the Chongzhen emperor during the latter’s 1629 visit to the National University; see note 120. For his biography, see Ming shi, juan 253, pp. 6535 – 6536; also Kong Jifen, Queli wenxian kao, v. 4, juan 79, pp. 8a – 9b (1683 – 1686). 126. The note preceding his “signature” identifies him as a sixtyeighth-generation descendant of Confucius, which must be a copyist’s error (for sixty-third). For this kind of mistake to go unnoticed, the work must have been produced when the sixty-eighth generation was active, that is, in the late seventeenth or early eighteenth century. 127. The Japanese colophon scroll is also in the Idemitsu collection, but I have seen only the first few sections and rely on the curators’ oral description for this characterization. 128. The Jiajing emperor bestowed this title on Confucius in 1530, replacing his former designation as Culture-propagating King (Wenxuanwang); see Wilson, “Ritualizing Confucius/Kongzi,” pp. 56 – 57. 129. See above, and note 108. Notes to Pages 113 – 116  |  155

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130. The handscroll is partially reproduced in Sotheby’s New York, Fine Chinese Paintings (Sept. 22, 1997), Sale 7037, Lot 60. 131. Shenzhou guoguang ji, zengkan, no. 2; and Laufer, “Confucius and His Portraits.” For further comments, see my “Illustrations of the Life of Confucius,” p. 118 and Appendix A18. 132. For Shao Yiren’s “Statement on the Hall of the Sage’s Pictures,” see Introduction, note 31. 133. For Wei Zhizhang’s colophon, see note 114. 134. See above, pp. 104 – 105. 135. I discuss many versions in “Illustrations of the Life of Confucius”; “The Temple of Confucius and Pictorial Biographies of the Sage”; and “Varied Views of the Sage.” 136. Initially installed at Kongzhai in 1610, the stones were scattered in the Qing conquest but had been restored by 1682; a set of rubbings from the latter is in the Musée Guimet Library (MG 23283 – 23284). I am currently writing a book about the Kongzhai shrine.

Chapter 8. Epilogue 1. There are complex and sometimes contradictory relationships between these terms, which also are commonly combined to mean pictures and paintings in general; for relevant discussions and references, see Clunas, Pictures and Visuality in Early Modern China, pp. 104 – 111, 184 – 187. 2. See Zheng Qiao, Tong zhi, juan 72, p. zhi-837 upper. 3. A couplet by Su Shi about Wang Wei gave rise to the truism that paintings are “silent poetry” and poems are “sounding pictures”; see translation in Early Chinese Texts on Painting, p. 203. 4. Xie Zhaozhi, Wu za zu, cited in Oertling, Painting and Calligraphy in the Wu-tsa-tsu, esp. pp. 31 – 32, 43, 123. 5. Yuding Lidai tihua shilei, yuzhi xu, p. 2a (1435 – 2). 6. Joan Stanley-Baker convincingly argues that such communion, not aesthetic delight, was what most collectors sought; see “Forgeries in Chinese Painting,” pp. 58, 62. 7. In the seventeenth century, possession of a painting by Ni Zan (1306 – 1374) was alleged to mark the owner as cultivated and refined. 8. See Chapter 7, note 114. 9. See Chapter 7, p. 117. 10. Huo Tao, Weiyai wenji, juan 4, pp. 64b – 65a; for further discussion, see Chapter 6, pp. 91 – 93. 11. See examples reproduced in Gugong bowuyuan cang Qingdai gongting huihua, nos. 2 – 4, 63. 12. Many examples appear in Qingdai gongting huihua, Gugong bowu­ yuan cang Qingdai gongting huihua, and China: The Three Emperors. 13. Now in the Palace Museum, Beijing, the album is reproduced in Gugong bowuyuan cang Qingdai gongting huihua, no. 3; see also Nie,

Gongting yishu de guanghui, pp. 51 – 70 passim. Leng’s signature and seals appear on the work. 14. See Chapter 7, p. 104. 15. Nie, Gongting yishu de guanghui, pp. 65 – 66; also Eminent Chinese of the Ch’ing Period, pp. 924 – 925. Rather than adopting Chinese dynastic practice, Qing emperors followed Manchu principles of succession that encouraged fierce competition among the sons. 16. Nie, Gongting yishu de guanghui, pp. 65 – 66. 17. The eldest son of the eminent Zhang Tingyu (1672 – 1755, js 1700), Zhang Ruo’ai placed high in the palace examinations and began his career as Junior Compiler in the History Office, eventually rising to Academician of the Grand Secretariat and Vice-minister in the Ministry of Rites. He was known as a calligrapher and painter of landscapes and flowers; Biographies of Ch’ing Dynasty Painters in Three Collections, p. 17a. 18. Eminent Chinese of the Ch’ing Period, pp. 369, 372. 19. One leaf has been reproduced on the National Palace Museum’s website, under the heading “Ten Great National Treasures of the Old Palace” (“Gugong shi da guobao”), http://www.npm.gov.tw/ch/a030601 .htm (accessed 7/19/2005). I have not personally examined the work. It is possible that the 56 paintings represent a deliberate selection from the original compendium’s 117, rather than an accident of survival. 20. A Manchu manuscript version is in the Palace Museum Library, Beijing; Huang Runhua, Quanguo Manwen ziliao lianhe mulu, p. 11, no. 0035. I have not seen it and do not know of any reproductions. If it does indeed date to the early Qing, it probably was made to help the Manchus gain useful insights for governing their newly acquired Chinese empire. I would guess that the Manchu texts omit much of the exegetical pedagogy of the Chinese originals. 21. A native of Changshu, Jiangsu, Yang Sisun and his elder brother Yang Yisun (1812 – 1881; juren 1843) were both noted calligraphers, the latter for seal and clerical script; see Zhongguo lidai shuhua zhuanke jia zihao suoyin, v. 1, pp. 144 and 102, respectively. 22. See their biographies in Eminent Chinese of the Ch’ing Period, pp. 729 – 734, under “Tsai-ch’un” and “Tsai-t’ien”; also the brief caption to the painting reproduced at the National Palace Museum (Taibei) website, http://www.npm.gov.tw/ch/a030601.htm (accessed 7/19/2005). 23. For Weng’s biography, see Eminent Chinese of the Ch’ing Period, pp. 860 – 861; his diary is Weng Wengonggong riji. A nineteenth-century printed edition of Dijian tushuo now in the National Library, Beijing (Rare Book no. 3988), bears handwritten annotations that appear to be Weng’s; see my “From Textbook to Testimonial,” p. 84. 24. Mote, “The Arts and the ‘Theorizing Mode,’ ” pp. 7 – 8. 25. See her biography in Eminent Chinese of the Ch’ing Period, pp. 295 – 300, under “Hsiao-ch’in.” 26. See Chapter 6, p. 88. I have seen an example of the 1895 Qinding Yangzheng tujie in Princeton University’s East Asian Library (Rare Book

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TC-368/2669), but it lacks imperial wrappings. An example in the Palace Museum Library, Beijing, is partially reproduced on the Palace Museum website, http://www.dpm.org.cn/China/phoweb/Bookpage/7/Bk3104.htm (accessed 7/20/05), and in Qingdai gongting banhua, pp. 194 – 198. In addition to Jiao Hong’s core work, the 1895 edition includes two juan of eulogistic poems composed for each story, one juan each by the Qianlong and Jiaqing emperors. For further discussion, see my “Squaring Connoisseurship with History.” 27. An example in the Palace Museum Library, Beijing, is partially reproduced in Qingdai gongting banhua, pp. 199 – 207 and at the Palace Museum website, http://www.dpm.org.cn/China/phoweb/Bookpage/11/Bk5256 .htm (accessed 7/20/05). 28. Eminent Chinese of the Ch’ing Period, p. 494. 29. Yangzheng tujie (1895), postface, pp. 1a – 1b. Possibly it was not the emperor himself who wanted to reprint the books but powerful conservative officials allied with Cixi. 30. Eminent Chinese of the Ch’ing Period, pp. 702 – 704, under “Tan Ssu-t’ung”; see also Hsiao, A Modern China and a New World, esp. pp. 211, 302 – 304. 31. The history of the period is, of course, far more complicated than my comments may suggest. It is worth remembering not only that the Guangxu emperor cooperated with Kang Youwei in the ill-fated Hundred Days Reform of 1898, but also that Kang himself advocated a revised interpretation of Confucius and Confucian values as a key compo-

nent of China’s “national essence” (guocui); Hsiao, A Modern China and a New World, esp. pp. 384 – 385. 32. See Chapter 6, p. 87. 33. Yuan shi, juan 167, p. 3934. 34. Hsiao, A Modern China and a New World, chap. 9. 35. The intended users were the public middle schools that had been formed out of converted private academies (shuyuan); Hsiao, A Modern China and a New World, pp. 380 – 381. An example of the original edition of Qinding Shujing tushuo is in the University of Wisconsin’s Memorial Library (Oversize PL 2465 N8); a 1968 Taibei reprint is also available. 36. Quoted in the front matter of Qinding Shujing tushuo. It is noteworthy that references to the Empress Dowager Cixi always precede and are elevated above those to the Guangxu emperor, in contrast to her complete absence from the editions published in 1895 – 1896. After Cixi and her allies regained control and ended the Hundred Days Reform of 1898, she again became the official regent and actually imprisoned the Guangxu emperor. 37. Despite its foreign origins, lithography rapidly became used for publishing books on traditional Chinese history and classics because it was quicker and cheaper than woodblock printing and permitted the reproduction of finer line work; see Link, Mandarin Ducks and Butterflies, pp. 81 – 82; and Hegel, Reading Illustrated Fiction in Late Imperial China, p. 135. 38. Elman, A Cultural History of Civil Examinations, p. 593.

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Chinese Character Glossary

baimiao (monochrome outline painting) 白描 Ban, Consort (Ban Jieyu, 1st c. BCE) 班婕妤 Ban Bo (1st c. BCE) 班伯 Bao, Prince (the future Qianlong emperor) 寶親王 bao bian (praise and blame) 褒貶 Baocheng (fl. 1425) 寶成 Baoensi (Buddhist monastery in Nanjing) 寶恩寺 baojuan (precious scroll) 寶卷 Bei xixiang ji (Northern romance of the western chamber) 北西廂記 Beishou jianwen lu (Record of what I saw and heard in northern captivity) 北狩見聞錄 ‘‘Beizhai yan she’’ (Banquet and archery in the northern stockade) 北寨宴射

Bensheng tu (Illustrations of episodes in the life of the Buddha) 本生圖

Bi Gan (11th c. BCE) 比干 Bi Liangshi (12th c.) 畢良史 Bi Long (18th c.) 畢瀧 Biancai (7th c.) 辨才 bianhua (transformation) 變化 bianwen (transformation text) 變文 ‘‘Bie tong’’ (On intelligence) 別通 Binfeng tu (Illustrations of the Odes of Bin) 豳風圖 bisheng zhi jingguang (lifelong auspicious radiance) 畢生之景光 bo (extensive) 博 Bo Yi (11th c. BCE) 伯夷 bu (supplement) 補 Bu nian tu (Emperor in a sedan chair, painting) 步輦圖 bu shi shengxian qiyun (did not lose the spirit-consonance of the Sage and Worthies) 不失聖賢氣韻 Cai Shun (legendary filial son) 蔡順 Cai Xiang (1012–1067; js 1030) 蔡襄 Cai Yan (Lady Wenji; c. 177–c. 239) 蔡琰(文姬) Cai Yong (133–192) 蔡邕 Caiwei tu (Picking ferns; a.k.a. Bo Yi and Shu Qi, painting) 采薇圖 (伯夷叔齊圖)

Cang Jie (ancient sage who invented writing) 倉頡 Cao Cao (Wei Wudi, 155–220) 曹操 Cao Fu (js 1063) 曹輔 Cao Gongyuan (hao Mingdou; fl. early 16th c.) 曹公遠(明斗) Cao Gongzhen (17th c.) 曹公振 Cao Xun (1098–1174) 曹勛 Cao Zhi (192–232) 曹植 ce (bundle of written strips) 冊 Chang Can (fl. late 9th c.) 常粲 Chanzhen yishi (Chanzhen’s anecdotal history) 禪真逸史 Chao Buzhi (1053–1110; js 1079) 晁補之 chen (your servant) 臣 Chen Gongen (fl. late 5th c.) 陳公恩 Chen Jiru (1558–1639) 陳繼儒 Chen Ju (1539–1608) 陳矩 Chen Riyu (17th c. ?) 陳日浴 Chen Yuanda (fl. early 4th c.) 陳元達 chendeng yue (your servants say) 臣等曰 Cheng Man (fl. 1729) 程 Cheng Xiuji (c. 804–863) 程脩己 Cheng Yi (1033–1107) 程頤 Chenghua shilue (Summaries of the actions of a crown prince) 承華事略

Chengshi moyuan (Mr. Cheng’s ink garden) 程氏墨苑 chi Zhou su (eat Zhou millet) 吃周粟 ‘‘Chibi houfu’’ (Second rhapsody on the Red Cliff ) 赤壁後賦 Chong’er (fl. 7th c. BCE) 重耳 Chongshansi (Buddhist monastery in Taiyuan, Shanxi) 崇善寺 Chongzhengdian (Hall of Lofty Administration, in Northern Song palace) 崇政殿 chu (place) 處 Chunhuage tie (Model calligraphies in the Chunhua Pavilion) 淳化閣帖 ci deng (of inferior quality) 次等 Cixiao gushi tu (Illustrated stories of parental love and filial piety) 慈孝 故實圖

Ciyan (Maternal Countenance; name for Song emperor Gaozong’s mother) 慈顏

159

Da Xia guo (land of Great Xia ¼ India) 大夏國 Dai Song (8th c.) 戴嵩 Daji (11th c. BCE) 妲姬 Dajia lubu tu (Grand carriage and honor guard, painting) 大駕鹵簿圖 dao shi (Buddhist and Daoist subjects genre) 道釋 Daxue (The great learning) 大學 Daxue yanyi (Extended meanings of the great learning) 大學演義 Deng Chun (fl. mid 12th c.) 鄧椿 Di fan (Models for an emperor) 帝範 ‘‘Di lai liang bi’’ (A good minister conferred on the emperor) 帝賚良弼 Dijian tushuo (The emperor’s mirror, illustrated and discussed) 帝鑑圖說

Ding Lan (legendary filial son) 丁蘭 Ding Gongxi (fl. early 17th c.) 丁恭溪 Ding Jin [guo] gong (Ding, Duke of Jin ¼ Ding Wei) 丁晉[國]公 Ding Wei (966–1037; js 992) 丁謂 Ding Yunpeng (1547–1628) 丁雲鵬 Dong Qichang (1555–1636; js 1589) 董其昌 Duofusi (Buddhist monastery in Taiyuan, Shanxi) 多福寺 e ke wei jie (the bad, to serve as warnings) 惡可為戒 Fan, Wise Lady (Fan Ji, late 7th c. BCE) 樊姬 Fan Li (5th c. BCE) 範蠡 Fan Zhongyan (989–1052; js 1015) 范仲淹 Fan Zuyu (1041–1098; js 1063) 范祖禹 Fang Congyi (fl. c. 1340–1380) 方從義 Fang Ruhao (17th c.) 方汝浩 fangbian (expedient means) 方便 fanli (general guidelines) 凡例 fanzu (Barbarian Tribes genre) 番族 Fashu yaolu (Important records about model calligraphy) 法書要錄 Feng, Lady (Feng Yuan, 1st c. BCE) 馮媛 Feng Bao (fl. 1530–1583) 馮保 Feng Ruzong (17th c.) 馮汝宗 fengsu (customs) 風俗 fo dao (Buddhist and Daoist subjects) 佛道 fu (prose-poem; rhapsody) 賦 Fu, (Ming) Prince of 福王 Fu Bi (1002–1083) 富弼 Fu Chai (King of Wu; d. 473 BCE) 夫差 Fu Yue (c. 1150 BCE) 傅說 fuben (duplicate version) 副本 fugu (return to the past) 復古 Ganquan Palace (Han) 甘泉宮 Gao, (Song) Grand Empress Dowager (1032–1093) 高太皇太后 160 j Chinese Character Glossary

Gao Chang of Changshou (15th c.) 長壽高 Gao Keming (fl. first half of 11th c.) 高克明 Gao Lishi (683–762) 高力士 Gao Zhao (fl. 17th c.) 高兆 Geng Dingxiang (1524–1596; js 1556) 耿定向 Gengzhi tu (Illustrations of agriculture and sericulture) 耕織圖 Gou Jian (King of Yue; d. 465 BCE) 句踐(越王) Gu Deqian (10th c.) 顧德謙 Gu diwang tu (Portraits of former emperors) 古帝王圖 Gu Fu (fl. later 17th c.) 顧復 Gu Hongzhong (fl. mid 10th c.) 顧閎中 Gu Kaizhi (c. 344–c. 405) 顧愷之 Gu Ningyuan (c. 1585–after 1645) 顧凝遠 ‘‘Guan Zhou’’ (Contemplating the Zhou) 觀周 ‘‘Guang xiao’’ (Broadening filiality) 廣孝 Guangyao shousheng xiantian tidao taishang huangdi (title held by Song emperor Gaozong after retirement) 光堯壽聖憲天體道 太上皇帝

Guanwen jiangu tu (Pictures of contemplating texts and using the past as a mirror) 觀文見古圖 Guhua pinlu (Painters of antiquity classified and recorded) 古畫品錄

gui (heavenly stem for the year 1583) 癸 gui shen (Ghosts and Spirits genre) 鬼神 Guibo tu (Spirit of Mt. Heng, picture) 鬼伯圖 guichou (cyclical date for the year 1613) 癸丑 Guifan tushuo (Instructions for the women’s quarters, illustrated and discussed) 閨範圖說 guijian (advisory mirror) 規鑒 Guiqulai xi ci (Returning home) 歸去來兮詞 guji lei (Old Sites category) 古蹟類 Guo Ju (legendary filial son) 郭巨 Guo Jujing (fl. c. 1295–1321) 郭居敬 Guo Ruoxu (c. 1020–after 1075) 郭若虛 ‘‘Guo shang’’ (Hymn for the fallen) 國殤 Guo Tingwu (js 1565) 郭庭梧 Guo Ziyi (697–781) 郭子儀 guobao (national treasure) 國寶 guocui (national essence) 國粹 Guozi sheng (National University student) 國子生 Guozijian (National University) 國子監 gushi hua (story painting) 故事畫 gushi hua (ancient-matter painting) 故實畫 gushi lei (ancient-matter category) 故實類 guwen (ancient text) 古文 Guyuan (Ningxia) 固原

Han Fengxi (1576–after 1655) 韓逢禧 Han Gan (c. 720–c. 780) 韓幹 Han Kuang (c. 1565–c. 1644; js 1592) 韓爌 Han Qi (1008–1075) 韓琦 Han Shineng (1528–1598; js 1568) 韓世能 Han Xizai ye yan tu (Night revels of Han Xizai, painting) 韓熙載 夜宴圖

He Chuguang (js 1583) 何出光 He Liangjun (1506–1573) 何良俊 He Xun (zi Tingrui; fl. 15th c.) 何珣(廷瑞) He Yan (d. 249) 何晏 He Yanzhi (fl. early 8th c.) 何延之 Helin yulu yize shuhua hebi (Jade dew in the Crane Forest, one section, a compound gem of calligraphy and painting) 鶴林玉露一則 書畫合璧

hengjuan (horizontal handscroll) 橫卷 Hengzhou (modern Hengyang, Hunan) 蘅州 Heyang Li Tang hua Bo Yi Shu Qi (Bo Yi and Shu Qi, painted by Li Tang of Heyang) 河陽李唐畫伯夷叔齊 Hongdumen school 鴻都門學 Hu Su (996–1067; js 1024) 胡宿 Hu Xian (16th c.) 胡賢 hua (painting, visual expression) 畫 Huai’an (Jiangsu) 淮安 Huan, Duke of Qi (d. 643 BCE) 齊桓公 Huang Jucai (933–after 993) 黃居寀 Huang Jun (1553–1620) 黃 Huang Lin (zi Ruoyu; 1565–after 1617) 黃鏻(若愚) Huang Qi/Huang Deqi (zi Weizheng; 1568–after 1614) 黃奇/德奇 (惟正)

huang taihou (empress dowager) 皇太后 Huang Tingjian (1045–1105; js 1067) 黃庭堅 Huang Yingxiao (1582–1662) 黃應孝 ‘‘Hui luan’’ (The returning carriage) 回鑾 Huizhou (Anhui) 徽州 Hujia shiba pai (Eighteen songs of a nomad flute) 胡笳十八拍 Huo Guang (d. 68 BCE) 霍光 Huo Tao (1487–1540; js 1514) 霍韜 iji do¯zu (different moments, same picture) 異時同圖 ji (account, record) 記 ji (belles-lettres) 集 Ji, (Ming) Prince of 吉王 Jia, (Jin) Empress (c. 257–300) 賈后 Jia Yi (200–168 BCE) 賈誼

Jialing River (Sichuan) 嘉陵江 Jiang, Queen (Taijiang; 8th c. BCE) 姜后 Jiang Can (1085–1159) 蔣璨 Jiangling (Hubei) 江陵 Jiangxing chuxue tu (Early snow on the river, painting) 江行初雪圖 jianshangjia (connoisseur) 鑒賞家 Jiao Hong (1541–1620; js 1589) 焦竤 Jiaxiang (Shandong) 嘉祥 ‘‘Jie yi’’ (Chaste and righteous) 節義 Jin (dynasty founded by Jurchens) 金 Jin, (Ming) Prince of 晉王 Jin, state (Zhou dynasty) and kingdom (Period of Disunion) 晉 jinbi (gold and green, style of painting) 金碧 jin jing (golden mirror) 金鏡 Jin Lian (late 16th–17th c.) 金濂 ‘‘Jin tu shu’’ (Memorial on submitting the pictures) 進圖疏 Jin Wengong fuguo tu (Duke Wen of Jin recovers his state, painting) 晉文公復國圖

jing (classics; warp) 經 jing (detailed) 精 Jing Ke (3rd c. BCE) 荊軻 Jingde si tu (Illustrations of four events of the Jingde era) 景德四圖 ‘‘Jingfudian fu’’ (Rhapsody on the Palace of Luminous Prosperity) 景福殿賦

jingju (epigram) 警句 Jinling (Nanjing) 金陵 jinshi (presented scholar; highest exam degree) 進士 Jiu ge (The nine songs) 九歌 juan (handscrolls; volumes) 卷 Jueyuansi (Buddhist monastery in Sichuan) 覺苑寺 Junchen gushi tu (Illustrated stories of rulers and ministers) 君臣故實圖

Junchen shiji tu (Illustrated deeds of rulers and ministers) 君臣事迹圖 juren (provincial exam degree) 舉人 Jurong (Jiangsu) 句容 Kang, Prince (the future Song emperor Gaozong) 康王 Kang Youwei (1858–1927; js 1895) 康有為 Ke Han (15th c.) 柯漢 Kong Hongfu (fl. late 16th c.) 孔弘復 Kong Yinzhi (zi Duihuan; 1592–1648) 孔胤植(對寰) Kong Yuqi (zi Zhongzai; 1657–1723) 孔毓圻(鍾在) Kong Zhenyun (zi Kaizhong; c. 1576–1644; js 1619) 孔貞運(開仲) Kongfu (Kong Establishment) 孔府 Kongwangshan (Jiangsu) 孔望山 Kongzi (Master Kong ¼ Confucius) 孔子 Chinese Character Glossary j 161

Kongzi shengji zhi tu (Pictures of the sage Confucius’s traces) 孔子 聖蹟之圖

Kongzi shiji tu (Pictures of the deeds of Confucius) 孔子事迹圖 Kongzi turen tufa (Method of depicting Confucius and his disciples) 孔子徒人圖法

Kongzi yidai tuzan (Pictures and eulogies of Confucius’s entire life) 孔子一代圖贊

Kuaiji (Zhejiang) 會稽 Lang Yuling (late 6th–early 7th c.) 郎餘令 Lanting (Orchid Pavilion) 蘭亭 Lanting ji xu (Preface to the gathering at the Orchid Pavilion) 蘭亭集序

Leng Mei (c. 1670–c. 1742) 冷枚 Li Bai (701–762) 李白 Li Deyu (787–850) 李德裕 Li di tu (Emperors of successive ages, painting) 歷帝圖 Li Gonglin (c. 1049–1106; js 1070) 李公麟 Li Guang (2nd c. BCE) 李廣 Li Houzhu (last Southern Tang emperor; r. 951–975) 李後主 ‘‘Li hun’’ (The ritual cycle) 禮魂 Li Linfu (d. 752) 李林甫 Li Mi ying Qinwang tu (Li Mi greeting the Prince of Qin, painting) 李密迎秦王圖

Li Panlong (1514–1570; js 1544) 李攀龍 Li Peng (fl. 1110) 李彭 Li Rihua (1565–1635; js 1592) 李日華 Li Shan (d. 689) 李善 Li Shimian (1374–1450; js 1404) 李時勉 Li Shu (11th c.) 李淑 Li Sixun (d. 718) 李思訓 Li Song (fl. c. 1190–c. 1230) 李嵩 Li Tang (c. 1080–c. 1163) 李唐 Li Ti of Jinhua (15th c.) 金華李悌 Li Weizhen (1547–1616; js 1568) 李維禎 Li Wentian (1834–1895; js 1859) 李文田 liang fu ([Song] Bureau of Military Affairs and the SecretariatChancellery) 兩府 Liang Qingbiao (1620–1691) 梁清標 Liang Shicheng (d. 1126) 梁師成 liang xin or liang zhi (inherent moral nature) 良心/良知 Lidai diwang tu (Portraits of emperors from successive dynasties) 歷代 帝王圖

Lidai jun jian (Mirror of rulers throughout the ages) 歷代君鑑 Lienu¨ zhuan (Biographies of exemplary women) 列女傳 Lieshi zhuan (Biographies of exemplary gentlemen) 列士傳 162 j Chinese Character Glossary

Liexian zhuan (Biographies of notable immortals) 列仙傳 Lin Zihuan (14th c.) 林子奐 Lin’an [Hangzhou] 臨安 Ling, Duke of Wei (534–493 BCE) 衛靈公 Lingguangdian (Hall of Numinous Light) 靈光殿 ‘‘Lingguangdian fu’’ (Rhapsody on the Hall of Numinous Light) 靈光 殿賦

Lingyan’ge (Reaching the Clouds Gallery) 凌煙閣 Linyi (Champa) 林邑 Liren xing (Lady Guoguo and her sisters on an outing, painting) 麗人行 lisu (vulgar) 俚俗 Liu, (Song) Empress Dowager (970–1033) 劉太后 Liu Bei (161–223) 劉備 Liu Cong (r. 310–318) 劉聰 liu fa (Six principles [of painting]) 六法 Liu Ji (1311–1375; js 1337) 劉基 Liu Shang (fl. 773) 劉商 Liu Songnian (12th c.) 劉松年 Liu Xiang (c. 79–76 BCE) 劉向 Liu Yu, (Han) Prince of Lu (2nd c. BCE) 劉餘 Liu yu (Six injunctions) 六諭 Liu Yuan (17th c.) 劉源 Liuchen zhu Wen xuan (Six officials’ annotations to selections of refined literature) 六臣注文選 Liumin tu (The refugees, painting) 流民圖 lixue mingjia (noted practitioner of moral philosophy) 理學名家 Long Pang (11th c. BCE) 龍逄 Longqing era (1567–1572) 隆慶 Lou Yue (1137–1213; js 1163) 樓鑰 Lu (Zhou state) 魯 Lu Ji (261–303) 陸機 Lu Qi (8th c.) 盧杞 Lu Shusheng (1509–1605; js 1541) 陸樹聲 Lu Tanwei (fl. c. 460–early 6th c.) 陸探微 Lu¨ Dongbin (Daoist immortal) 呂洞賓 Lu¨ Kun (1536–1618; js 1574) 呂坤 Lu¨ Tiaoyang (1516–1580; js 1550) 呂調陽 Lu¨ Weijie (d. 1643) 呂維祮 Lu¨ Weiqi (1587–1641; js 1613) 呂維祺 Lu¨ Wenjing (d. 1044) 呂文靖 Lu¨ Yanji (8th c.) 呂延濟 ‘‘Luan long’’ (A last word on dragons) 亂龍 Ludongzan (7th c.) 祿東贊 lue (summary) 略 ‘‘Lun gujin youjie’’ (On the good and bad points of ancient and modern painting) 論古今優劣

‘‘Lun hua zhi yuanliu’’ (On the origins of painting) 論畫之源流 ‘‘Lun yiguan yi zhi’’ (On different systems in clothing and headgear) 論衣冠異制

Luo Dajing (?–c. 1252; js 1226) 羅大經 Luo Guanzhong (c. 1330–c. 1400) 羅貫中 Luoshan (Henan) 羅山 ‘‘Luoshen fu’’ (Rhapsody on the Goddess of the Luo River) 落神賦 Luzhou (modern Changzhi, Shanxi) 潞州(長治) Ma Hezhi (fl. 12th century) 馬和之 Ma Wu (d. 61) 馬武 Mahao tomb (Sichuan) 麻壕墓 Manjianghua (horse) 滿江花 Mao Fengyue (fl. 1592) 毛鳳刖 Mao Gangzhong (fl. 1135) 毛剛中 Mao Qiling (1623–1716) 毛奇齡 Meng, (Song) Empress Dowager (1077–1135) 孟太后 Meng, Mother (of Mencius; 4th c. BCE) 孟母 Mi Fu (1051–1107) 米芾 Mianzhou tu (Guo Ziyi receives the homage of the Uighurs, painting) 免胄圖

Miao Xiyong (d. 1627) 繆希雍 ming jing (examination in the Classics) 明經 Mufang tu (Pasturing horses, painting) 牧放圖 Nandu chan (the cowards who crossed to the South) 南渡孱 Ni Zan (1306–1374) 倪瓚 Nie Chongzheng 聶崇正 Nu¨ fan bian (Compendium of models for women) 女範編 Nu¨ xiaojing (Ladies’ classic of filial piety) 女孝經 Nu¨shi zhen tu (Admonitions of the court instructress, painting) 女史箴圖

Pan En (1496–1582; js 1523) 潘恩 Pan Yunduan (1526–1601; js 1562) 潘允端 Peng Nian (1505–1566) 彭年 pingfeng (screen) 屏風 pinghua (plainly told) 平話 Poli (Bali?) 婆利國 Pu Daoxing (5th c.) 濮道興 Pugu Huaien (d. 765) 僕固壞恩 Qi Shi in Lu, Woman from (legendary virtuous woman) 魯漆室之女 qi suren (cheating ordinary people) 欺俗人 Qi yi jimu (Righteous Stepmother of Qi; legendary virtuous woman) 齊義繼母

‘‘Qi yue’’ (Seventh month) 七月

Qian Gu (1508–c. 1574) 錢榖 Qian Mingyi (fl. 1058) 錢明逸 Qian Xuan (c. 1235–before 1307) 錢選 Qiandai gushi tu (Illustrated stories of former ages) 前代故實圖 Qiao Zhongchang (fl. early 12th c.) 喬仲常 ‘‘Qidan shi chao pin’’ (The Khitan Liao send envoys to court) 契丹使朝聘

qilin (unicorn) 麒麟 Qilin’ge (Unicorn Pavilion) 麒麟閣 Qilue bielu (Seven epitomes detached accounts) 七略別錄 Qin, King of (the future Qin Shihuangdi; 259–210 BCE) 秦王 Qin Guan (1049–1100; js 1085) 秦觀 Qin Shihuangdi (259–210 BCE) 秦始皇帝 Qinfu shiba xueshi tu (Eighteen scholars of the Qin palace, painting) 秦府十八學士圖

Qiu Ying (c. 1494–c. 1552) 仇英 qiuhuo zhong ren (a man of the hills and valleys) 丘壑中人 Qiuling, song of 丘陵歌 qiyun shengdong (animation through spirit-consonance) 氣韻生動 Qu Yuan (c. 340–278 BCE) 屈原 Quezuo tu (Protesting the seat, painting) 却坐圖 Qufu (Shandong) 曲阜 Quyang (Hebei) 曲陽 ren zhi (benevolent and wise) 仁智 renchen (cyclical date for the year 1592) 壬辰 renshi lei (Human Affairs category) 人事類 renwu (Human Figures genre) 人物 Sanchao baoxun (Precious instructions from the three courts) 三朝寶訓

Sanchao xunjian tu (Illustrated instructive mirror of the three courts) 三朝訓鑒圖

Sanguo zhi yanyi (Romance of the Three Kingdoms) 三國志演義 san lao xiansheng (the three aged gentlemen) 三老先生 ‘‘Shan chi baoyu’’ (For food, reject salted fish) 膻吃鮑魚 shan ke wei fa (the good, to serve as models) 善可為法 shang bu and xia bu/juan shang and juan xia (the first and last volumes) 上部,下部/上卷,下卷

Shang Lu (1414–1486; js 1445) 商輅 Shang shu (Book of documents) 尚書 Shangdi (Lord on high) 上帝 ‘‘Shanjing richang’’ (The mountains are peaceful and the days are long) 山靜日長

Shanyuan (1005, Treaty of ) 澶淵 Shanzhuang tu (Dwelling in the mountains, painting) 山莊圖 Shao Bao (1460–1527; js 1484) 邵寶 Chinese Character Glossary j 163

Shao Changheng (1637–1704) 邵長蘅 Shao Yiren (js 1580) 邵以仁 Shaogu ji (Collected writings of Zheng Shanfu) 少谷集 shen (heavenly stem for the year 1584) 申 Shen, Lady (2nd c. BCE) 慎夫人 Shen, (Ming) Prince of 瀋王 ‘‘Shen guan’’ (Reviewing officials) 審官 Shen Jin (16th c.) 沈津 Shen Ruizheng (fl. 1565) 沈瑞徵 Shen Shixing (1535–1614; js 1562) 申時行 Shen Zhou (1427–1509) 沈周 sheng de (flourishing virtue) 盛德 sheng de zhi shi (incidents displaying flourishing virtue) 盛德之事 Shenggong tu (Pictures of sagely merit) 聖功圖 Shengji tu (Pictures of the Sage’s traces ¼ Life of Confucius) 聖蹟圖 Shengji zhi tu (Pictures of the Sage’s traces ¼ Life of Confucius) 聖蹟之圖

Shengjidian (Hall of the Sage’s traces) 聖蹟殿 Shengrui tu (Pictures of sagely auspicious omens) 聖瑞圖 Shengtudian ji (Record of the Hall of Pictures of the Sage) 聖圖殿記 Shengtudian shuo (Statement on the Hall of Pictures of the Sage) 聖圖 殿說

Shengyu tujie (The sacred edict, illustrated and explained) 聖諭圖解 Shennong bencao jingshu (Commentary to the Divine Farmer’s Classic of Herbals) 神農本草經疏 shenpin shang (surpassing the divine class) 神品上 shi (history) 史 shi (matters) 實 shi (time) 時 Shi Kefa (d. 1645) 史可法 Shi Yi (Scribe Yi, 11th c. BCE) 史佚 Shi Yinglin of Siming (15th c.) 四明施應麟 shi zhe (Ten Savants) 十哲 Shigu shuyuan (Stone Drum Academy) 石鼓書院 Shijiarulai chengdao yinghua shiji ji (Record of S´a¯kyamuni Buddha’s attainment of the Way and transformation of his life’s traces) 釋迦如來成道應化事跡記

Shijing (Book of odes) 詩經 Shilu (Veritable records) 實錄 shinu¨ (Beautiful Women genre) 仕女 Shishi yuanliu (Origins and evolution of S´a¯kyamuni) 釋氏源流 Shiyu huapu (Register of painting left over from poetry) 詩餘畫譜 Shizi cong (Lion piebald, painting) 獅子驄 Shouyang, Mt. 首陽山 Shouyang gaoyin tu (Lofty recluses of Shouyang, painting) 首陽高隱圖 shu (writing, verbal representation) 書 164 j Chinese Character Glossary

Shu, kingdom of (Five Dynasties period) 蜀 Shu-Han, kingdom of (Period of Disunion) 蜀漢 Shu Qi (11th c. BCE) 叔齊 ‘‘Shu xu’’ (Falsehoods in books) 書虛 Shu Yu (11th c. BCE) 叔虞 Shucheng (Anhui) 舒城 Shujing (Book of documents) 書經 Shun (legendary filial son and emperor) 舜 shuyuan (private academy) 書院 si bu (four-part) 四部 si ju yan (wait for a talented eye) 俟具眼 si pei (four correlates) 四配 Siku quanshu (Complete collection of the four treasuries) 四庫全書 Silijian (Directorate of Ceremonial) 司禮監 Sima Guang (1019–1086; js 1038) 司馬光 Sima Jinlong (d. 484) 司馬金龍 Sima Shao (Jin Mingdi, c. 299–325; r. 323–325) 司馬紹/晉明帝 Siming (Ningbo, Zhejiang) 四明 Song Gaozong (see Zhao Gou) 宋高宗 Song Hong (1st c. CE) 宋弘 Song huiyao (Song administrative documents) 宋會要 Song Jing (7th–8th c.) 宋璟 Song Lian (1310–1381) 宋濂 Song Qi (a.k.a. Shouzhi; fl. 1362) 宋杞(授之) Su Che (1039–1112; js 1057) 蘇轍 Su Shi (1036–1101; js 1057) 蘇軾 Su Wu (140–60 BCE) 蘇武 Sun Shu’ao (late 7th–6th c. BCE) 孫叔敖 Sun Wei (9th c.) 孫位 Suojian tu (Admonishing in chains, painting) 鎖諫圖 Suzhou pian (Suzhou fakes) 蘇州片 Taigong Wang (11th c. BCE) 太公望 Taihang mountains 太行山 Taijiang (8th c. BCE) 太姜 tailao (grand sacrifice) 太牢 Taimu (Great Mother; name for Song emperor Gaozong’s mother) 太母

‘‘Taiqing guan shu’’ (Viewing books at the Pavilion of Highest Purity) 太清觀書

Tairen (11th c. BCE) 太任 Taisi (11th c. BCE) 太似 Taiyeting (Great Liquid Pavilion) 太液亭 Taizhou school 泰州派 Tang, Marquis of 唐侯 Tang Hou (fl. early 14th c.) 湯垕

Tang jian (Mirror of the Tang) 唐鑑 Tangchao minghua ji (title conflating two different works by Zhang Yanyuan and Zhu Jingxuan) 唐朝名畫記 Tao Kai (juren 1347) 陶凱 Tao Qian (365–427) 陶潛 Tianbao era (742–755) 天寶 tianjia (Peasants genre) 田家 Tiansheng era (1023–1031) 天聖 Tiantai, Mt. (Zhejiang) 天台山 Tong Zao (fl. Yuan pd.) 童藻 tu (picture, visual representation) 圖 Wan, Minister 冢宰萬公 Wanfosi (Buddhist monastery in Chengdu) 萬佛寺 Wang Anshi (1021–1086; js 1042) 王安石 Wang Ao (1450–1524; js 1475) 王鏊 Wang Chong (27–c. 97) 王充 Wang Dian (fl. late 5th c.) 王殿 Wang Junyu (fl. c. 1000–c. 1065) 王君玉 Wang Kui (b. 1099) 王逵 Wang Qinweng (fl. 1730) 王欽翁 Wang Shen (c. 1048–c. 1103) 王詵 Wang Shizhen (1526–1590; js 1547) 王世貞 Wang Tingwang (1492–1574) 王廷望 Wang Wei (699–759) 王維 Wang Xilie (js 1553) 王希烈 Wang Xizhi (c. 303–361) 王羲之 Wang Yangming (1472–1529; js 1499) 王陽明 Wang Yanshou (fl. 163) 王延壽 Wang Yi (commentator; c. 89–c. 158) 王逸 Wang Yi (artist; 276–322) 王廙 Wang Yirong (1845–1900; js 1880) 王懿榮 Wang Yun (1227–1304) 王惲 Wang Yunpeng (late 16th–17th c.) 汪雲鵬 Wang Zeng (978–1038) 王曾 Wang Zhaojun (1st c. BCE) 王昭君 Wang Zhen (d. 1449) 王振 Wang Zhenpeng (c. 1280–c. 1329) 王振鵬 Wang Zhideng (1535–1612) 王穉登 Wangchuan Villa (Wang Wei’s estate) 輞川別墅 Wanghui tu (An assembly of kings, painting) 王會圖 Wanhuxuan (Playing-with-the-Tiger Studio) 玩虎軒 wei (weft) 緯 Wei, Empress Dowager (Song emperor Gaozong’s mother; 1080–1159) 韋太后

Wei, kingdom of (Period of Disunion) 魏

Wei, a lady of (wife of Duke Huan of Qi; 7th c. BCE) 衛姬 Wei Xie (3rd c.) 衛協 Wei Yan (fl. late 7th–early 8th c.) 韋偃 Wei Yuan (late 11th c.–after 1142) 韋淵 Wei Zheng (580–643) 魏徵 Wei Zhizhang (fl. 1730) 衛支彰 weimao guan (lotus-petal crown) 委貌冠 Weimoji bian (Vimalakı¯rti transformations, illustrations) 維摩詰變 weishu (‘‘weft’’ text) 緯書 wen (pattern) 文 Wen Peng (1498–1573) 文彭 Wen Zhengming (1470–1559) 文徵明 Wencheng, Princess (7th c.) 文成公主 Weng Fanggang (1733–1818; js 1752) 翁方綱 Weng Tonghe (1830–1904; js 1856) 翁同龢 Wenji, Lady (Cai Yan; c. 177–c. 239) 文姬(蔡琰) ‘‘Wenwang shizi’’ (King Wen as heir) 文王世子 Wenxuan wang (Culture-propagating King ¼ Confucius’s title until 1530) 文宣王 wenyuan (Eminent Literati section) 文苑 Wu, state (Zhou dynasty) and kingdom (Period of Disunion) 吳 Wu Daoxuan/Wu Daozi (c. 689–after 755) 吳道玄/吳道子 Wu Ding (Shang emperor Gaozong; 13th–12th c. BCE) 武丁 Wu Kangyu (fl. early 17th c.) 吳康虞 Wu Kuan (1436–1504; js 1472) 吳寬 Wu Liang (77–151) 武梁 Wu ma tu (Five tribute horses, painting) 五馬圖 Wu Shen (9th or 10th c.) 吳侁 Wu Yue (12th c.) 吳說 Wu Zeng (fl. 1157) 吳曾 Wu Zixu (d. 484 BCE) 伍子胥 Wuyingdian (Qing palace printing workshop) 武英殿 Xi Xia (Tangut kingdom, 1032–1227) 西夏 Xia Wenyan (fl. mid 14th c.) 夏文彥 xian e hou shan (first bad, later good) 先惡後善 xian fo (Buddhist and Daoist subjects genre) 仙佛 xianfei (worthy consort) 賢妃 Xiang Yuanbian (1525–1590) 項元汴 Xiangtuo (legendary child-sage) 項橐 Xianren huanghou (Manifestly Humane Empress; posthumous title of Song Gaozong’s mother) 顯仁皇后 Xianyu Shu (1257–1302) 鮮于樞 ‘‘Xiao lian’’ (Filial and upright) 孝廉 Xiao Tong (501–531) 蕭統 Xiao Yi (7th c.) 蕭翼 Chinese Character Glossary j 165

Xiao Yi Lanting tu (Painting of Xiao Yi and the Orchid Pavilion) 蕭翼蘭亭圖

Xiao Yi qu Lanting hengzhou (Xiao Yi takes the Lanting manuscript, horizontal scroll) 蕭翼取蘭亭橫軸 Xiao Yi shuo Lanting gushi (Xiao Yi tells the Lanting story, painting) 蕭翼說蘭亭故實

Xiao Yi zhuan Lanting tu (Xiao Yi obtains the Lanting manuscript by trickery, painting) 蕭翼賺蘭亭圖 Xiao Zhao (12th c.) 蕭照 Xiaojing (Classic of filial piety) 孝經 xiaokai (small-regular script) 小楷 Xiaozi tu (Pictures of filial sons) 孝子圖 Xiaozi zhuan (Biographies of filial sons) 孝子傳 Xie He (fl. 500) 謝赫 Xie Shichen (1487–c. 1560) 謝時臣 Xie Zhaozhi (1567–1624; js 1592) 謝肇淛 Xie Zhi (fl. 5th c.) 謝稚 Xige (Western Pavilion) 西閣 Xihe heji 西河合集 Xin Qingji (1st c. BCE) 辛慶忌 Xin’an (Anhui) 新安 xinggong (traveling palace) 行宮 xingshu (running-script) 行書 Xiwangmu (Queen Mother of the West) 西王母 Xiyu tu (Picture of the Western regions) 西域圖 Xiyuan (Western Park) 西苑 Xu Feng of Guixi (fl. 15th c.) 貴谿徐鳳 Xu Fu (1836–after 1905) 徐郙 Xu gaoshi zhuan (Biographies of lofty gentlemen, continued) 續高士傳 ‘‘Xu song’’ (The necessity of eulogies) 須頌 Xu Weiren (d. 1853) 徐渭仁 ‘‘Xu zigu guijian’’ (Talking about advisory mirrors from antiquity) 敘自古規鑒

Xuanhe huanghou (Xuanhe Empress; Song Gaozong’s mother’s title after 1129) 宣和皇后 Xuanren taihuang taihou (The Greatly Humane Grand Empress Dowager [Gao], 1032–1093) 宣仁太皇太后(高氏) Xuanshidian (Great Chamber Hall in the [Han] Weiyang Palace) 未央宮宣室殿

Xun Xu (d. 289) 荀勗 Yan Bi (563–613) 閻毗 Yan Liben (d. 673) 閻立本 Yan Lide (d. 656) 閻立德 Yang, Secretary (fl. 1085) 鳳閣舍人楊氏 Yang Guifei (719–756) 楊貴妃 166 j Chinese Character Glossary

Yang Pu (legendary recluse) 楊朴 Yang Shouchen (1425–1489; js 1451) 楊守陳 Yang Sisun (1823–1889; js 1852) 楊泗孫 Yang Yisun (1812–1881; juren 1843) 楊沂孫 Yang Zhi of Weiyang (Yangzhou) (fl. 1592) 維揚楊芝 Yangzheng tujie (Cultivating rectitude, illustrated and explained) 養正圖解

Yanshansi (Buddhist monastery in northern Shanxi) 岩山寺 Yanshenggong (Duke for Perpetuating the Sage) 衍聖公 yanyi (extended meaning) 演義 Yanzi (d. 498 BCE) 晏子 Yao (legendary sage emperor) 堯 Yao Chong (7th–8th c.) 姚崇 Yao Yun of Gao’an (js 1268) 高安姚雲 Yiguo doubao tu (The different countries compete in treasure, painting) 異國鬥寶圖

Yin Boqi (legendary filial son) 尹佰奇 Yingluan tu (Welcoming the imperial carriage, painting) 迎鑾圖 Yingqing taihou huiluan tu (Picture of welcoming the Empress Dowager’s returning carriage) 迎慶太后回鑾圖 Yingyangge (Pavilion of Welcoming the Male Principle) 迎陽閣 Yinreng (or Yunreng; 1674–1725) 胤礽/允礽 Yintai (Silver Terrace ¼ Office of Transmission) 銀臺 yixing jiayan (meritorious acts and excellent words) 懿行嘉言 Yonglegong (Daoist temple in southern Shanxi) 永樂宮 Yonglian (1730–1738) 永璉 Yu, Lady (4th c. BCE) 虞姬 Yu Anqi (zi Xianchang; c. 1551–1618) 俞安期(羨長) Yu He (fl. c. 1330–1360) 俞和 Yu Jin (6th c.) 于謹 yu lan (imperial gaze) 御覽 yu li (leftover energy) 餘力 Yu Li Zhai (Regal Li Studio) 御李齋 Yu Qiuzi (late 7th–6th c. BCE) 虞丘子 ‘‘Yu¨ fu’’ (The fisherman) 漁夫 Yuan, Lady (d. 522) 元氏 Yuan An (d. 92) 袁安 Yuan An woxue tu (Yuan An sleeps during the snowfall, painting) 袁安臥雪圖

Yuan Ang (2nd c. BCE) 袁盎 Yuan Jue (1266–1327) 袁桷 Yuanyou (era; 1086–1094) 元祐 yue (brief ) 約 yufu yufu (stupid men and women) 愚夫愚婦 ‘‘Yujia guan Bian zhang’’ (Viewing the Bian flood from the imperial carriage) 輿駕觀汴漲

yun (resonance) 韻 Yuntai (Cloud Terrace) 雲臺 Yunreng (see Yinreng) Yuzhang (modern Nanchang, Jiangxi) 豫章 zan (poetic encomium) 贊 Zanhua shinu¨ tu (Ladies wearing flowers in their hair, painting) 簪花仕女圖

Zeng Sunshen (fl. 14th c.) 曾巽申 Zeng Yu (1073–1135) 曾紆 Zhan Jingfeng (juren 1567) 詹景鳳 Zhan Xiyuan (fl. latter half of 14th c.) 詹希元 Zhang Cao of Wujun (fl. 1592) 吳郡章艸 Zhang Chou (official, 14th c.) 張籌 Zhang Chou (art critic, 1577–1643) 張丑 Zhang Hua (232–300) 張華 Zhang Juzheng (1525–1582; js 1547) 張居正 Zhang Kai (1398–1460; js 1424) 張楷 Zhang Lei (1054–1114; js 1085) 張耒 Zhang Lu (1464–1538) 張路 Zhang Qian (d. 114 BCE) 張騫 Zhang Ruo’ai (1713–1746; js 1733) 張若靄 Zhang Sengyou (fl. c. 500–550) 張僧繇 Zhang Tingyu (1672–1755; js 1700) 張廷玉 Zhang Wu (fl. c. 1340–1365) 張渥 Zhang Xuan (fl. c. 712–742) 張萱 Zhang Xun (11th c.) 張詢 Zhang Yanyuan (fl. 847) 張彥遠 Zhang Yi (5th–6th c.) 張彝 Zhang Yingdeng (js 1583) 張應鄧 Zhang Youzhi (zi Boyi; 1006–1062) 章友直(伯益) Zhang Yu (1st c. BCE) 張禹 Zhao Boju (d. c. 1162) 趙伯駶 Zhao Bosu (1124–1184) 趙伯驌 Zhao Gan (fl. c. 961–975) 趙幹 Zhao Gou (Song emperor Gaozong; 1107–1187; r. 1127–1162) 趙構 Zhao Lin (fl. c. 1350–1370) 趙麟 Zhao Lingzhi (hao Delin; fl. 1123) 趙令畤(德麟) Zhao Mengfu (1254–1322) 趙孟頫 Zhao Xiyi (1155–1212) 趙希懌 Zhao Yuqin (hao Lanpo; c. 1180–c. 1250) 趙與懃(蘭坡) Zhaojian lu (Record of the bright mirror) 昭鑒錄 Zhejian tu (Breaking the balustrade, painting) 折檻圖 Zhen Dexiu (1178–1235; js 1199) 真德秀 ‘‘Zhen shun’’ (Chaste and obedient) 貞順 Zheng Guifei (Precious Consort Zheng, c. 1568–1641) 鄭貴妃

Zheng Ji (1439–1508; js 1460) 鄭紀 Zheng Qiao (1104–1162) 鄭樵 Zheng Shanfu (1485–1523; js 1505) 鄭善夫 Zheng Xia (1040–1118) 鄭俠 Zhenghe (era, 1111–1118) 政和 Zhenguan zhengyao (Essential policies of the Zhenguan era) 貞觀政要 Zhenjin (Mongol prince; 1243–1286) 真金 zhi (treatise) 志 Zhi Zhongyuan (10th c.) 支仲元 zhi zuo ding shi fu (sign [of the one who was] made to stabilize the world) 制作定世符 Zhigong shizi tu (Picture of tributaries presenting lions) 職貢獅子圖 Zhigong tu (Bringing tribute, painting) 職貢圖 Zhisheng xianshi (Ultimate Sage and Foremost Teacher ¼ Confucius’s title after 1530) 至聖先師 Zhiyong (6th c.) 智永 Zhizheng junzi, xiequ xiaoren tuji (Illustrated deeds of upright superior men and of depraved inferior men) 直正君子,邪曲小人圖跡 Zhong Huamin (1537–1597; js 1580) 鍾化民 Zhong You (151–230) 鍾繇 Zhongli [Chun] (4th c. BCE) 鍾離[春] Zhongwu lu (Record of the Loyal Warrior) 忠武錄 Zhongxing ruiying tu (Auspicious omens for dynastic revival, painting) 中興瑞應圖

Zhou Bida (1126–1204; js 1151) 周必大 Zhou Fang (c. 730–c. 800) 周昉 Zhou Mi (1232–c. 1308) 周密 Zhu Changluo (Taichang emperor, 1582–1620; r. 1620) 朱常洛 Zhu Changxun (1586–1641) 朱常洵 Zhu Houzhao (Zhengde emperor, 1491–1521; r. 1505–1521) 朱厚照 Zhu Jianzhang (fl. 10th c.) 朱簡章 Zhu Jingxuan (fl. 840) 朱景玄 Zhu Shilu (1539–1610; js 1589) 祝世祿 Zhu Xi (1130–1200; js 1148) 朱熹 Zhu Yun (1st c. BCE) 朱雲 Zhu Zaihuo (1536–1549) 朱載壑 Zhu Zhifan (hao Lanyu; js 1595) 朱之蕃 (蘭嵎) zhuan (biographical account) 傳 Zhuang, King of Chu (d. 591 BCE) 楚莊王 Zhuang Chang (1437–1499; js 1466) 莊 Zhuge Liang (181–234) 諸葛亮 zi (philosophical discourse) 子 zi (style-name) 字 Zigu diwang tu (Portraits of emperors from antiquity) 自古帝王圖 Zongsheng zhi (Treatise on the Clan Sage [Yan Hui]) 宗聖志 Zou Shouyi (1491–1562; js 1526) 鄒守益 Chinese Character Glossary j 167

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Credits for Figures and Plates

Figs. 1, 14  After Chavannes, Mission Archéologique dans la Chine Septentrionale, Atlas, v. 2, pl. LIX, no. 122, det.; pl. LX, no. 123. Fig. 2  After Zhongguo banhua congkan, erbian, v. 7, p. 159. Figs. 3; 35; 49; Figs. 45, 46, Pl. 13; Pls. 19, 20; Figs. 6; 22  Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC: Gift of Charles Lang Freer (F1911.180; F1910.6; F1916.519; F1919.119; F1909.221); Gift of Eugene and Agnes E. Meyer (F1970.37); Purchase (F1949.9). Figs. 4, 8, 41, 42; 52; 54, Pl. 3  Metropolitan Museum of Art, Ex coll.: C. C. Wang Family, from the P. Y. and Kinmay W. Tang Family Collection, Gift of the Oscar L. Tang Family, 1996 (1996.479); Ex coll.: C. C. Wang Family, Gift of the Dillon Fund, 1973 (1973.120.2; 1973.120.3). Fig. 5, Pl. 2; Fig. 63  Copyright, The Trustees of The British Museum (OA 1903.4–8.1; OA 1992.1–7.01). Fig. 7  Temple of Confucius, Qufu, Shandong; photo by author. Figs. 9, 16, 33, 39, 53, 65, Pl. 24  Collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing. Fig. 10  After Fanzhi Yanshansi (Beijing, 1990), p. 111, pl. 48. Fig. 11  After Chūgoku sekkutsu: Tonkō bakukō kutsu, v. 5, pl. 42. Fig. 12  Courtesy of Sarah Cahill. Fig. 13  East Asian Library, Princeton University (TB–367); photo by author. Fig. 15  Princeton University Art Museum, Far Eastern Seminar Collections (2002–307.34). Figs. 17; 32, Pl. 5; Fig. 27, Pls. 6, 8, 9  After Zhongguo meishu quanji, huihua bian, v. 12: p. 3, pl. 3; v. 1: p. 139, pl. 96 (det.), p. 153, pl. 100; v. 14: pp. 95–96, pls. 93-94 (det.), pp. 22­–23, pl. 22, p. 119, pl. 117, p. 129, pl. 127. Fig. 18  After Shanghai bowuguan cang qingtongqi (Shanghai, 1964), no. 95. Figs. 19, 20  After Richard Rudolph, Han Tomb Art of West China (Berkeley, 1951), nos. 40–41. Fig. 21  After Sir John Marshall and Alfred Foucher, The Monuments of Sāñchi (London, 1940), v. 2, pl. 40. Fig. 23  After Catalogue of the Museum at Sārnāth (Calcutta, 1914), pl. 19b. Figs. 24; 29  After Orientations 27, no. 7 (July 1990), p. 23; 29, no. 2 (Feb. 1998), p. 74, fig. 6b.

Figs. 25, 26; 48  Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City: Purchase, Nelson Trust, 33–1543/1–3; Purchase, F80–5. Figs. 28, 30  After Zhongguo meishu quanji, diaosu bian, v. 3: p. 75 pl. 69, p. 65 pl. 63. Fig. 31  Nagahiro, Rikuchō jidai bijutsu no kenkyū, pl. 10. Figs. 34, 36, 40, 47, 50; Pls. 1, 17, 18, 25  Collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China. Figs. 37, 38  After Sirén, Chinese Painting, v. 3, pls. 88, 192. Fig. 43  Fujita Museum, Osaka, Japan. Fig. 44  Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund (1959.138). Fig. 51  After A Journey into China’s Antiquity (Beijing, 1997), v. 3, p. 239 (det.). Figs. 55, 75  Princeton University Library, Q4694/1195; photos by author. Figs. 56, 62, 64; 58; 59; 60; 68  National Library, Taibei (Rare Books 05654; 05239; 05240; 05241; 08967). Fig. 57  Japanese Imperial Household Library (500–64). After Kinsei Nihon no kaiga to gafu, v. 2, p. 37, no. 21–10. Fig. 61  By permission, The British Library (OR 74 d.45); photo by author. Figs. 66, 67  Musée Guimet Library (BG 23284); photos by author. Figs. 69, 70  Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Harvard University (1985.842); photos by author. Fig. 71  Field Museum, Chicago (244658.112); photo by author. Fig. 72  Harvard-Yenching Library (T1786.2/1346); photo by author. Figs. 73, 74  Marquand Library of Art and Archaeology, Princeton University (ND 1043.S52). Photos: John Blazejewski. Fig. 76  University of Wisconsin Library (PL 2465 N8); photo by author. Pl. 4  After Sekai bijutsu zenshū (Tokyo, 1962), v. 13, pl. 20. Pls. 7, 10  After Dunhuang shiku quanji (Hong Kong, 1999), v. 3: pp. 44–45, pl. 24; v. 12: p. 126, pl. 105. Pls. 11, 12; 14  Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Denman Waldo Ross Collection (31.643; 28.65). Pls. 15, 16  After Zhongguo huihua quanji, v. 5, pls. 57, 55. Pls. 21, 22  After Shengji zhi tu, nos. 4, 26. Pl. 23  Idemitsu Museum, Tokyo; photo by author.

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Index

Numbers in bold refer to pages with relevant illustrations. English translations are matched with Chinese titles in the Glossary. Admonishing in Chains, 105–108, 152–153nn.66–75, Pl. 20; and Yan Liben style, 106, 153n.74 admonition, painting used for, 4, 17, 28–29, 52, 60, 74–77, 80, 84–86; by emperor, 75–77; by official, 14, 17, 28, 85–86, 102, 105; by woman, 13–14, 16–17, 29, 60. See also multivalence of pictures admonition, as subject of illustration, 13–14, 16–17, 31–32, 84–86, 89, 102, 103, 105–108, Pls. 1–2, 17–18, 20 Admonitions of the Court Instructress, 14, 15, 33, 46, 48, 68, 128nn.46–50, Pl. 2 Agriculture and Sericulture, Illustrations of, 104 Akiyama Terukazu, 139n.64 album (format), 21–22, 25, 89, 94, 96, 113, 129n.65 alternating texts and paintings, 19, 66, 68–69 Analects, 108, 132n.55, 154nn.90, 92 Ancient-text (guwen), 66, 71, 141n.51 aniconic representation, 132n.7 anonymity of illustrators, 9, 17, 21, 69, 73–74, 85, 92, 95, 113–114, 116; in woodblock printing, 2, 74, 95, 100 anti-reform faction, N. Song, 21, 81, 86–87 art market, 2, 95, 104, 107; didactic illustrations in, 95, 104–107, 116–117, 119 artistry vs. moral value, 2–6, 76, 93, 99, 113, 117, 125n.7, 143n.1

“Attack of Māra,” 42, Pl. 6 audience for narrative, change in intended, 29, 94–102, 150nn.8, 24; elite, 100, 113; female, 4, 14, 28, 94; nonelite, 1–2, 4, 6, 9, 93–95, 101–102; varied, 1–2, 10–11, 95, 117, 127n.37. See also viewer Auspicious Omens for Dynastic Revival, 18, 83–84, 146nn.70, 72–73, 147nn.75–76, Pl. 16 Bagley, Robert, 128n.54 baimiao (ink-monochrome outline painting), 59, 63–69 passim, 73, 134n.43, 140n.31 Ban Bo, 28, 60, 85 Ban, Virtuous Consort, 14, 29, 31, 60, 85, Pls. 2, 5 Baoensi, 110 Barbarian Tribes genre (fanzu), 14, 81–82, 145n.48 Barnhart, Richard, 63–67, 75, 125n.3, 129n.73, 139n.65, 140n.22, 141nn.49–54, 143n.9 Bhārhut, 37–38, 132n.8 Biancai, 54–55, 137nn.37, 39–41 Biographies of Exemplary Women, 14, 28–33, 31, 32, 46–48, 63, 80, 94, 130n.10, 131n.36, 149n.6, Pl. 5; for emperors, 28–29; in handscrolls, 32, 131nn.36–37, 39; Ming reworking, 94, 149n.6; on screens, 28, 31, 131n.38; on walls, 28–31, 131n.34 Bo Yi and Shu Qi, 80–83, 80 book, illustrated, 16, 21–22, 86–102, 104, 114–115, 121–124 Book of Documents (Shangshu). See Classic of History (Shujing) Book of Odes (Shijing), 2, 28, 48, 84–85, 142n.84, 147n.80, 152n.57 Breaking the Balustrade, 85, 107, 147n.84, 153n.69, Pl. 17

Brilliant, Richard, 127n.40 Bringing Tribute, 53, 54, 136n.26 Brock, Karen, 127n.40 Brotherton, Elizabeth, 69–71, 127n.17, 142nn.71–73, 79, 143n.95 brushline, expressive, 9, 50, 58–59, 61, 65 Buddhism: and cult of Confucius, 109–111; impact on Chinese narrative illustration, 5, 21, 30, 37, 40–49, 110, 113, 132n.4, 146n.71; transmission to China, 37–38, 44, 50, 132nn.2–3. See also hagiography; jātaka; Life of Buddha Cahill, James, 95, 125n.2, 129n.68, 139nn.11, 14, 152n.53 Cai Shun, 39 Cai Yan (Lady Wenji), 19, 81–83, 145n.45, Pl. 14. See also Eighteen Songs of a Nomad Flute Cai Yong, 130n.17, 131n.36 Campany, Robert, 132n.2 Cao Cao (Wei Wudi), 29, 145n.45 Cao Fu, 63, 140n.32 Cao Xun, 83, 146nn.64–68, 70, 147n.78 Cao Zhi, 29, 47, 50 cartouche(s), 40, 43–44, 77–78, 131n.32; blank, 43 cautionary examples, illustrated, 4–5, 22, 28, 76, 87, 91, 97 censor(s), 54–55, 76, 94, 108, 149n.129, 154n.106 Central Asian elements, 39, 42, 44, 63 Chao Buzhi, 62 Chartier, Roger, 129n.65, 134n.54 Chatman, Seymour, 10, 127n.24 Chen Bangyan, 7 Chen Jiru, 152n.49 Chen Ju, 91 Chen, Pao-chen, 34, 43, 47, 134nn.41–42, 135n.11, 143n.91

Chen Riyu, 104–105, 117, 152n.58 Chen Yuanda, 105–107 Cheng Man, 114, 119, 155n.114 Cheng Xiuji, 85, 147n.83 Cheng Yi, 87 children, illustrations of exemplary, 30, 32, 45, 75; pictures suitable for, 4, 87, 90–92, 94 Chongshansi, 148n.117, 154n.96 Chu, king of, 16–17, 29 Classic of Filial Piety, 13, 13, 18, 65–72, 67, 71, 87, 141nn.50–51, 53, 152n.57 Classic of History (Shujing)/Book of Documents (Shangshu), 28, 60, 85, 122–124, 130n.2 Classic of History, Illustrated and Discussed, 122–124, 123, 157n.35 classics, Confucian, 2, 4, 10, 87–89, 92, 108, 122; illustrations of, 33, 48, 73–74, 84–85, 124. See also Book of Odes; Classic of Filial Piety; Classic of History classification (genres) of painting, 1, 7, 8–14, 50, 60, 81, 109, 128n.51, 140n.24 Classified Poems Inscribed on Paintings throughout the Ages, 7, 143n.5 clothing style, 27, 39, 62, 81, 83, 139n.18 Cloud Terrace (Yuntai), 27, 50, 130n.7 clouds as temporal marker, 18–19, 24, 92, 98 Clunas, Craig, 21–22, 125n.4, 139n.11, 143n.1, 143n.6, 149n.134, 150n.11, 151n.35, 156n.1 collectors, novice, 5, 95, 104, 117 colophons: affirming artistry, 2, 5, 63–64, 104, 106, 117, 153n.79; affirming moral value, 2, 5–6, 53, 64, 110, 114, 119; altering painting’s meaning, 53, 80–81, 83,

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140n.38; attributing authorship, 51, 55–56, 106, 143n.87; discussing politics, 80–81, 95, 104–108, 135n.10; made a preface, 155n.116; signaling new audience, 5, 95, 116–117; typical discourse in, 2, 5, 64, 104–106, 117. See also connoisseurship; forged documentation commentary, 11, 68–69, 77, 81, 92, 130n.20; pictures as, 68–69, 81 Compendium of Models for Women, 4 compositional structure: in narrative illustration, 5, 9, 14–20, 22, 38–49, 66, 68, 84, 92, 96, 109; in specific scenes, 65–68, 70, 85–86, 91–92, 98, 101–103, 106, 115. See also conflated; monoscenic; multiple moments; planar; sequential; synoptic conceptual approach (relationship of illustration to story), 5, 9, 14–16, 33, 37, 42, 49, 67–68. See also epitome; multiple moments; pictorial narration; text-image relationships conflated (composition), 16–17, 33–34, 68, 92, 128n.56 Confucian moral values, 1, 3, 5, 13–14, 66, 71, 74, 85, 87, 108, 111, 116, 125n.7, 157n.31; promoted by ruler, 52–54, 74, 76, 78–84, 89–90, 117, 120. See also moral cultivation, pictures to aid Confucius: birth, 110, 112, 114, 115– 116, 116, Pls. 21, 23; descendants (Kongs), 104, 110–111, 114–116, 154nn.91, 106, 155nn.125–126; disciples, 28, 30, 66, 71, 71, 109, 109; encounters, 17, 27, 34, 109, 111, 115, 142n.79, 155n.117, Pl. 22; life, 108–111, 114; as a model, 71, 108–109, 116–118; portraits, 28, 109, 135n.6, 142n.84, 154n.105, 155n.117; posthumous titles, 116, 155n.128; state cult and temples, 108–109, 110, 111, 113, 153n.86, 154nn.91, 105, 155n.120. See also classics; Confucian moral values; Life of Confucius connoisseurship: discourse of, 5; skills, 61, 74, 104, 143n.1; values, 1–2, 4–6, 61, 74, 78, 95, 117, 119,

125n.7, 143n.1. See also artistry vs. moral value; colophon; forged documentation conservative aesthetics, 51, 57, 119 contemporary elements illustrating past event, 70, 80–82, 85, 98, 120 contemporary event evoking ancient story, 75–76, 79–82, 95, 107, 113 contemporary event illustrated, 1, 82–84 “continuous narrative,” 10, 34, 38, 40, 47, 129n.60 “Conversion of 500 Robbers,” 42–44, 43 copies of old paintings, 2, 55, 64 court: ambiance evoked in painting, 103, 117, 120; illustrations created at, 33, 51–53, 59, 61, 74–87, 91– 92, 120–121, 143n.13; paintings displayed at, 27, 29, 60, 76–77, 84– 86, 114–115, 130n.7, 144n.14; wider circulation of subjects from, 93– 102 passim, 117; woodblock printing at, 77, 87–88, 121–123, 150n.15 court lecture system, 86–91, 93, 100, 120–121 critics’ preferences in painting, 1–7, 50, 60–62, 65, 73–74, 95, 104, 119, 143n.1 crown prince. See heir apparent crown or cap style, 51, 83 Csikszentmihalyi, Mark, 132n.55, 154n.92 Cultivating Rectitude, Illustrated (Yangzheng tu, paintings), 102–105, 113–114, 117, 119–121, 151– 152nn.44, 46–51, 55–57, 156n.13, Pls. 19, 24 Cultivating Rectitude, Illustrated and Explained (Yangzheng tujie, printed books), 88–89, 91, 93–95, 100–102, 101–103, 113, 117–118, 121, 148nn.104–105, 149nn.124–125, 132, 151nn.34, 36–42. See also Jiao Hong cultural heritage, emperor’s authority over, 54, 56–57, 78, 84; books spreading awareness of, 89, 94, 97 “cyclical narrative,” 129n.59 Daxue yanyi, 87 De Bary, W. T., 87, 147n.89

Dehejia, Vidya, 16, 42, 128n.56, 129nn.59, 62, 132nn.5, 7 Del Gais, Deborah, 63, 68–69, 127n.17, 140nn.31, 33, 141n.64, 142n.68 Deng Chun, 1, 64, 141n.41 description, nonnarrative, 9–10 didactic illustrations, 2, 4–5, 120– 124; in art market, 95, 104–107, 116–117, 119; for children, 4, 75, 87, 90–92, 94, 120; for commoners, 1, 94, 150n.8; complementing texts, 33, 88, 119; at court, 51, 61, 75–78, 86–93, 120–121, 143n.13; wider circulation of, 5–6, 93–102 passim. See also anonymity of illustrators; book; entertainment; instructional use of pictures; Li Gonglin; multivalence of pictures; picturebooks didactic paintings, all fundamentally, 29, 60; in antiquity, 4, 27– 30, 60–61, 119, 135n.9; displayed in palace, 27, 29, 60, 76, 84–86, 114– 115, 144n.14; motives for sponsoring, 1–5, 27, 29–30, 60, 74–76, 78–79, 81, 83–86, 111, 120. See also artistry vs. moral value; multivalence of pictures; picturebooks didactic purpose, paintings with, 4, 8, 27, 84–86, 89–91, 117, 119, 124. See also admonition; didactic illustrations didactic texts, 13–14, 86–90, 94, 148n.112, 149n.4 Di fan (Models for an emperor), 51–52 Dijian tushuo. See The Emperor’s Mirror, Illustrated and Discussed Ding Wei, 75, 143n.9 Ding Yunpeng, 88–89, 89, 100–103, 101, 102, 103, 117, 148n.105 documentary painting, 2, 51–53, 56–57, 75–78, 83, 92, 120 domestic theme added to illustration, 67, 70, 98 Dong Qichang, 1, 119, 137n.34, 152n.68 Dong Yong, 40–41, 41, 133n.15 dreams, depiction of, 17–19, 24, 45, 71–72, 84, 92, 92, 96–98, 96, 98, 111, Pls. 16, 25; Japanese and European, 24, 129n.75

Du Jin, 107–108, 153n.79 Duke for Perpetuating the Sage (Yanshenggong), Kong, 104, 114–116, 120, 155nn.115, 119 Duke Wen of Jin Recovers His State, 79–83, 79, 144nn.31–32 Dunhuang, 11, 44, 50; narrative murals in caves at, 19–20, 20, 40, 42–44, 134n.42, Pls. 6–10; scrolls from, 11, 33 Dunhuang Caves, no. 254, 42, 133n.18, Pls. 6–7; no. 285, 42, 43; no. 290, 19–20, 43, Pl. 9; no. 323, 43, Pl. 10; no. 428, 43, Pl. 8 Dwelling in the Mountains, 72, 153n.68 Ebrey, Patricia, 78, 144n.25–26 efficacy of pictures, 3–5, 28–30, 50–51, 60–61, 71, 74–76, 92–93, 116–117; ability to mislead, 4–5, 28, 93; as antidote to disorder, 29, 99. See also moral cultivation; propaganda Eighteen Scholars of the Qin Palace, 52, 136n.18 Eighteen Songs of a Nomad Flute, 81–84, 82, 129n.61, 145nn.52, 56–58, Pls. 3, 14 Eisenstein, Sergei, 128n.54 Elegies of Chu, 68, 141n.61 Elementary Learning, 125n.7, 147n.97 emaki, 127n.18, 129n.60 emotion, 58–59, 74, 81, 86, 105 Emperor in a Sedan Chair Receiving a Tibetan Envoy, 52, 52–53, 55, 106, 136n.20–23, 137n.28, 144n.29 The Emperor’s Mirror, Illustrated and Discussed (Dijian tushuo), 4–6, 91–100, 117–118, 149n.127; motives for, 91, 95–97, 151n.30; painted, 6, 91, 120–121, 149n.129, 156nn.18–19, Pl. 25; printed editions, 6, 22, 24, 91, 92, 93–100, 96, 97–100, 117–118, 149n.129, 150nn.14–15, 20, 22–23, 26; redesign of, 97–99, 150n.24; teaching emperor with, 91, 117, 121; wider circulation of, 5–6, 21–22, 93–100, 117–118. See also Zhang Juzheng emperors (by dynasty). Han: Chengdi, 14, 28–29, 31–32,

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60, 85, 87, Pl. 2; Gaozu, 109, 110, 111; Guangwudi, 28, 131n.42; Wendi, 85, 90, 97, 135n.11; Wudi, 44, 75, Pl. 10; Zhaodi, 75 Ming: Chongzhen, 105, 115, 155n.115; Hongzhi, 90, 148n.122; Jiajing, 91, 111, 120, 148n.122, 155n.128; Jingtai, 90; Taichang (Zhu Chang­luo), 88, 148n.107, 149n.7, 153n.81; Taizu (Hongwu), 89–90, 94, 108, 148n.121; Wanli, 4, 6, 88, 91–93, 95–97, 100, 102, 107, 121, 140n.38, 148n.107, 149nn.125, 131, 153n.81; Yingzong, 90; Yongle, 90, 110, 150n.19; Zhengde (Zhu Houzhao), 90, 152n.58 Period of Disunion: Chen: Feidi, 135n.11; Houzhu, 51, 135n.11, 136n.14, Pl. 11; Wendi, 135n.11; Xuandi, 135n.11. Former Zhao: Liu Cong, 105–106, Pl. 20. Jin: Mingdi (see Sima Shao). Liang: Jianwendi, 135n.11; Yuandi, 135n.11. Northern Zhou: Wudi, 51, 135n.13, Pl. 11. Wei: Wudi (Cao Cao), 29, 145n.45 Qing: Guangxu, 121, 123, 157nn.31, 36; Kangxi, 7, 74, 104, 119–120, 143n.5; Qianlong, 83, 120, 140nn.33, 38, 156n.26; Qianlong as Prince Bao, 120; Tongzhi, 121; Yong­zheng, 120 Shang: Gaozong (Wu Ding), 92, 96, 98; Zhou, 28 Song: Gaozong, 18–19, 76, 78–84, 135n.10, 144nn.28–29, 35, 145n.57, 147n.78, Pl. 16; Ningzong, 104; Qinzong, 18, 78, 84, Pl. 16; Renzong, 61, 76–78, 85, 87, 91, 143n.13, 144n.14; Shenzong, 21, 86–87; Taizong, 76; Taizu, 76; Zhenzong, 75–77, 111, 113; Zhezong, 21–22, 86–87, 140n.36, 141n.55 Sui: Wendi, 44, 51, Pl. 12; Yangdi, 51, 136n.14, Pl. 12 Tang: Gaozong, 51–52; Gaozu, 53; Minghuang, 15, 57–58; Suzong, 87; Taizong, 27, 51–54, 56–57, 59, 78, 84, 136nn.16–17, 144n.29, 154n.91; Wenzong, 60, 84–85

Yuan: Kubilai (Shizu), 87 Zhou (kings): Cheng, 27, 75; Wen, as heir apparent, 88, 88–89, 90–91, 102, 148n.106: Wu, as heir apparent, 101, 101–102 Emperors scroll, attr. Yan Liben. See Portraits of Former Emperors Emperors of Successive Ages (Li di tu), attr. Zhang Yi, 135n.9 empress dowagers: Cixi 121–122, 157n.29, 157n.36; Gao, 21–22, 86– 87, 147nn.90–91; Liu, 143n.13, 144n.25, 149n.123; Meng, 79, 144n.30; Wei, 81, 83, 145n.46, 146nn.60–63, 146n.67, 146n.72 empresses: Changsun, 136n.17; Jia, 14 entertainment, 4–6, 9, 12, 95, 97, 104 Eoyang, Eugene, 11 epitome (story represented by single event), 5, 9, 14–16, 22, 33–34, 36– 37, 42, 46–47, 80 Essential Policies of the Zhenguan Era, 136n.14 eulogy or encomium on picture, 32, 83–84, 108, 110–111, 117, 130n.21, 144n.17, 156n.26 eunuch(s), 2, 4, 21, 90–91, 108, 150n.15 examination system, civil service, 2, 94, 108, 121, 124, 154n.90 exemplars, illustrated. See children; filial piety; heir apparent; ministers; rulers; women expedient means, 89, 92–93 exposition, nonnarrative, 10, 12–14, 23, 50–51, 53, 63, 78 expressionist modes of painting, 57–59, 119. See also self-expression extraordinary events. See omen(s) factionalism, Ming, 89, 94, 99, 105, 107–108; Qing, 120; Song, 14, 21, 67, 81, 86, 144n.14 Fan, Wise Lady, 13, 16–17, 29, 128nn.45, 47, Pl. 1 Fan Zhongyan, 144n.14 Fan Zuyu, 87, 144n.18, 147n.92, 149n.123 Feng Ruzong, 4 figure painting, 1, 24, 49, 60–63, 65, 95, 106, 139n.1; generic social types in, 13, 23–24, 36, 51, 53; and prestige of narrative illustration,

60–62; Tang as zenith of, 50, 60, 139n.1 filial piety, 2, 13, 39–41, 88, 91, 94, 148n.106. See also Classic of Filial Piety; Twenty-four Exemplars of Filial Piety film, analogies with, 9, 128n.54 Five Tribute Horses, 63–64, 63, 140nn.28–33 Fong, Wen, 9, 139nn.1, 14, 141nn.50, 53 foreign peoples depicted, 11, 13, 53, 65, 81–82, 106, 123, 145n.48; bringing tribute, 53, 54, 63–65, 63, 136–137nn.26–28. See also Eighteen Songs of a Nomad Flute; Jurchen(s); Khitan(s); Uighur(s) forged documentation (signatures, colophons, seals), 1, 5–6, 73, 95, 103–104, 106, 113, 116–117, 138n.46, 141n.55, 151n.44, 152nn.49–50, 57 forgery in painting, 5–6, 73, 95, 103– 104, 116–117, 119, 143n.92, 146n.73, 151n.44, 152n.53, 153n.68; subject valued despite, 5, 74, 95, 104, 119 format, 14–15, 21–22, 25, 32, 36, 94–95, 99, 129n.65; same story in different, 31–32, 82, 102, 113–117. See also album; book; handscroll; hanging scroll; screen; wall painting Four Events of the Jingde Era, 77–78, 77 frontal perspective, 8, 30, 44, 72 Fu, (Ming) Prince of, 105 funerary art, narrative images in, 30, 34–36, 38–40 Fu Yue, 92, 92, 96–98, 96, 98, 100, 149n.131 Gao Keming, 76 Gao Lishi, 21 Genette, Gérard, 94 Geng Dingxiang, 93, 148n.109 gifts, pictures appropriate as, 2, 22, 63–65, 104 Ginzburg, Carlo, 21, 129n.67 Goddess of the Luo River, 15, 19, 19, 29, 47–48, 48, 72–73, 134nn.41–45 gold and green style (jinbi), 90, 148n.117 The Golden Mirror, 51, 136n.16

Goodman, Nelson, 10 government service, frustrations of, 24, 51, 69, 86, 105, 118, 121 Grand Carriage and Honor Guard, 78, 78, 144nn.25–26 “The Great Departure,” 38, 38 The Great Learning, 87 Great Liquid Pavilion (Taiyeting), 60, 85 Gu Deqian, 55, 138nn.40, 42, 45 Gu Fu, 106, 153n.74 Gu Hongzhong, 59, 106, 107 Gu Kaizhi, 15, 19, 32–33, 32, 48, 48, 60, 66, 80, 128n.46, 134n.49 Gu Ningyuan, 2, 125n.8 Guo Jujing, 94, 150n.8 Guo Ruoxu: on ancient vs. modern painting, 60–61, 139nn.4, 18; on efficacy of pictures, 60–61, 75–76; and literati painting theory, 139n.4; on paintings as “advisory mirrors,” 75–76, 84–85, 139n.6; paintings recorded by, 55, 62, 75–77, 81, 138n.42, 139n.19, 143n.12, 144n.17, 153n.69; and Zhang Yanyuan, 139nn.8, 18 Guo Tingwu, 97, 150nn.20–21 Guo Ziyi Receives the Homage of the Uighurs, 65, 66, 106, 141nn.47, 49 gushi hua (story painting), 7 Guyuan (Ningxia) coffin, 38–40, 40, 132n.9 hagiography, 15, 38, 43, 45, 110, 113, 115–116, 146n.71; and pilgrimage, 37, 113, 118, 132n.7. See also Life of Buddha Hall of Lofty Administration (Chongzhengdian), 76–77, 144n.15 Hall of the Sage’s Traces (Sheng­ jidian), 111, 113, 113, 115–117, 154nn.106–108, 155n.118 Han Fengxi, 106, 153nn.72–73 Han Gan, 59–60, 63, 140nn.27–29 Han Kuang, 114, 155n.116 Han Shineng, 106, 153n.71 handscroll (format), 21, 113, 128n.47; directionality of, 25, 46–47, 79; evolution of, 32–33, 36, 44, 46–49; and “name” artists, 49, 95; suited to narrative illustration, 21–22, 46–47, 49, 113; used for writing,

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21, 32. See also text-image relationships, physical hanging scroll (format), 21, 22, 25, 85–86, 129n.64; order of scenes in, 25, 129n.76 Hanlin, 21–22, 86–88, 97, 125n.6, 153n.83 Harrist, Robert, 62, 139n.11, 140nn.22, 25, 143n.87 Hay, John, 8, 55, 57, 126nn.10–11, 137–138nn.32, 38–46 He Liangjun, 152.n.53 He Xun (He Tingrui), 110–111, 112, 114, 154n.98 He Yan, 28–29 He Yanzhi, 56, 137nn.36–37, 138nn.46, 49 Heavenly Kings Crossing the Sea, 58 heir apparent (crown prince): education of, 51–52, 75, 86–91, 121; illustrated stories of exemplary, 87–88, 88–89, 90–91, 101–102, 121, 122; pictures intended for, 75, 86–91, 93, 120, 148n.118; pictures used in instructing, 87, 89, 121, 141n.55; succession conflict over, 53, 75, 79, 88, 90, 108, 120, 136n.17, 149n.7, 153n.81. See also Cultivating Rectitude; emperors, Zhou (kings) Wen and Wu; Summaries of the Actions of a Crown Prince history: of Chinese painting, 1, 5, 6, 9, 50, 60–61, 73–74, 139nn.4, 8; as a genre, 10–11, 51; as a mirror, 35, 51, 60, 87, 89–90, 107, 117, 132n.53; judgment of, 53, 84; and the moral order, 10–11, 53, 87, 152n.62; as subject for illustration, 1, 27, 51, 74–75, 60, 80, 96, 131n.32. See also Classic of History; The Emperor’s Mirror; Illustrated Instructive Mirror of the Three Courts; Portraits of Former Emperors Hongdumen school, 28, 135n.6 Hou Ching-lang, 130nn.4, 7 hua (painting, visual expression), 3, 7, 119, 156n.1 Huang family blockcarvers, 89, 98, 100–101, 100, 101, 102, 103, 150n.28, 151nn.34, 41 Huang Jucai, 75 Huang Jun, 100, 150n.28

Huang Lin, 101, 102, 151n.41 Huang Qi (Huang Deqi), 89, 100, 101, 103, 151nn.34, 41 Huang Tingjian, 24, 62–65, 70, 79, 140n.33, 142n.71 Huang Yingxiao, 100, 150n.28 Huizhou, 148n.105, 151nn.34, 39 Hundred Days Reform of 1898, 121, 157n.36 Huntington, Susan, 132nn.5, 7 Huo Guang, 75 Huo Tao, 91, 120, 148n.120, 156n.10 Hu Xian, 97, 98, 99, 150nn.23–24 iconic circuit, 21 ideology, state, 30, 50, 59, 66, 124. See also Confucian moral values iji dōzu, 128n.56 Illustrated Deeds of Upright Superior Men and of Depraved Inferior Men, 86, 147n.88 Illustrated Instructive Mirror of the Three Courts, 61, 76–77, 87, 149n.123 Illustrated Stories of Parental Love and Filial Piety, 2, 125nn.6–7 Illustrated Stories of Rulers and Ministers, 16, 126n.2, 147n.82 imperial clan: Song, 77, 80–81, 143n.87, 145nn.41–42; Ming, 105, 111, 148n.117, 154n.104 India, 37, 42, 44, 132nn.4–7 inspirational, pictures of ancient exemplars as, 4, 27–30, 71, 75, 108, 110–111, 113, 116 instructional use of pictures, 1, 22, 27–29, 78, 84, 86–94, 121, 139n.64, 152n.57; arguments against, 4, 28–29, 50 Instructions for the Women’s Quarters, Illustrated and Discussed, 94 Itakura Masaaki, 71 Jade Dew in the Crane Forest, 3, 125n.16 James, Jean, 130n.23, 131n.28, 132n.45 Japanese narrative illustration, 9, 24, 127n.19, 129n.60, 132n.57 jātaka, 37–38; Dīpankara, 42, 45–46; Mahāsattva (Hungry Tigress), 42–43, Pls. 7–8; Sudhāna (Vessantara), 43

Ji, (Ming) Prince of, 154n.97 Jiang, Queen (Taijiang), 29 Jiao Hong, 88–89, 89, 91, 93, 100–103, 101–103, 117, 148n.104, 149n.124, 151n.41 Jia Yi, 90 Jin (Jurchen dynasty), 20, 76, 78, 139n.10, 145n.58 Jin (Pd. of Disunion), 14, 44, 54, 62, 135nn.9, 11, 139n.20 Jin Lian, 98–100, 100, 150n.27 Jin Weinuo, 135nn.8–9, 136n.23, 137n.31 Jing Ke, 24, 25, 33–34 Johnson, David, 11, 127nn.36–37, 132n.51 Jueyuansi, 25, 134n.36, 154n.96 Jurchen(s), 18, 78, 80, 84, 145nn.4, 58, 146n.64. See also Jin Kang Youwei, 121, 157n.31 Kemp, Wolfgang, 127n.39 Kent, Richard, 71, 142n.86 Khitan(s) (Qidan), 77, 81–82, 145n.58. See also Liao “The Khitan Liao Send Envoys to Court,” 77, 77 Knapp, Keith, 131n.31, 133n.15, 150n.8 Kobayashi Hiromitsu, 149n.129, 151n.30 Kohara Hironobu, 9, 48, 68, 84, 127nn.18–19, 128nn.46, 56, 129n.60, 132n.57, 139n.20, 141n.50 Kong Yinzhi, 114–116, 155nn.115, 117, 119 Kong Yuqi, 104, 120, 152n.54 Kong Zhenyun, 115–116, 155n.125 Kongfu (Kong Establishment), 104 Kongzi shengji zhi tu. See Life of Confucius labels, figures identified by, 30–31. See also cartouche(s) lacquer, painted, 21, 30–32, 38–40, 74 Ladies’ Classic of Filial Piety, 13, Pl. 1 Laing, Ellen, 95, 150n.13 landscape, evocative, 70, 72–73; as “narrative,” 7, 126n.7; in narrative painting, 2, 3, 17, 19, 24, 40, 47, 70–72, 82–83, 140n.25; as selfrepresentation, 1, 63, 140n.25 Lang Yuling, 135nn.9, 13

Learning for the Emperor, 87 Ledderose, Lothar, 128n.51, 137nn.33–34, 138n.50, 140n.24 legitimacy, paintings to enhance emperor’s, 53–54, 57, 78–84, 92, 120 Lelang basket, 30, 131n.27, Pl. 4 Leng Mei, 120–121, 156n.13, Pl. 24 Leung, Irene, 81, 129n.61, 145nn.45, 48–50, 58 Levy, Dore, 8, 127nn.27–28, 30, 32, 129n.61, 145n.45 Li Bai, 2, 21 Li Deyu, 136n.22 Li Gonglin, 13, 18, 63, 62–73, 64, 66–68, 70, Pl. 13; anomaly as literati painter, 62–63, 73; appreciation of, 2, 9, 62–65, 73, 125n.6, 140n.22; and archaism, 63, 66, 69–73, 79, 141n.56; and baimiao, 59, 63, 65–69, 73; career, 62, 64; copies or forgeries of, 13, 16, 66, 68, 71, 71, 73, 141nn.47, 64, 71, 142n.158, 143n.89, 153n.68; copying old paintings, 63–64, 66; and Eighteen Songs of a Nomad Flute, 81–82; expanding text-image relationships, 62, 66–73; expressive narrative illustration, 9, 18, 24, 62–73, 106–107; followers of, 68, 71–73, 143n.87, 147n.80; illustrations of moralistic subjects, 2, 18, 65–68, 70; and politics, 62–64, 67, 69; scholarship on, 140nn.22, 70; and Su Shi circle, 24, 62–65, 71–72; technical skill, 62–65, 73, 106–107. See also literati painting aesthetic Li Linfu, 147n.88 Li Peng, 142n.71, 142n.75 Li Rihua, 107–108, 153n.79 Li Shimian, 108 Li Sixun, 58 Li Song, 146n.73 Li Tang, 79, 80–81, 80, 82, 144n.32, 145nn.36–39, 147n.75 Li Weizhen, 4, 93, 99, 126n.32, 151n.31 Li Wentian, 121 Liang Qingbiao, 78, 106 Liang Shicheng, 143n.87 liang xin or liang zhi (moral nature), 89, 93–94

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Life of Buddha, pictures of, 12, 19–20, 25, 37–38, 38–39, 42–46, 45–47, 109–111, Pls. 6, 9; birth, 20, 20, 110–111, 111; at Dunhuang, 19–20, 43, 128n.42, Pl. 9; as model for Chinese pictorial biographies, 109–110; on stone stelae, 44–46, 45–47; and techniques of pictorial narration, 37–38, 42–46, 48– 49; in temple murals, 19–20, 20, 110, 154n.96; woodblock-printed, 110, 111, 154nn.94–95. See also hagiography; jātaka Life of Confucius, pictures of, 4, 17, 17, 94–95, 108–118, 109–110, 112– 114, 116, 153nn.85, 88–89, 155n.123, Pls. 21–23; anonymity of artists, 113–114, 116; in art market, 116– 117, 119; and Buddhist hagiography, 110–113; changing contents of, 94–95, 109–115, 142n.79; earliest, 108–109, 153n.89; in Japan, 116; Kongs involved with, 111, 114–116, 154n.106; objections to, 4, 113, 117; painted versions of, 17, 95, 108, 113–117, 142n.79, 155nn.112– 114, 116–117, 121, Pls. 21–22; paintings with forged documentation, 113, 115–117, 155nn.121, 126, 156nn.130–131; and pilgrimage, 109, 113, 118; purposes of, 4, 108, 111, 113, 116, 118; and Qufu temple, 4, 111, 113, 118; relationships with texts, 108, 110–111, 114–116; sponsors of, 108, 110–111, 113–116, 118, 153n.88, 154nn.103–104, 106; stone tablets and rubbings of, 17, 95, 108, 110, 111, 113, 113, 118, 153n.89, 154–155nn.106–110, 118, 156n.136; supernatural elements in, 110–111, 112, 114, 116, 154n.101, Pls. 21, 23; titles of episodes in, 111, 114–115, 155n.118; woodblock-printed versions of, 95, 110–116, 112, 114–116, 154nn.97, 99, 104, 115nn.110, 116–117. See also Confucius Lin Zihuan, 2 linear sequence of episodes, 19, 21, 25, 38–40, 42–47, 49, 129n.59; changing direction, 25, 43, 79, 129n.77, 134n.36; vs. geographical grouping, 19–20, 25; vs. oppositional grouping, 19–20, 25, 106

Lingguangdian, 27, 60, 130n.4 Lingyan’ge, 27, 52–54, 137nn.30–31 Liscomb, Kathryn, 2, 21 literary genres and classifications, 11, 127n.29 literary narrative, studies of, 9–12 literati narrative painting, 2, 73 literati painting aesthetic (scholaramateur ideal), 1, 5, 9, 50, 61–65, 73–74, 139nn.4, 11; divergence from palace values, 56–57, 90, 148n.117; as elitist, 61, 65 literati use of narrative illustration, 1–6, 28–29, 74–75, 83, 86, 94–97, 104–108, 111–118 lithography, emulating style of, 87, 124, 157n.37 Liu, Cary, 77, 131nn.28–29, 32–33, 134n.39, 144nn.20–22 Liu, James, 144n.14, 144n.28, 144n.61 Liu Ji, 104 Liu Shang, 19, 81 Liu Songnian, 103–104, 119–120, 151n.44, 152nn.50–51, 57 Liu Xiang, 14, 28–29, 31–33, 47, 94, 130nn.10–11, 131nn.31–32, 133n.12 Liu Yu (Prince of Lu), 27 Liu Yuan, 137n.31 Loehr, Max, 125n.2, 135n.7, 138n.56, 139n.63, 141n.53 Lou Yue, 56, 137n.39, 138n.47, 146n.67 loyalism, 11, 27, 29, 34–35, 80, 105. See also Bo Yi and Shu Qi; Wu Zixu Lu Ji, 3 Lu, Sheldon, 10, 127nn.27–29, 34 Lu Shusheng, 96–97, 150n.16 Lu Tanwei, 60, 66 Lü Dongbin, 25 Lü Kun, 94, 149n.7 Lü Tiaoyang, 4, 149n.127 Lü Weijie, 114, 155n.119 Lü Yanji, 29, 130n.20 Luo Dajing, 3 Luoshen. See Goddess of the Luo River Ma Hezhi, 84, 142n.84 Mair, Victor, 44, 132n.4, 133n.31 Manchu(s), 105, 120–121, 137n.34, 156nn.15, 20

Māyā, Queen, 20, 43, 45–46, 110–111, 111 media, for narrative illustration, 2, 21, 74, 94–95, 118 merit (religious), 38, 42–43, 95 metaphor, depicted literally, 48, 64. See also visual rhetoric Mi Fu, 1, 7, 53, 56–58, 62, 128n.46, 140n.22 ministers, illustrated stories of exemplary, 25, 34–35, 35, 60, 75–76, 84–88, 91–92, 96, 102, 105–107, 126n.2, 147n.82, Pls. 3, 17–18. See also Admonishing in Chains; Breaking the Balustrade; Cultivating Rectitude; The Emperor’s Mirror; Illustrated Deeds of Upright Superior Men and of Depraved Inferior Men; Illustrated Stories of Rulers and Ministers; Protesting the Seat mirror, 34–35, 132n.52; pictures as a, 60–61, 75–77, 84–85, 87, 91, 107, 117, 132n.53, 139n.6. See also Guo Ruoxu, on paintings as “advisory mirrors”; history, as a mirror Mirror of Rulers throughout the Ages, 90 Mitchell, W. J. T., 138n.54 modernization, 121–124 Mongol(s), 71, 87, 121, 122, 125n.7, 153n.87 monoscenic (composition), 16, 22, 33–34, 36–37, 42, 46, 66, 69 moral cultivation, pictures to aid, 4–5, 27–29, 50, 60–61, 71, 74, 89–94, 99, 117–118. See also liang xin mother, of Buddha (see Māyā); of Confucius, 109–110, 115; of Song Gaozong (see empress dowagers, Wei) mother(s), exemplary, 29–31, 31, 33 Muller, Deborah. See Del Gais, Deborah multiple moments (excerpts from story); 15–19, 24–25, 35–40, 42–47, 49, 84, 91, 142n.158 multiple versions of illustrations, painted, 84, 102–104, 117, 142n.71, 145n.56, 146n.70, 146n.73, 147n.84, 151n.44; printed, 94–95, 97–102 passim, 104, 117–118, 150n.14

multivalence of pictures, 2, 6, 21–22, 75–76, 86, 119 Murck, Alfreda, 139n.16, 143n.95, 147n.87 Nagahiro Toshio, 133n.35, 134nn.39– 40 Nakagawa Chūjun, 140nn.31–33 Nanjing, 48, 75, 90–91, 95, 97, 100–101, 105–106, 110, 148n.105, 151nn.34, 39, 153n.72 narrative illustration, Buddhist, 5, 37–38, 41–46; definitions of, 5, 7–9, 12, 23, 126n.9; evolution of, 5, 9, 26, 37, 40, 44, 59; functions of, 1–3, 6, 9–13, 21, 62, 74, 117, 120; impact of Buddhism on, 37, 40–49; in India, 37–38, 42, 44; and oral story, 9, 12, 29, 36; techniques and conventions of, 5, 9, 23–26, 30, 36–38, 40, 48–51, 62, 134n.41; “three types of,” 8. See also literati use of narrative illustration; media; visual presentation of narrative narrative vs. lyrical expression: in literature, 8, 11, 132n.32; in painting, 9, 68, 70 narrator, 10, 12, 127nn.39–40 National University, 108, 151n.39, 152n.68 Nelson sarcophagus, 40, 41, 133nn.13–14 Nelson, Susan E., 69, 71, 125n.15, 142n.70 Ni Zan, 119, 156n.7 Nie Chongzheng, 120, 156nn.13–16 Night Revels of Han Xizai, 106, 107 Nine Songs, 68–69, 68, 69, 71, 125n.6 Ning Qiang, 44, 133nn.28–30 objective modes of painting, 1, 3, 7, 9, 14, 51–53, 57, 59, 61–62, 106, 138n.54 “Odes of Bin,” illustrations of, 2, 48, 152n.57 omen(s), illustrated, 33, 83–84, 110– 111, 131n.32. See also Auspicious Omens for Dynastic Revival Orchid Pavilion (Lanting) gathering, 7; Wang Xizhi’s preface for, 7, 54–56, 137nn.33, 35, 37. See

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also Xiao Yi Obtains the Lanting Manuscript by Trickery orthodoxy, 10, 50, 89–90, 104, 108–109, 123; in calligraphy, 57, 137n.34; in painting, 61, 121, 139n.14 painting styles as classical standards, 5, 24, 36, 51, 57, 59, 66, 73, 106 Pan En, 149n.129 Pan Yunduan, 92, 149n.129 paratext, 94–95, 101–102 Pasturing Horses, 64, 64, 140n.27 Pavilion of Welcoming the Male Principle (Yingyangge), 76, 85 peace treaty: with Jin, 78, 81–83, 135n.10, 146n.64; with Liao, 77 Peng Nian, 3 Picking Ferns, 80–83, 80, 145nn.37–42 pictorial biography, 4, 15, 134n.36; association with deities, 109, 154n.93; sources of, 146n.71. See also hagiography; Life of Buddha; Life of Confucius; Lü Dongbin; Wu Zixu pictorial narration, 15, 37, 40, 44, 73. See also sequential Picture of the Western Regions, 136n.26 picturebooks, 126n.22; and artist’s identity, 88, 117; emperor commissioning, 87–89, 120–123; emperor rejecting, 90–91, 120; to instruct young emperors and heirs, 75, 86–93, 117, 120–121; Ming, 88– 93; Qing, 120–121, 156n.20; Yuan, 87, 121; wider circulation of, 6, 22, 93–102. See also Cultivating Rectitude; didactic illustrations; The Emperor’s Mirror; Pictures of Sagely Merit; Summaries of the Actions of a Crown Prince Pictures of Contemplating Texts and Using the Past as a Mirror, 76, 143–144nn.13–16 Pictures of the Sage [Confucius]’s Traces. See Life of Confucius Pictures of Sagely Merit, 90–92, 120, 148nn.114–122. See also Huo Tao; Zheng Ji planar (composition), 19–20, 22, 25

portrait: based on dream, 92; as complement to written history, 27, 51–52, 76; of Confucius (see Confucius, portraits); as frontispiece, 68, 71, 142nn.81, 84, 155n.117; iconic, 5, 8, 12, 68, 71, 93, 109, 142n.83; and narrative, 5, 8, 30, 51, 53; of rulers, 30, 51–53, 93, 135n.9, Pls. 11–12; of women, 28, 31; of worthy men, 27, 30, 52–53, 68, 71, 92, 130n.7, 135n.6, 137n.31; used to find Fu Yue, 92, 92, 96, 96, 98, 98, 100 Portraits of Emperors from Antiquity, attr. Lang Yuling, 135nn.9, 13 Portraits of Former Emperors, attr. Yan Liben, 51–53, 55, 93, 135nn.8– 13, 136nn.14–15, Pls. 11–12 Powers, Martin J., 69–70, 132n.45, 142nn.70, 72 pre-Buddhist illustration, 30–36, 40, 44, 46, 49, 63, 68, 79 prefaces, 47, 50, 76, 83–84, 100, 108, 151n.30, 155n.116; critical remarks in, 93, 99–100; explanatory, 87– 89, 96–97, 99–100, 121, 142n.73; flattery in, 96–97, 99; for new audience, 94–95, 150n.15, 151n.43 preliminary sketches, 58, 63, 140nn.28, 33 propaganda, visual, 53, 78–84, 92–93, 124 protagonist, 16–18, 20, 23–25, 42, 55, 70, 84, 106, 128n.56 Protesting the Seat, 85–86, 147n.84, Pl. 18 publishing. See woodblock printing punctuation of texts, 89, 92, 99, 103 Qi, Righteous Stepmother of, 30, 31, 33 Qi Shi in Lu, Woman from, 32, 32 Qian Gu, 3 Qian Xuan, 137n.32 Qiao Zhongchang, 71, 72, 143n.87 qilin, 110. See also Unicorn Pavilion Qin Guan, 62 Qin Shihuangdi, 8, 33–34 Qiu Ying, 117, 146n.73 Qu Yuan, 68–69, 71 quality, levels of artistic, 6, 92, 95, 98, 100, 113, 115–117, 120, 136n.22 Qufu, 4, 104, 111, 113–115, 117–118,

154n.106, 155nn.110, 112; temple, 4, 111, 113, 118 Raudrāksa, 20, 20 reading influenced by printed format, 97–99, 101–102 Record of the Bright Mirror, 89 Red Cliff, Su Shi’s outing to, 7, 12, 12, 15, 71. See also Second Rhapsody on the Red Cliff The Refugees, 86, 147n.87 regent, 21, 75, 86, 90, 123, 130n.2, 143n.13, 157n.36 Register of Paintings in the Xu­ anhe Palace, 57, 63–64, 136n.26, 137n.30, 140n.24, 145n.48 remonstrance. See admonition Returning Home, 69–72, 70, 142nn.70–85, Pl. 13 revival, dynastic, 78, 81, 83–84, 92; of earlier art form, 2, 52–53, 63, 66, 78–79, 84, 89, 124, 144n.29; fugu, 121 “Rhapsody on the Palace of Luminous Prosperity,” 28–29 Romance of the Three Kingdoms, 152nn.59, 62 rulers, illustrated stories of exemplary, 4, 60, 76, 79, 84–85, 87–88, 91, Pls. 2, 5. See also Cultivating Rectitude; Duke Wen of Jin Recovers His State; The Emperor’s Mirror; Illustrated Stories of Rulers and Ministers; Pictures of Contemplating Texts and Using the Past as a Mirror The Sacred Edict, Illustrated and Explained, 94, 149n.5 same artist painting Buddhist and non-Buddhist themes, 48–50, 57, 73 same narrative, different compositions, 2, 21–22, 31–32, 54, 68, 95, 108, 113–117; different formats, 19–22, 31–32, 38, 82, 91–92, 94–97, 101–102, 113–117, 120; different media, 2, 21, 61, 76, 91, 94–95, 108–111, 113, 118, 153n.89, 154n.96, 155n.110. See also social diffusion of narrative Sāñchi, 38, 38 Sāriputra, 20, 20

sash, writing on a, 29, 130n.18 schools, 28, 108, 121–124 screen, as a format, 21, 28, 31–32, 36, 49, 69; in Han, 28, 31; in Sima Jinlong tomb, 31–32, 131nn.35, 38, Pl.5; in Song, 69, 75–76, 86, 142nn.71, 75; used in admonition, 28, 60, 86, 106; women depicted on, 28, 31–32 Second Rhapsody on the Red Cliff, 2, 71–73, 72, 125n.15, 142–143nn.86–89 self-expression, illustrations with, 9, 62, 64, 67–68, 73; valued in painting, 1, 5, 8–9, 61–62, 68, 74, 119 sequencing, 3, 5, 9–10, 12, 16, 19–22, 25, 33–35, 38–40, 42–47, 70–73, 82, 129nn.76–77, 134n.36, 135n.11. See also linear sequence sequential (composition), 19–20, 25, 34, 36, 42–49, 71, 82, 109, 129n.59, 140n.25; continuous, 19, 25, 38, 45, 71, 129n.60; segmented, 19, 25, 38, 40, 43, 45–46, 82–83, 129n.59 “Seventh Month,” illustrations, 48, 134n.47, 152n.57 Shang Lu, 103, 151n.44 Shao Bao, 104, 117, 152nn.50–51 Shao Changheng, 152n.53 Shao Yiren, 4, 117, 126n.31 Shen Ruizheng, 3 Shen Shixing, 2, 108, 125n.9, 153n.82 Shen Zhou, 125n.4, 143n.1 Shengji tu. See Life of Confucius, pictures of Shengjidian. See Hall of the Sage’s Traces Shi Kefa, 105 Shigisan engi emaki, 129n.60 Shih, Hsio-yen, 42–43, 129n.74, 133nn.16–19, 134n.49 Shu (kingdom), 62, 105 shu (writing, verbal representation), 3, 119, 156n.1 Shun, 39–40, 40, 41 Silbergeld, Jerome, 71, 73, 142– 143nn.86–87, 95 Sima Guang, 86–87, 147n.92 Sima Jinlong, 31–32, 131nn.35, 38, Pl. 5 Sima Qian, 108, 114, 130n.7, 132n.53, 150n.25

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Sima Shao (Jin Mingdi), 48, 131n.36, 134nn.45–47 “simultaneous narrative,” 128n.56, 132n.48 Six Injunctions, 94, 149n.4 Smith, Barbara Herrnstein, 10 social diffusion of narrative, 6, 21– 22, 74–75, 94–95, 117 Song Gaozong. See emperors, Song Song Lian, 56, 104, 138n.49, 148n.111, 152n.57 Song Qi, 145n.40 Spirit of Mt. Heng, 58, 58 Stanley-Baker, Joan, 95, 152n.53, 156n.6 stelae (stone tablets), 44–46, 108– 109, 134n.40, 137n.31, 153n.89 Su Che, 62 Su Shi, 1, 21–22, 24, 22–24, 53, 61–62, 65–66, 69, 71–72, 72, 156n.3; circle of, 24, 61–64. See also Red Cliff Summaries of the Actions of a Crown Prince (Chenghua shilue), 87–88, 147–148nn.96–101; Qing reconstruction, 87–88, 88, 121, 122, 147n.96, 148nn.102–103, 157n.27; Wang Yun original, 87, 147n.96 Sun Wei, 59 Suzhou, 2, 95, 106–108; art market, 2, 104, 107; “Suzhou fakes,” 95, 104, 106, 113, 116, 150n.13, 152n.53 synoptic (composition), 16–17, 68, 70, 128n.56 table of contents (in books), 101–102, 151n.38 Taigong Wang, 101 Taizhou school, 93–94, 148n.109, 149n.2 Tang Hou, 1, 61, 65 Tang Taizong. See emperors Tao Qian (Tao Yuanming), 69, 71–72. See also Returning Home text-image relationships, conceptual, 3–4, 9, 12, 28, 33, 36, 69, 73, 103; role of Li Gonglin, 62, 66–73. See also commentary text-image relationships, physical (in handscroll), 19, 32–33, 46–47, 63, 66, 68–69, 72, 77, 79, 82–84, 103, 113–115, 128n.47, 129n.60; (in other formats), 28, 30–31, 33, 36,

44, 87–88, 90–91, 96–99, 111, 114. See also cartouche(s); titles Tibetans, 52–53, 65 time in narrative, 9–10, 12, 21, 44. See also sequencing titles written on pictures, 77, 87, 91, 98, 101, 111, 114–115, 121, 136n.21, 155n.118 Todorov, Tzvetan, 20, 128n.41 tu (picture, visual representation), 3, 32, 119, 131n.40, 155n.118; as a term implying mediated view, 155n.118; vs. hua, 119; vs. shu, 3, 119 tutor (lecturer), palace, 75, 86–91, 101, 121, 135n.10, 136n.15, 155n.125 Twenty-four Exemplars of Filial Piety, 94, 150n.8 “Two Peaches Kill Three Warriors,” 34, 34 Uighur(s), 65, 66, 106 Unicorn Pavilion, 27, 50, 60, 130n.7 vernacular language, 11, 92, 94, 133n.31 viewer, common, 4, 61, 74, 152n.79; diverse types of, 6, 12, 101; engagement of, 8, 24, 51, 55, 65, 68–70, 85; expectations of, 4–5, 74, 119; educated, 2–3, 9, 12, 68– 69, 103, 119; informed, 12, 27–28, 35–36, 42, 51, 61, 68; order of perusal by, 10, 25, 68, 71; recognizing the story, 12, 36, 51, 68–69, 83, 111; response, 4–5, 12, 21, 23–24, 27–28, 58, 60, 68–69, 82, 93, 99, 108, 119; as witness or participant, 8, 24, 68–70 viewing habits, 4, 6, 28 Vimalakīrti, 48, 134n.35 Vinograd, Richard, 95 visual authority, 51, 57, 62, 78, 92 visual culture, 4, 6, 73–74, 78, 109, 119 visual pleasure, 4–5, 100, 117 visual presentation of narrative, variables of, 14–15, 22. See also conceptual approach; compositional structure; format; narrative illustration, techniques and conventions visual rhetoric, 2–3, 31, 36, 48, 82 voyeuristic access, 5–6, 82, 93, 103

vulgar, narrative considered, 4, 140n.22 wall painting (mural format), 19–22, 25, 30, 32, 36, 42, 50, 129nn.77, 158; cartoons and copies, 62, 135n.6, 154n.96 Wang Anshi, 81, 86 Wang Chong, 28–30, 50, 130nn.6, 13 Wang, Eugene, 11, 34–35, 127n.36, 130n.14, 132n.52, 137nn.29, 33 Wang Kui, 20 Wang Mingqing, 143n.13, 144nn.17, 25, 147n.91 Wang Qinweng, 117, 119, 155n.114 Wang Tingwang, 150n.17 Wang Wei, 61–62, 156n.3 Wang Xilie, 97, 150nn.17–18 Wang Xizhi, 7, 54, 56–57, 137n.34. See also Orchid Pavilion Wang Yangming, 93–94, 148n.109 Wang Yanshou, 27, 30 Wang Yinglin, 136n.16, 143n.13, 144nn.19, 29, 147nn.82, 89 Wang Yirong, 121 Wang Yishan, 147nn.91–92 Wang Yun, 87–88, 88, 121, 122, 147– 148nn.96–101 Wang Yunpeng, 101–102, 102, 151nn.39–43 Wang Zeng, 91, 149n.123 Wang Zhaojun, 11 Wang Zhen, 108, 149n.123, 153n.87 Wang Zhenpeng, 103, 117, 151n.44, 152nn.47, 49, 153n.79 Wang Zhideng, 106–108, 152– 153nn.67–69, 74 Wangchuan Villa, 62 Wanhuxuan, 101–102, 102, 151n.41 Wanli. See emperors, Ming Wei Xie, 49, 131n.36, 134n.51 Wei Yan, 64, 64, 140n.27 Wei Zhizhang, 114, 117, 119, 155n.114 Weitz, Ankeney, 74, 144n.33 Weitzmann, Kurt, 36, 128n.56, 129n.59, 132n.48 Welcoming the Imperial Carriage, 82–84, 145n.59, 146nn.62–69, Pl. 15 Wen Peng, 117 Wen Zhengming, 2, 117, 125n.15, 137n.32, 152n.49 Wencheng, Princess, 52 Weng Fanggang, 81, 142n.71

Weng Tonghe, 121, 156n.23 Wenji, Lady. See Cai Yan Western art concepts, 1, 7–8, 126nn.9, 22, 27, 127n.14, 128n.56, 129nn.59, 65, 138n.54 White, Hayden, 10 wife: of Duke Huan of Qi, 128n.47; of Duke Ling of Wei, 32, 155n.117; of Su Shi, 72; of Tao Yuanming, 70 women: as audience for narrative illustration, 4, 14, 29, 94; illustrations of exemplary, 14, 30–32. See also Admonitions of the Instructress; Biographies of Exemplary Women; Eighteen Songs of a Nomad Flute; Ladies’ Classic of Filial Piety; Goddess of the Luo River woodblock-printed illustrations, 2, 6, 19, 21–22, 73–74; and baimiao style, 59, 73; compared with painted versions, 21, 95–96, 102, 104, 113–115; inspiring paintings, 102, 113–115, 121; and lithographic style, 87, 124; reproducing paintings, 61, 76–77, 91, 95–96, 102, 114–115, 149n.129; reproducing stone tablets, 113, 137n.31, 155n.110. See also books; woodblock printing woodblock printing: anonymity in, 2, 74, 95, 100; commercial, 6, 95, 97, 101–102, 117–118, 150n.22, 151n.39; at court, 77, 87–90, 121, 150n.15; invention of, 95; low status of, 95, 104; as medium of replication, 6, 95, 118; by Ming princes, 111, 154nn.97, 104; in Nanjing, 91, 100; by officials, 94–101 passim; and wide circulation, 6, 93–95, 110, 113, 117–118. See also Huang family blockcarvers; Wang Yunpeng words, superiority to images, 3–5. See also writing and pictures writing and pictures, origins of, 3; complementarity of, 3–4, 51, 88, 108, 119; conflict between, 4–5, 69. See also Zheng Qiao Wu Daoxuan (Wu Daozi), 50, 57– 61, 58, 65, 73, 138–139nn.56–65, 153n.69

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Wu Family Shrines, 8, 25, 30–34, 131n.28 Wu Hung: on Buddhist imagery, 8, 37, 132n.3; on Han images, 30–33, 35–36, 130nn.11, 23, 131nn.28–34, 38, 42, 45, 55; on narrative illustration, 8, 24, 30–33, 35–36, 126n.7, 127n.26, 132n.14; on other topics, 129n.65, 135n.55 Wu Kangyu, 106, 152n.68 Wu Liang Shrine, 30–33, 31, 131nn. 29, 32–34, 38, 43 Wu Shen, 55, 62, 137n.38, 138n.43 Wu, Tung, 135nn.8, 11, 145n.58 Wu Yue, 56, 137nn.37, 39, 138n.45 Wu Zeng, 56, 138n.46 Wu Zixu, 11, 28–29, 34, 35, 49, 127n.36, 130n.14, 132nn.51–52, 134n.51 Wu Zongyuan, 58 Wuyingdian, 88, 121, 122 Xi Xia (Tangut kingdom), 81 Xia Wenyan, 1, 65 Xiang Yuanbian, 117, 146n.73 Xiangtuo, 34 Xiao Yi Obtains the Lanting Manuscript by Trickery, 54–57, 55, 56, 106; attribution to Yan Liben, 54–57, 138nn.45–46, 49; two compositions for, 55, 137n.39; versions of, 54–56, 137–138nn.38–47 Xiao Zhao, 84, 146–147nn.73–75

Xie He, 29, 48, 61, 150n.10 Xie Shichen, 2 Xie Zhaozhi, 4, 119 Xiongnu, 19, 44, 81–82, 145n.58 Xu Bangda, 136nn.20–21, 27, 137nn.32, 34, 145n.59, 146n.69, 147n.84 Xu Fu, 121–123 Yan Liben, 50–60, 52–56, 62, 73, 93, 106–107, 135nn.7, 9, 13, 138nn.45– 49, Pls. 11–12 Yan Lide, 51, 60, 136n.27 Yang Guifei, 15–16, 16, 128n.52 Yang Pu, 7 Yang Shouchen, 153n.88 Yang Sisun, 121, 156n.21 Yangzheng tu. See Cultivating Rectitude, Illustrated Yangzheng tujie. See Cultivating Rectitude, Illustrated and Explained Yangzhou, 105, 114, 119, 154n.106, 155n.114 Yanshansi, 20, 20 Yao, 40, 133n.12 Yao, daughters of, 40, 133n.12 Yao Yun of Gao’an, 53, 136n.21 Yellow Emperor, 76 Yonglegong, 25, 129n.77 Yonglian, 120 Yu Anqi, 106, 153n.73 Yu He, 117 Yu, tripods of, 8, 33, 132n.45

Yuan An Sleeps during the Snowfall, 75–76, 76, 143nn.9–12 Yuan Ang, 85–86, 147n.86 Yuan Jue, 117 Yuanyou era, 62, 81, 86 yun (resonance), 24, 141n.49 Zeng Yu, 140n.28, 140n.33 Zengzi (5th c. bce), 66, 71 Zhan Xiyuan, 117 Zhang Chou, 125nn.6–7, 126n.2, 143n.1 Zhang Hua, 14, 128nn.46–48 Zhang Juzheng, 4, 24, 91–93, 96–101, 96, 120, 149nn.127, 131, 150n.15, 151n.37 Zhang Kai, 108–111, 109, 110, 114, 117–118, 153n.88, 154nn.90, 94 Zhang Lei, 62–63, 140n.33 Zhang Lu, 22, 129n.68 Zhang Qian, 44 Zhang Ruo’ai, 120, 156n.17 Zhang Wu, 68, 69, 142n.68 Zhang Xuan, 59–60, 140n.27 Zhang Xun, 64, 140n.33 Zhang Yanyuan, 3, 27, 32–33, 48, 50, 53, 58, 61, 106, 129n.64, 130n.13, 134n.52, 137n.36 Zhang Yi, 135n.9 Zhang Yingdeng, 111, 116, 154nn.106, 108, 155n.110 Zhao Boju, 125n.15 Zhao Bosu, 2, 125n.15

Zhao Gan, 8 Zhao Lin, 137n.32 Zhao Mengfu, 2, 125n.7, 143n.1 Zhao Yuqin, 81, 145n.42 Zhen Dexiu, 87 Zheng Guifei, 150n.7 Zheng Ji, 90–91, 148nn.114, 118 Zheng Qiao, 3, 74, 135n.12 Zheng Xia, 86, 147n.87 Zhenjin (Yuan Yuzong), 87, 121, 122 Zhi Zhongyuan, 55, 138n.42 Zhiyong, 54 Zhong Huamin, 94, 149n.4 Zhou Bida, 135n.10, 136n.15, 147n.79 Zhou, Duke of, 27, 97, 130n.2 Zhou Fang, 59–60, 106 Zhou Mi, 74, 141n.55, 145n.37 Zhou Wu, 150n.28, 151n.41 Zhu Changluo. See emperors, Ming, Taicang Zhu Jianzhang, 81 Zhu Jingxuan, 50, 57–58, 60 Zhu Shilu, 93, 100–102, 148n.105, 149n.132 Zhu Xi, 108–109, 111, 125n.7, 147n.97, 154n.90 Zhu Yun, 85, 107 Zhu Zaihuo, 91 Zhu Zhifan, 106, 153n.73 Zhuang, King of Chu, 16, 29 Zhuang Chang, 2, 125nn.6–7, 143n.1 Zhuge Liang, 105, 152nn.59–61 Zou Shouyi, 91, 120, 148nn.120, 122

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About the Author

Julia K. Murray (B.A. and M.A. Yale University, 1974; Ph. D. Princeton University, 1981) is professor of art history, East Asian studies, and religious studies at the University of Wisconsin, where she has taught since 1989. Previously she held positions at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Freer Gallery of Art, and the Harvard University Art Museums. Long devoted to interdisciplinary research on illustration and its cultural contexts, she has published numerous articles and books, including Ma Hezhi and the Illustration of the Book of Odes and Last of the Mandarins. For the present book, she received grants or fellowships from the American Council of Learned Societies, Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation, Smithsonian Institution, Asian Cultural Council, the Metropolitan Center for Research on Far Eastern Art, and the University of Wisconsin Graduate School. She was recently awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship for her investigation of a shrine to Confucius near Shanghai.

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Production Notes for Murray  |  mirror of morality Cover and interior designed by April Leidig-Higgins in Minion Pro,   with display type in Tai Chi. Composition by Copperline Book Services, Inc. Printing and binding by Friesens Printed on 80 lb. Sterling Ultra Matte White, 435 ppi.

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