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Chinese Art Treasures (Art Ebook) PDF
Chinese Art Treasures (Art Ebook) PDF
Front cover
Back cover:
Wen Cheng-ming
Willo
26)
:.._
._^
61
Ma
Sung
dynasty)
from
TAICHUNG, TAIWAN
,^,jf^
^'***-*-i4,
i--.
Exhibited
in
The National
1961-1962
The M.
of Fine Arts,
Institute of
H.
Washington
Gallery of Art,
of Art,
New York
Boston
Chicago
HONORARY PATRONS
The Honorable John
Kennedy
F.
HONORARY COMMITTEE
For the Republic of China:
His Excellency
Chen Cheng
His Excellency
Vice President
His Excellency
Wang Yun-wu
of the Executive
Yuan
Shen Chang-huan
to the
of State
The Honorable
of the
Dillon
Treasury
Everett F. Drumright
American Ambassador
to the Republic of
Bullitt
S. Robertson
R.
Luce
China
of the Executive
Yuan
/
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
'
Wang
Shih-chieh, chairman
Han Lih-wu
Chang Tao-fan
Li
Chang Chun
Chiu Nien-tai
Hu Shih
Kung Teh-cheng
Chi
Lo Chia-luen
For
t/ie
Walter Heil
Director,
The M.
H. de
Young Memorial
IVIuseum,
San Francisco
John Maxon
Director of Fine Arts,
The Art
Perry T. Rathbone
Director, The Museum
James
J.
Director,
Institute of
of Fine Arts,
Chicago
Boston
Rorimer
The Metropolitan Museum
of Art,
New
Yorl<
John Walker
Director,
The
SELECTION COMMITTEE
For the Republic of China:
Wang
Shih-chieh
Ma Shou-hua
Lo Chia-luen
Chuang Shang-yen
Kung Teh-cheng
Tan T'an-chiung
Chiang Ku-sun
Na
Chih-liang
John A. Pope,
chairman
Aschwin Lippe
Tseng Hsien-ch'i
\
CATALOGUE COMMITTEE
John A. Pope,
Chairman
Aschwin Lippe
CHINESE OFFICIAL
James
Cahill
Chuang Shang-yen
IN
Yang Yun-chu
V,
Preface
in
each upheaval,
it
has been
in
Its
scope
is
compre-
as
its
in
and
experts alike.
art
In
many
of the best
time.
first
Founded
Palace
in
1925 by the
Museum
court at Peiping.
Government
inherited
Its
of the
its
long-established policy
is
other of
its
tion. Its
success
responsibilities
in
saving
is
it
to provide a
all
good
art lovers.
An-
of
moved the
art
War
in
1937, the
Chinese Government
re-
Kweichow where they were kept for the duration of the war. When
Communist revolt spread over many parts of the country in
1948-1949, the Chinese Government and the Museum decided to
the
accu-
As
movement
early as 1953 a
Palace
Museum
Taiwan have
at its site in
movement. Much
also
is
owed
to Mr.
greatly
encouraged the
To begin
with, there
as well as
se,
in
is
intrinsic value
presenting Chinese
art
heritage. Furthermore,
Chinese
Chinese philosophy
traditional
ancient Chinese
art,
especially
of
in
Many
life.
a masterpiece of
art,
may be
venture
to suggest,
if
of
it
to impart a high
is its ability
sense
of tran-
artist
sions
tion.
of
it
was
rather a world
Moreover,
ours a
fuller
understanding
of
assumes
new
in
Chinese
may
also serve as a reminder that the free Chinese are fighting to save
their cultural heritage as
in
same
time,
all
care
In
is laid
the
of the vast
each
Many
of the
we
work
John A. Pope,
of Dr.
Dr.
Mr.
of the joint
Board
to express
profound appreciation
of Directors of
Department
wish also
of State
and
of
these
art
To
all
those
changes, may
who
high reward for past efforts and offers great encouragement for
future endeavors.
Wang
Taipei,
Taiwan
Republic of China
Shih-chieh.
Foreword
Interest
Chinese
in
art is
no new thing
in
The
with such
museum
ed American
visitors
in
still
some
of
we began
it
of
was
back into
to look farther
enthusiasm
In their
the collectors of
of
fifty
after a
in
names
their catalogues.
Now,
in
our collections
date from these pioneer days, and these have been supplemented
by the discriminating purchases of the last two generations of
pre-eminent
in
become accustomed
public has
Chinese
art.
It
is
connoisseurship
in
perhaps because
of
Americans
phase
that
the
known
interest
Government
museums
a selected
collection
in
National
Museum
The present
of
Museum and
of
the
in
our
Palace
in
group
of
and
the
in
the Chinese
Chinese National
Central
Taichung, Taiwan.
exhibition will serve not only to sharpen the standards
of scholars professionally
occupied
in this field
but to
show
the
Those
culture.
charge
in
Chinese
keep
in
mind
The
highest quality.
result
to
show them
an exhibition
is
in
examples
of
Chinese
in
For help
to
many
in
assembling
remarkable exhibition
this
K. C. Yeh, the
Chinese Ambassador
Wang
much
his years as
Government
behalf of the
in
On
American
the
George
way
charge
of
Foreign Minister
in
negotiations on
of the
are indebted
of Dr.
in
to clear the
we
made
details
all
side.
from selection to
S.
our Government
in
in
many
to the interest of
in
We
are also
most
Inc.
Many other
James.
Chinese-American com-
John A. Pope
Gallery of Art,
Aschwin Lippe
Art,
who
travelled to
exacting task.
American museums,
of the
Museum
Museum
of Fine Arts,
On
James
time-consuming assignment
Pope and
Cahill,
of
Boston,
to this
museums,
12
particularly
"^^
chiung,
Na
Chih-liang,
and
Lin-ts'an,
Li
which,
Finally,
in
catalogue
museums wish
L.
is
Koo, on
based.
express their
to
and beauty
to the
American
public.
JOHN WALKER
Director,
JAMES
Director,
The National
Gallery of Art,
Washington
RORIMER
J.
of
Art
RATHBONE
PERRY
T.
Director,
The Museum
of Fine
Arts, Boston
JOHN MAXON
Director of Fine Arts,
WALTER
Director,
The Art
Institute of
Chicago
HEIL
The M.
San Francisco
H. de
Introduction
The Collection
The former
vast
assemblage
of art objects
Museums
part,
as
gifts.
taste
orthodox schools
Chinese
gaps
later times,
in
kilns,
in
art,
it,
limitations,
its
Museum
is
of
finest pieces in
The
collection
it
is
from 1908
until 1912,
but
were given as
it
gifts or
who
was under
otherwise disposed
placed
Central
in
a separate
Museum
in
museum
of.
Most
many
of
some
threatened by the Japanese invasion, the most important objects from both
collections were crated and shipped south to Shanghai and Nanking. Later
they remained throughout the war. Between 1945 and 1947, the crates were
moved back
to Nanking,
and
in
15
The
earliest period in
preserved artifacts
1028 B.C.
until
China that
Shang
the
is
is
(in
of the
remains of a
was reached
Chou dynasty
ing
in
the late
of
Anyang
in
times, are
in
and
artistic
Shang and
succeed-
manu-
was never
the traditional
in
capital
of this civilization
Han
among
art.
to be equalled in
powerful shapes and well integrated decor, however, as well as for the amazing
precision of the casting and the richly colored patina they have acquired with
surfaces, have valued the vessels rather as relics of a great early stage
by Confucius,
of rulers
relief or linear
Chou
of the
in
their
in
who could
afford
such
significance
in
the lives
and ceremony.
ancestors.
ritual
when
Some
in
those
begun
from the
truly
ancient
originals.
By the middle of the Chou, the central power was drastically weakened, and
the country divided into feudal principalities. By the time of Confucius (551-
Chinese history.
and sculpture flourished under the Han, but little of either
survives. Painting is known chiefly through pictorial engravings in stone, and
sculpture through small objects of bronze, pottery and jade. The jade chimera
in the exhibition, while it is probably of a slightly later date, retains a good bit
220 A.D.)
The
of
in
arts of painting
Han
and reveals how well the sculptors had by now mastered threeitself. Jade is a "tough" stone comfibrous crystals which cannot be cut or carved, but must be worked
style,
posed
of
entirely by abrasion
like.
16
drills,
in
brown, green, yellow, grey and white tones, with subtle markings. To the
visual loveliness
and
tactile
One
great chapter
in
art,
centuries following the Han: the Six Dynasties, Sui and T'ang periods,
illustrated in this exhibition at
small
gilt
all.
much
attraction for
in
Buddhism
in
any
in
the
in
the
is in
in
first
became
a powerful element in
attract
It
was
it
the peak of
at
declined
art,
it
Chinese society
the
in
not
in
is
the form of
its
influence from
is
unmatched especially
Sung dynasty
is
Museum
in
highest
Collection
is
the core of
(the third
in
earlier is
The
Museum
collection in
It
is
number
in
numbers.
Sung and
earlier
and
can be safely ascribed to particular masters, but the same or (more commonly)
paintings
scholars
will
in all
may be
in
stylistic traditions to
future
which
they belong. Of the few extant early paintings with trustworthy signatures
exhibition.
Most Chinese painting occurs in one or the other of the two forms of mounting
mentioned above, the handscroll and hanging scroll. The handscroll is in the
shape of a horizontal strip, ordinarily about a foot in height but varying greatly
in length. It is kept rolled up except when actually being viewed, at which time
one sees it in sections, as the pictures pass before one's gaze, one hand
unrolling (to the left) and the other rerolling the portion already seen. Such
scrolls were not, therefore, meant originally to be exposed at full length, as
they must be in an exhibition, at least so far as space permits. The hanging
17
scroll, by contrast,
as
to be
was intended
is
either of a collection of
hung on the
third
form
is
wall
and seen
In its entirety,
may
consist
small
artist,
works poems
accounts
poems
comments
in
the
calligraphy
of the
paintings
in
inscriptions were also written on the mountings, or, in the case of handscrolls,
on separate pieces of paper or silk mounted after the picture. Inscriptions of
names. Most
in
of the large
Museum
common.
The early
is known
history of
chiefly
Chinese painting,
through
prior to the
literary
we
in
when
and Mongolia, and placed it once more under a single native rule. The T'ang
inherited and consolidated this new national power, and through brilliant
west.
military campaigns pushed the frontiers of Chinese dominance far to the
Changan, the T'ang capital, became the richest and most cosmopolitan city
perhaps
of the seventh century world. The painting that is stylistically (although
not
to
in
Yen Li-pen
pride
(d. 673),
an
in
reflects the
Chinese
from
in
Southeast Asia. Figure subjects were most popular in the T'ang period;
life.
historical anecdotes, famous personages of the past, scenes of palace
Another favorite subject was animals, especially horses, a genre in which the
eighth century master
new prominence
in
to Shu,
is
An example
is
to
assume
the famous
subordinated to
its
of the
18
who worked
most
for the
of ink
known
and were
some cases
in
attributed
is
who
Thatched Lodge.
Under the brief Five Dynasties period (906-960) which followed the T'ang,
China was divided once more, with short-lived "dynasties" succeeding one
another
in different
T'ang, with
its
Among
capital at Nanking,
was
relatively peaceful.
It
claimed to be the
and continued T'ang artistic traditions. The court Academy of the last Southern T'ang ruler, the poet-emperor
Li Yu, included several of the greatest Chinese artists: Chou Wen-chij, who
specialized in scenes of palace ladies the flower painter Hsu Hsi Chao Kan,
;
for river
who, along with two northern painters of slightly earlier date, Ching Hao and
Kuan T'ung, began the evolution that was to culminate in the incomparable
landscapes
of the eleventh
by the Liao dynasty of the Khitan Tartars, which lasted into the early twelfth
The famous
century.
paintings of deer
in
period, and others in the exhibition, whether or not actually painted by Liao
artists,
belong
in
The Sung dynasty (960-1260) is customarily divided into two parts: the first
(960-1127), when the capital was located at the northern city of Kaifeng, is
known as the Northern Sung, and the remainder, the period after the capital
had been moved south to Hangchow and the north of China abandoned to the
Chin (Jurchen) Tartars, as the Southern Sung. Among the Northern Sung
artists,
Ch'eng and
Li
continuing with Fan K'uan, Kuo Hsi and others, a succession of masters of
landscape
critics
to a height of
elsewhere. Through a
speak
of
consummate handling
of ink
in
China or
monochrome technique,
space, mass and texture,
they gave to their compositions a sense of vast order and coherence that
reflects both the Taoist
beings, placed
play only minor
The same
in
in
shift of interest
such eminent
artists
as Ts'ui Po and
The
last of the
of nature
in this
Yuan-chi were
may be seen
when
period,
summoned
to paint for
who
specialized
in
Academy.
genre
The
his
same
in
Human
in
Hui-tsung's Academy,
Sung
in this
Li
T'ang, occupies
styles.
much
main phases
ing
Sung tradimonumental landscape, while the handscroll, especially in its openpassage, points the way to the smaller-scale, more intimate mode that
was
of his art
of the Northern
tion of the
Academy through
19
its full
maturity
in
the school of
Ma Yuan and
Hsia Kuei,
the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries. Ever greater areas of the
picture
viated.
The
into an
ideal realm,
of
Academy works
Su Han-ch'en
or
Li
in
Sung, or
birds, animals
outside the
Academy,
especially
in
in
such
later
Sung
who were
these men,
"literati
artists
as
Wu
YiJan-chih and
Mou
Li
Kung-lin, as
displays of
in
In
landscape,
the main theme of Yuan painting, they turned from the styles and taste of
partly
new,
partly derived
Kuo Hsi. Bamboo painting in ink monochrome was also popular among the Yuan artists.
With the Ming dynasty (1368-1644), native rule was restored to China, and
Chinese culture, including painting, came to be suffused with the sense of
particularly those of
Tung
Yiian and
tradition of the
of a
group
artists of rank,
such as
Wang
first
century
of professionals,
New
represented
in
in
the exhibition.
life
Chinese painting. Also active in the same city of Soochow (just west of
in this period were T'ang Yin and Ch'iu Ying, two very versatile
painters who, with remarkable success, combined the superb technical mastery
in
Shanghai)
of the best professional styles with the refined taste of the scholars.
20
of the individualists.
Tung Ch'i-ch'ang,
day,
shou,
represented
is
in
in
Museum.
the Palace
The orthodox
line in
Wangs (Wang
Shih-min,
Wang
in
Wang
Wu
Chien,
Li
famous
early master.
richness
in
qualities, that
woven into the warp to make the design, was done in Central Asia as early
as the T'ang dynasty, and a few fragments of that age have been
discovered.
are
The three examples in the exhibition are attributed to the Sung dynasty;
two
of them bear signatures (also woven) of a famous master
of this technique,
Shen Tzu-fan. An example of Sung dynasty embroidery is also included.
Of
all
the arts
in
Because
in
ori-
and
much
firmer discipline
was required
of
inspiration
in
of practice.
21
Any understanding
of
of the
Chinese
script
com-
system
of
now
use can
of this primitive
in
came
Han, and
in
in
was followed by
the
in
which has been the orthodox form of writing ever since, and upon which the
The abbreviated and fluid cursive
in
writing letters
and drafts
of
documents,
evolved along with the Standard style; these are the Running (hsing-shu) and
mistranslated as "Grass") scripts. All these are
its
greatest heights
in
for sixteen
Wang
still
in
rose to
Hsi-chih,
art,
but
whom
the
belongs to this period. Very few examples of writing by the masters of that age
survive, except in stone engravings. Their works were admired, collected and
imitated, however, by
developments
in
first
piece of calligraphy
The
the exhibition.
in
New
was the
late
monk
Huai-su,
among
others.
literati
several paintings
writing.
The
although
into painting.
Yuan dynasty.
The
in
in
(//)
was
more and
Wen
Classic will be of
same
on
Wen Cheng-ming
Clerical
his inscriptions
the
in
is
more
in
more conventional.
Sung dynasty, the relationship between
it
After the
in
Standard
in
Museum
is
22
in
the case of
The wares
collected,
Sung, Ming and Ch'ing dynasonce more the aristocratic taste of the Ch'ien-lung Emperor for
high technical finish and elegant forms. Ceramics of periods prior to the Sung
are not to be found in this collection, which seems to have been formed primchiefly the products of the imperial l<ilns of the
ties,
reflect
arily
of
excavated pieces. Moreover, the Sung wares that were intended for more
practical use, such as the Chien and Tz'u-chou wares so much admired in the
west today, partly because of their popularity in Japan, have traditionally
been held in lower esteem by the Chinese, and are likewise absent from the
Sung ceramics
in
body
some
porcelain
in
is
generally softer
refinement
in all
aspects of their
art.
are of the highest order technically as well as artistically, with their f eld spat hie
glazes firmly bonded to high-fired stoneware bodies, and such glaze charac-
minute bubbles which are responsible for the unctuous appearance and texture, and the crackles that are cultivated as spontaneous patterns,
teristics as the
all
Examples
of four
ChiJn, Ju,
Honan Province, in the north of China. Its thick, bubbly glaze, on a fine light
stoneware body, ranges through soft blue and lavender tones, otten with
suffusions of crimson. Ju ware
and one
of the rarest;
is
it
is
one
of the
most renowned
of
Sung ceramics,
supervision and exclusively for use in ceremonial banquets in the imperial court,
and only during the short period from 1107 to the fall of the Northern capital
in 1127. The traditional site of the Ju kilns is at Ju-chou, also in Honan
Province, but no shards of the type now generally identified as Ju have
of
its
Northern Court
imperial court to
city for
at
Hangchow
in
1127, kilns
ban Altar")
kiln,
times so that
made
all
from which
one
at
kiln site
we have some
were established
The examples
of
at
two places
Southern Kuan
clues to
its
identification.
Many
of the
Kuan shapes
is
in
the
("Subur-
in
The colors
in that
modern
Kuan
of
nearly always
in
in itself;
a translucent white
ceramic had been produced as early as the T'ang dynasty, and another, the
23
Ch'ing-pai ware, under the Sung. (The Chinese word translated as "porcelain"
is
all
and produce a ringing sound when struck.) The date and circumstances
the origin of the blue and white technique are not known. Chinese tradition
fired
of
puts
Sung
the
in
it
found.
any case,
In
was
it
development was certainly stimulated by, if it did not originate in, the
close contacts with the Near Eastthat had been opened by the Mongol conquest
and
of
its
nearly
of
all
during
several of the Ming reigns, the cobalt material used for the underglaze blue
"Muhammedan
One
manufacture
in
porcelainous ware
of
in
the
Sung dynasty
had been made. Large deposits of kaolin or "china clay" and petuntse or
"china stone", along with other materials used
were
in
region.
In
the
a transparent glaze,
the end of the fourteenth century, imperial kilns were established at Ching-
become
in
China.
supplied blue and white porcelain to the imperial court, to the Chinese market
many extremely
fine pieces
found
their
in
the
way as
yu-li hung,
sometimes
replaced the underglaze blue decoration. But the technique, based on the
reduction of copper oxide, proved extremely difficult to control, and wastage
was so great
used
in
its
that
was
it
place.
Two
all
but
red
copper and
rare for
"sacrificial
distinction
is
not clear.
white
in slip
or incising on the
known
enamel colors
covering
sented
it.
in
in
The
either by far
is
Among
is
is
relief.
in
the exhibition,
is
of the
Ming polychromes,
well repre-
transparent green, yellow and aubergine enamels, together with an opaque red,
were
laid within
in
Monochrome
centuries.
blossomed
used
like
pigments
skillfully
controlled
on the porcelain
Some
ground.
of the finest known examples of such painting are in the exhibiinfluence of Europe, which reached the Chinese court through Jesuit
missionaries in Peking, appears in porcelain designs, and also in enamel designs
tion.
The
charm as
in
vases, for
are
none
example were
in
the Palace
in
Europeans
in
fact mostly
Museum
collection.
Blue-and-white porcelain was still manufactured with some skill under the
Ch'ing dynasty, but the vigor was gone from this medium. A decadence had
begun
in itself,
in
and
ceramic of
good
decline.
Finally, the exhibition includes objects in a variety of materials to exemplify
the varying taste of the scholars and nobility of the Ming and Ch'ing periods.
in
in
The evocation
pieces, notably some
of Ch'ing.
certain
in
the cloi-
of ancient
of the
bamboo
brush-holders. All these serve to round out the remarkably full picture
presented by this exhibition of Chinese art as it was admired and collected by
the emperors of China, and is now being carefully preserved in Taiwan as a
Map
of
in
the catalogue
Chinese Chronology
ShangorYin
Chou
256-207 B.C.
Ch'in
Han
The Three Kingdoms
The Six Dynasties
The Northern and Southern Dynasties
1028-256 B.C.
'
A. D. 220-589
589-618
Sui
T'ang
618-906
The
906-960
Five Dynasties
Northern Sung
960-1127
Southern Sung
1127-1260
of
China
proper, the Tartar dynasties of Liao (907-1123) and Chin (1115-1235) controlled
in the north. All were eventually engulfed by the
Mongols under Khubilai Khan who called himself emperor in 1260 and adopted
the dynastic name Yuan in 1271. The last Sung pretender was drowned in
1279.)
Yuan
1260-1368
Ming
1368-1644
Ch'ing
1644-1912
These dates are in accordance with the revised chronology; the traditional dates of the
Shang dynasty are 1766-1122 B.C. In Chinese history all dates before 770 B.C. are uncertain.
27
Selected Bibliography
It is not feasible to list the hundreds of booths and articles in English, French,
German, Chinese and Japanese that should be read by those who wish to
gain an understanding of Chinese art. The following brief selection of English
titles will
will
choice.
GENERAL
Laurence Sickman and Alexander Soper, The art and architecture of China,
Penguin Books, London and Baltimore, 1956.
New
York, 1960.
Rome,
Is.
M.E.O.
1958.
Osvald Siren, Chinese painting, leading masters and principles, Lund Humphries,
London, 1956-1958.
BRONZES
Bernhard Karlgren, Yin and Chou
of Far Eastern Antiquities, No.
by Karlgren
in
the
same
in
8,
Museum
bulletin).
W.
P. Yetts,
Institute of Art,
London,
1939.
CERAMICS
G. St. G. M. Gompertz, Chinese celadon wares, Faber and Faber, London, 1958.
William Bowyer Honey, The ceramic art of China and other countries of the
Far East... London, Faber and Faber and the Hyperion Press, 1945.
Soame Jenyns,
Later
Chinese
porcelain,
the
Ch'ing
dynasty
(1644-1912),
Shrine,
Freer
JADES
S.
TEXTILES,
ENAMELS,
carving,
LACQUER
and
MISCELLANEOUS
CARVINGS
The arts of the Ming dynasty. Oriental Ceramic Society, London 1958.
28
1950.
List of Titles in
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Chang Sheng-wen
CATALOGUE
Attributed to
Handscroll
The
of
in ink
painting
and color on
is
silk,
23%
white
parrot,
75^
cm)
an embassy from
Champa
Southeast Asia,
elephant tusks,
in
A.D.
631
peacock-feather fans, an
The
gifts
ibex,
tapir,
include
piebald
and strangely
Yen Li-pen was a high official and architect-painter in the T'ang capital,
Changan, during the seventh century. He became famous for his paintings
of religious
34
and other
figural subjects.
?;
l^t
-*/
K]
-<-
gives us a
fairly
The
whose
is in
The contour
lines
the painting
r*;^-..r>t-T-)--v.x-
and
title
on a
strip of silk
immediately preceding
An
to
(1082-1135),
Sung prime
scroll.
35
In
(T'ang dynasty)
scroll in ink
and colors on
had to
silk,
21^x31
in.
(55.9x81 cm)
An
Ming-huang)
title
beloved consort Yang Kuei-fei, he crossed the passes into Shu (Szechwan)
where his troops, believing, rig'htly or wrongly, that she had been involved
in the rebellion and was a menace to the dynasty, seized and killed her.
The emperor appears at the right of the picture, in a red robe, on horseback
the horse's mane is braided into three tufts. The round-faced ladies of his
harem, who follow him, wear high perched hats or "hennin" like peaked caps.
The center group has already unsaddled the horses and one of the camels is
being relieved of its pack. An advance party is climbing the next pass. The
of
actually
are
done
in fine
The
of hori-
colorful trees
and the disproportion in scale between figures and landscape are other features
of the T'ang style. Some scholars feel the painting was probably executed
during the tenth century, an opinion put forward two centuries ago by the
Ch'ien-lung emperor. Before being acquired by him,
of
Keng Chao-chung
(The
36
illustration
shows a
(1640-1686).
detail.)
it
was
in
the collection
*V-'''";:,--'^jaiS
37
Han Kan
Album
and
leaf in ink
(ca. 750,
light colors
on
silk,
T'ang dynasty)
10%x13%
in.
(27.5x34.1 cm)
The black
stallion and the grey are two of the famous blooded horses from
Ferghana and Khotan which were the pride and passion of the T'ang dynasty
emperors. The bearded groom also is a Central Asian.
Han Kan
said to have
is
summoned
tsung and
The
begun
was
is
it
dated 1107.
and another
of emperor Hui-tsung. It probably was executed in the tenth cenwas based on a work by Han Kan, it is a free copy and represents in
brushwork the style of the Northern Sung dynasty (late tenth - eleventh
tury.
Its
If
it
has been
in
Ch'Ing-piao (1620-1691).
38
mi
iv
Hung
10 sections) in
(in
on paper, 115^x236%
in.
T'ang dynasty)
(29.4x600 cm)
The "Thatched Lodge" was the country place of Lu Hung, on one of the five
Sacred Mountains, the Sung-shan near Loyang. He preferred his hermit's
life to the court position offered by the emperor. The ten scenes are views
of
and from
The
his beloved
abode.
artist.
Each scene
An appended encomium
The first
One body of
painting to Lu Hung.
this attribution.
accomplished
Lu Hung.
is
artist of
In
were a copy,
the
it
its
a version of Lu
on the painting,
inscription
of
is
by
in
bands
horizontal
of figures.
Li
The
if
the scroll
Kung-lin.
of mist,
painting, whatever
its
date,
is
of
scape, the scholar-artist's very personal view of scenes that were familiar
to
him
it
in
monochrome
painting.
It
has been
in
ch'i (1645-1704).
39
5-5
I^EER
DEER
IN
and colors on
scrolls in Ink
(906-960)
silk,
5:
46%
25%
in.
(118.5x64.6 cm)
6:
46%x25%
In.
(118.4x63.8 cm)
the
all
first
look
aware
its
the
in
same
is
proudly raising
an approaching danger.
of
antlers forward as
if
to threaten an
In
unseen
rival,
or
in
its
The rest of the herd is resting orfeeding. Both groups of animals, superbly
drawn with subtle shading in wet ink, are placed in a well-related composition.
The remainder of the pictures is almost entirely filled with colorful foliage in
red, pink, white and green blue is used for shading the white leaf areas, and
small colored birch trees are painted over the ink-drawing the latter have no
outlines, but a fine horizontal ink-dot pattern imitating the bark texture. Green
moss spots and many-colored lichens enliven trees and rocks.
tree.
In their
secondary
painting.
We
The treatment
in
front of dark
Persian miniatures
ones
is
can attribute the paintings to the Liao dynasty (907-1125) and to the tenth
century.
The
Liao empire
China proper as
far as
was sacked in 946. In their sculpture and pottery they continued the T'ang
style, and seem to have done so also in their painting.
Both pictures bear two Mongol imperial seals relating to the period between
1329 and 1340, and others of a seventeenth century Manchu collector.
(Only No.
40
5,
is illustrated.)
41
,^fc^J^^
v**''
=.#;4i3%^,^.;
mi
7-8
.:-ii<.IW*fiiSi^k***^^''
leaves
in
Hu Huai
ink
and colors on
silk,
T'ang)
7:
13!4x18J^
in.
(34.2x46.9 cm)
8:
12Xx17%
in.
(32.9x44.3 cm)
Khitan horsemen are hunting with eagles and falcons, an(d with hounds which
they carry on horseback while they scan the horizon for game.
One
of the
eagles has already struck a yellow fox-like animal. Their ponies are very
different
their caparisons.
We
felt
left
thighs.
42
The
a Khitan
some
The
slight shading.
hills
have a very
composition
of both
Manes and
light outline,
groups
tails
the slopes
them
the attribution.
In
in
hair-fme strokes.
it
is
further
empha-
free.
in
in
later
to the Liao
dynasty (907-1125).
43
WU AND
THE PARTING OF SU
Attributed to
Chou Wen-chu
LING
LI
Southern T'ang-
Sung dynasty)
Handscroll
Li
Ling
in ink
was
and colors on
silli,
a brilliant general
the Hsiung-nu or
13^x35%
in
in.
(33.3x89.9 cm)
B.C.).
When
by
the Khan, he entered the latter's service, married his daughter and spent the last
life
in
Su
he
l^iiled
and
tried to
Wu
When
was dispatched
(In
swerve
Su
Wu
sheep. Later
eventually
The
scroll is attributed to
44
who
Chou Wen-chij,
and followed
(961-975)
The
(Kaifeng).
his
signature, however,
is
doubtless a
Sung court
later addition
at
Pienliang
and neither
the subject matter nor the style of the painting supports the attribution.
Hu Huai (Nos.
7-8)
On
the
and point
Very fine
line
color;
compact
Sung
date. Figures
entirely
note the shading of the pink faces and the green horse.
we
initial
group
of the
groom
The
risoned horses, leads to the dramatic climax of the emotional parting and
is
then balanced,
in
not indicated.
The
in
old
title
of the painting,
late thirteenth
The
last
colophon
(907-1125).
It
The
first
was
is
in
dated 1383.
Some
Chao-chung
(1640-1686).
45
'10
PALACE CONCERT
Anonymous,
Hanging
scroll In Ink
Ten court
listening
ladies
and color on
silk,
\9%x27y.
In.
(48.7x69.5 cm)
and drinking
heartily.
The
the table.
The instruments
are,
from
right to
left,
dishes of red and black lacquer; the others as well as the long ladle of silver,
two with gold or gilded rims.
The plumpness of the ladies as well as their make-up, hairdo and costume
put the scene into the T'ang period, as do the furniture and its ornamentation
and the fact that the p'i-p'a is played with its neck held downward. It is
possible, however, that at the Southern T'ang court these traditions still were
preserved.
The
is
until
recently
(ca. 800).
was given
to the
46
overall
emphasis
on color.
9),
It
Chou Fang
47
1^
Attributed to
Hanging
Eight
scroll In ink
and color on
horsemen on
are grouped
asserts
itself
rock done
vertical
in
in
In.
(161.9x102 cm)
pleasantly
more than
soft,
silk,
in
drawn and
in
brilliant colors,
The
large
a native of
life.
seems
(Illustration
48
cropped
at
T'ai-tsu
pictures
te-
%
^.
-S,
'
M^
iiri^
l^r
^
m m'\\
mi-
49
ti^V
12
SNOW ON THE
EARLY
Attributed to
Handscroll
in ink
Chao Kan
and colors on
RIVER
10%
148X
T'ang)
(25.9x376.5 cm)
in.
among
islets
from an elevation.
is
still
and the
river flows.
move
against the
Fishermen engaged
various activities further enliven the scene. Their boats, rafts and nets are
same as those we can see in use today so are the wheel-barrow, the paper
the
flame of a
sense
of
fire,
humor
is
beam
of the net.
lively
expressions
of the travellers,
natural flow
river,
50
te^-^^
Chao Kan was a native of Nanking who served in the so-called Painting
Academy of the last Southern T'ang ruler, the poet and patron of the arts
Li Yij (961-975). He is said to have been skillful in the rendering of aquatic
subjects.
The
painting
is
not signed.
The
inscription with
title
painting by
Chao Kan
with this
title,
The
attribution
seems
was already in the collection of the Sung emperor Hui-tsung, i.e. before
The colophons, of which the first is dated 1329, include K'o Chiu-ssu,
Yu Chi and many Mongol officials. There are several seals of Emperor Changtsung of Chin and others of the Mongol emperor Wen-tsung whose collection
picture,
1125.
it
entered
in
1329,
and
of
79),
in
the collections of
51
13
TRAVELLERS
Hanging
IN
THE MOUNTAINS
Kuan T'ung
Attributed to
scroll In Ink
and some
light color
up
From
a monastery high
leads
in
silk,
56%x22>i
(144.4x56.8 cm)
In.
where a
river,
approaching a modest
traveller is
hamlet. People are drinking, children are playing; there are pigs
The
in their sty,
beings and landscape, however, have changed, and the genre scene
reduced to a
detail of
human
now is
There
Strong, irregular, partly broken outlines of varying width and with accents of
a pressed-down brush delineate the powerful mountains and rocks.
short, black
Some
in
The
for texture
few
which otherwise
is
way
the trees stand out against a misty background are comparable to the work
of Fan K'uan (No. 18). The mountain tops are strongly three-dimensional and
the picture has depth and distance.
Kuan T'ung,
a native of
hardness
of rock
antique elegance
human
his
him (with
in
figures"
(tr.
all
it
Li
Kuo mentions as
in
his
combinations
A. Soper).
In
of trees;
autumn
an
lovely peacefulness in
of
hills
we
The
mountain hostelries..."
painting
believe that
is
it
Ssu-tao (died
not signed.
We
(tr.
A. Waley).
attribute
it
to
Kuan T'ung
century.
It
or a follower,
and
(1328-1330),
and
of a
son of the
first
of
by
Wang
1683).
52
In
the collection of
An
Ch'i (born
53
54
14
TAOIST TEMPLE
Attributed to
Hanging
Tung
scroll In Ink
IN
THE MOUNTAINS
and colors on
silk,
72%
48%
In. (183.2 x
121.2
cm)
all
is
partly
and bridge
55
'Ig
IN
T'ang-Sung
dynasty)
Hanging
scroll In Ink
Two men
are engaged
in
light color
conversation
In
the valley
is
the landscape.
in
It
on
silk,
61%x30Ji
in tlie little
The
real
In.
(156.2x77.2 cm)
hills,
interrupted by
horizontal
flat
banks and table-lands. The foliage patterns are free and simplified
the scale
are
full
of tensile strength.
the sole purpose of representing vegetation but are consciously employed for
accent. Sky and water are covered with a light blue wash.
The
priest Chu-jan,
of
14).
When
(in
Chu-jan followed him and entered a monastery. Kuo Jo-hsii (ca. 1070)
writes that he was "a skillful landscape painter, whose brush and ink were
975),
fair
and mostly
rich.
He was good
at
The
picture
is
not signed.
There also
The
is
painting
It
is
(tr.
A. Soper).
the palace inventory seal of the years between 1373 and 1384.
is
so advanced
in style
Ching
56
"'l^aat'.
i'
'
"7
J.
'
-.
>
,.,*r'.5
57
'? ii -t
tf
^ T
f,
r-
rt
^ #
o.
I* S.
* M M'k
t\
*^
58
f%
:^A ^IW.!,BI
4 M t
/if:#..ij,M<p
1.
* H *.
;^
i 4\ %
U'
-4-
t^'
Ai
>1
fg
Attributed to
Chu-ts'ai
Five
(933-993,
Sung dynasty)
Hanging
scroll In ink
colorful
and colors on
pheasant
Is
silk,
38% x21X
in.
(99x53.6 cm)
lively
birds
concave outlines of the rocks are unbroken the rocks are shaded in wet
brushwork; leaves and reeds are strongly outlined.
Huang Chu-ts'ai was the youngest son of the famous bird and flower painter
;
Huang Ch'uan.
at Pienliang
The
picture
(Kaifeng).
is
painting
(929-965); later he
is, in
any case, no
later
Sung
with
title
and
attribution.
The
On
it
of the years
between
59
^7
FISHING
ON A WINTRY RIVER
Chou-Sung
dynasty)
Hanging
on
scroll In Ink
one nearly
66J^ x
40%
In.
solitary old
gnarled trees.
silk,
(170x101.9 cm)
his boat,
among
bleak,
snow-clad mountains
a recluse in
ness
And,
woods and
and
his
wondrous was
first
attained
Li
Li Ch'eng. Of the paintings in the Palace Museum Collecwhich are attributed to the master, this very "painterly" picture is, in our
genuine works of
tion
60
It
was
in
the collection of Pi
Yuan
(1730-1797).
61
-)g
and colors on
Sung dynasty)
scroll in ink
is
silk,
My,
BV/, x
in.
(206.3 x 103.3
cm)
is
wosh suggesting
the foreground rocks are silhouetted against the mountain stream fed by the
bold and simple waterfall in the distance. The roofs of a temple are just visible
above a densely wooded hill they are low with only a slight curve, and two layers
of supporting brackets. A monk carrying a pack is just rounding a corner in
the left center of the picture his straw hat is of a T'ang type still seen in Japan.
;
On
men
which vary
in
variety. Plain
washes
are used for the roofs and the dark background of the
and
skillfully
have strong outlines and wet grey texture strokes. Foliage patterns are differentiated
some
are colored.
Fan K'uan probably was born about the middle of the tenth century and was
still alive in 1026. He was a northerner from Shensi province and a Taoist.
We
most of which he apparently spent in the mounLi Ch'eng before he developed his own manner.
Kuo Jo-hsLJ (ca. 1070) tells us that "K'uan's manner and appearance had an
antique severity; his behavior was rude and rustic; it was his nature to crave
wine and to love the (Taoist) way". Kuo Jo-hsu classifies him (with Kuan T'ung
and Li Ch'eng) as one of the three masters of landscape. "His works include
know
tains.
full
As
little
about his
massiveness
of
a natural simplicity
century)
in
his
alive,
under
(tr.
virile
strength...
his brush.
beauty"
In
comments: "They
themselves up,
that
life,
a painter, he followed
One
of things,
at the
1958 after having been "lost" for at least two hundred years. There
is
the
palace inventory seal of the years between 1373 and 1384. The painting has,
62
63
64
19
FISHING ON A
SNOWY
RIVER
scroll in ink
on
lonely fisherman
silk,
(first
66>^x43%
In.
Sung dynasty)
(169x110 cm)
valley
which fades
The composition
The painting
leads our eyes diagonally back and forth into the veiled distance.
has good scale as well as depth and atmosphere. The temple architecture
of
is
more
still
irregular
hesitant.
18).
trees that were strong and unyielding, he created a special school and form
of his
The
not
own" (Kuo
painting
fall
is
tr.
A. Soper).
signed and dated, but the cyclical date chia-shen (1044) does
The
inscription
is
thus shown
to be a later addition.
Hence the
attribution to
Hsu Tao-ning
is
open
to doubt, but
we can accept
The
picture
was
in
65
20
EARLY SPRING
By Kuo
Hanging
scroll in ink
and some
Sung dynasty)
light colors
on
62Xx42%
silk,
in.
(158.3x108.1 cm)
and washes
on the
left
of
an extraordinary richness
or water. There
executed
in
is
as yet
little
is
Honan province.
a native of
In 1068,
he was
summoned
to paint
a screen for the imperial palace, and subsequently served in the Painting
Academy. A follower
of Li
critics
17), he became the outstanding reprewas without an equal in his time. Contemporary
Ch'eng (No.
in
as well as the dexterity and versatility of his flawless brushwork. Kuo Hsi also
of the
as
if
The
he were
really in
painting
bears the
in its
treatise
capacity to
on landscape. The
feel
of
the Chin
1190-1208) and the palace inventory seal of the years between 1373 and 1384.
It
66
has been
in
fe.
V-
*.
-fe
:|
fit
X.
i.
7.
-ii,
;i
67
sriiKrt/iti
21
in ink
century,
river
in
the finest of
Sung dynasty
11Xx17%
in.
(28.6x44.1 cm)
line.
The
one
of the masts.
lers
having a meal
in
man
is
is
The
The
18)
the
Tung Yuan
right, the
flat
in
at
hills in
There also
Yen Wen-kuei
silhouettes
is
at
the
left,
recalls
a definite relationship
Palace
wave
pattern
In
the mountains,
68
boy
where
the right.
scrubby vegetation,
hill
Collection.
similar
period
pass
Museum
visible in the
its
travel-
driving a
drav^rn
sailing tow/ard
It
was
in
well
the
:T-
I
I
/'
c^
j^'
li
\v
yfTc
iw^y'
.Mi.'raJ
i.i:';i=
22
MANDARIN DUCKS
IN
AUTUMN
Two
leaf in ink
bank
10}i x
10X
of a rivulet, are
Sung dynasty)
cm)
they
23
Ts'ui
Hanging
Po
(dated 1061,
scroll in ink
Sung dynasty)
and colors on
jays,
silk,
40%
76>^ x
wet contours
(193.7x103.4 cm)
in,
of the earth
surprise.
double
tree,
of dry,
bamboo;
and
ink out-
joy,
The broad,
The
soft, knotty
in
is
well balanced,
and
birds,
of preliminary charcoal
sketches.
1068 he
in
as "anonymous".
The
Sung emperor
70
first
71
24
MONKEYS
A LOQUAT TREE
IN
and colors on
scroll in ink
A monkey
is
silk, 65'/J x
cm)
japonica) while another sits on the trunk, looking up at him. Their shaded
in
their
is
natural
Po
The composition
contours; there
is
is
interrelated in a
Rocks and
tree trunk
reality
as
in
manner comparable
to the Ts'ui
The painting bears a Yuan dynasty imperial seal from a period beginning
It was in the collection of Liang Ch'ing-piao (1620-1691).
72
1340.
25
Handscroll
in ink
The focus
and colors on
sills,
12%x22V^
of this sophisticated
lines
The
in
very
leash
is
In.
(31.9x57.2 cm)
kitten in its
is at
the
left.
The ground
is
The animals are painted without outfine brushstrokes that make every hair of the fur stand out.
elegantly drawn and slightly shaded, as is the post. The lively
the
Sung dynasty)
seem
of nature,
to float in
of
humor.
He
and a sense
summoned
who
specialized
in
animals.
to paint a
73
26
NOBLE SCHOLAR UNDER A WILLOW
Anonymous, eleventh
Sung dynasty
Hanging
scroll in ink
century,
and colors on
silk,
25^
his
garden
15%
in.
(65.4x40.2 cm)
gentleman-scholar relaxes
in
The
scroll of
paper
is
poem he
receive the
still
is
blank, ready to
composing
in
his
who
retired
from
official
life
enjoy the
to
later
of
the
independent
gentleman-scholar-artist.
The
Is
Sung landscapes
The
The
Sun
in ink
outline with
The leaves
two shades
its
are
of green.
Ch'eng-tse
(1592-1676)
Ch'ing-piao (1620-1691).
74
Northern
done
of the tree
in
and
Liang
27
BAMBOO
Wen
Attributed to
Hanging
scroll In Ink
on
single branch of
left
to lower right.
T'ung (died
silk,
52x4i;^
in.
1079,
Sung dynasty)
(132.6x105.4 cm)
in
tones are used for the upper surfaces of the leaves, the lighter for the undersides and for leaves
stem.
In
in
bamboo
China, the
is
the
Wet shading
is
used on the
of
the perfect
the
in Ink.
artist.
The
The
painting
is
seems
plausible, although
painting actually
painters
who
name
of
is
by
Wen
it
is
The
attribu-
T'ung or by one
of the great
imitated him.
75
23
PINES
AND MOUNTAINS
SPRING
IN
Sung dynasty)
Attributed to Mi Fu (1051-1107,
Hanging
scroll in ink
13%x17%
in.
(35x44.1 cm)
is
in
is
applied
in
layers,
The needle-clusters
are depicted with round areas of blue-green color, covering the ink drawing.
As
critic.
a painter, he
the
little
washes
is
in
said to have
graded tones
his
style
became
very
influential.
The
on
the
mounting,
by
Museum
to
be
Emperor Kao-tsung
these
The
poetic inscrip-
(1106-1187),
supports the
later additions.
attribution.
The
is
therefore be
The
76
goes back
scheme
an innovation of the Yuan period. The question of the actual date must
picture
left
was
open.
in
the collection of
Huang
IK
:^^<
r:^
Hs
&'
f
n'
L,
.^^^
r.^,>*
^^
29
KUO
^'
TZU-I RECEIVING
Attributed to
Handscroll
in ink
Li
in. (32.3 x
Sung dynasty)
223.8
cm)
The subject of the story is an exploit of the famous and ever-victorious general
Kuo Tzu-i (697-781) of the T'ang dynasty. In 765, he was faced by an invasion
of the Uigurs and another Central Asian tribe, who were numerically far superior
to his forces. He decided to go, without arms and armor, into the camp of
the Uigurs whose leaders once had served under him. When they recognized
him, they dismounted and paid him obeisance. Together they repelled the
other invaders.
the right,
from behind a cloud, from above and below the picture, with the speed of
in a raid. The forward movement is arrested by the group of stand-
the wind, as
ing horses
78
and
flying
/*^
lO
;L ^^
*^
4i?
'^
f^. f^
[M?
in
't'
^?*,^
S^.
.^3^
*.*'lMfiri
X
is
hand and
helps him
On
all
calm and
is
next
comes
dignity.
the
flying as they
Li
fly
owing
Kung-lin (Lung-mien)
history.
on his
rise.
and
in
to illness in 1100
was one
in
of the
Anhwei, he rose
and died
in 1106.
city, at
the
left.
in
Chinese
He was
(No.
4).
The
Li
The
original
colophons are
who
died
lost,
The
and there
is
in 1457, is
it
from
his
We
79
30
Atiributed to
Handscroll
The
and colors on
In ink
silk,
9%
57
somewhere
Sung dynasty)
or 1124,
cm)
In
artist
painted what he
saw
a dream.
In
Li
Ssu-hsun and
Li
tradition to
Chao-tao (No.
which
2)
belongs goes
this picture
alive as late
as Ch'iu Ying (No. 102). Mountains and rocks have no texture strokes, only
in
Ch'eng (No.
Li
17).
peaks
light
in
wash
blue
In
the
first part,
are visible.
artist
The date on
the painting,
father-in-law
was born
too
The
in
first
its
is
Emperor
painting
is
some.
man whose
1124, seems
recorded as having
colophon
is
dated 1127, the third 1137/8; there are also seals of Chia
and the
115).
in
Another version
late.
existed
if
of
The
shore and trees vanish into the mist above which distant
label
A further colophon
Chao
Ling-jang (ca. 1100) while the handling of the archaizing mountain landscape
is
The
collector
jang,
The
Chao
scroll
An
has been
in
Ling-
80
Chao
To
An
on the seams
L.#LJtt
81
31
A LITERARY GATHERING
Attributed to Emperor Hui-tsung (reigned 1101-1125,
Hanging
scroll in ink
Twelve men
and colors on
laid with
of letters, talking
around a table
72^x48%
silk,
Sung dynasty)
cm)
grouped
in
willow;
bamboo and
enclosed by an
is
elegant railing. This composition, using a vertical tree-group and two horizontal banisters connected at right angles
picture follows a
The
model
in
in
No.
11).
some shading
used. The fold-lines of the garments are moderately angular but mainly
follow the natural flow of the cloth. The trees are carefully built up, leaf by
is
leaf,
The treatment
rendering of texture.
The bank
and rocks
is
done
is
in different
soft
in soft
and
outline
shades
and wash.
of green.
who ended
his
as a prisoner of the Chin Tartars when they conquered the north of China
in 1127.
He was, however,
dominated the
of birds
to the
it
However, instead
of clinging to a
artists raised
specimens.
The painting bears the cipher of the emperor Hui-tsung and is inscribed with
a poem by him. Since the subject is not among Hui-tsung's known specialties,
it has been suggested that the painting was done by one of the court artists
and inscribed by the emperor. The rhymes of the emperor's verses are employed
also
in
another
poem on
Ts'ai Ching.
82
of
<^ '^
^
r
^
I*
I.
t i
^^
'^'
^^(^
4S P
^
^'
-
JK-
->
1*1
-i^
/>^
i^
> I
V
"W^H
,^:
83
I'M
'^
>i-r
i'l'-^--^^
%
"^
84
^Tt
32
AUTUMN OVER
HILLS
AND RIVER
Sung dynasty)
and
scroll in ink
Wooded
light colors
The
mist.
Some
its village.
on paper, 38;^
x 21
autumn
The pagoda
of a
temple
53
cm)
mist,
which
is faintly
veils
visible
most
autumn
foliage and
some
is
used
in
of
through the
trees fade into ever lighter shades of ink until they disappear
in. (97 x
in
the
the figures,
done
shades of w/et ink, with little emphasis on line and contour. The
drawing on tree trunks and rocks is realistically painted. The soft
delicate
interior
outlines of the trunks disappear in washes. The human figures are carefully
and precisely handled. The hazy, atmospheric quality of the whole scene,
sensitively captured, gives a poetic aura to the painting.
The
picture
is
signed with the emperor's cipher and seal, but the style of the
painting suggests a
thirteenth century)
somewhat
and
later date,
this is not
one
of the types of
The
painting bears the palace inventory seal of the years between 1373-1384
and
later
was
in
85
33
BIRDS
BAMBOO
A THICKET OF
IN
AND PRUNUS
Anonymous,
^^^_^
scroll in ink
W^^^Pf^^
(258.4 X
08.4
The
Sung dynasty
ca. 1100-1125,
Hanging
and colors on
silk,
101%x42%in.
cm)
latticeworl<
of
branches and
bamboo
and plumage
blooming
stalks,
briers.
tall
Every
detail
of
foliage
is
patient observation.
compositions
relationship
is
which perch
in
In
contrast to earlier
Po No.
T'sui
(cf.
23),
no
assigned
places.
The
is
broad,
contour.
Bamboo
drawn
thin
in
brier stalks.
tifully
leaves
and
outline as are
The
birds'
reeds
some
plumage
is
are
of the
beau-
individualized.
of the years
between 1373-1384.
in
the collections of
and
86
his
Sung
Later,
it
was
Ch'iJan (1598-1652)
34
SHRIKE
By
Li
Album
The
An-chung
leaf in ink
exquisitely
Sung dynasty)
(ca. 1110,
silk,
10
drawn shrike
is
x 10'/i
in.
(25.4 x 26.9
cm)
and
clarity
its
arrangement.
Li
An-chung
first
served
in
the Painting
Academy
of
the Painting
Academy was
re-established
in
the
new
Hui-tsung at Pienliang.
moved
to the south,
capital, first at
and
Nanking
and
There also
is
dynasty collector.
87
35
MOUNTAINS
IN
By Mi Yu-jen
(before 1135,
Handscroll
in ink
The rhythmic
on paper, 10%
83%
flow of verdant
Sung dynasty)
212.6
in. (27.2 x
and
hills
cm)
rolling
marked by the pagoda on the highest peak, and then ebbs out gracefully. The
sparse details of trees and houses are sketched in the most essential way.
Soft, wet, horizontal dots give accent to the blurred and hazy shapes, produced
by painting with very watery ink on
dampened
paper.
88
He painted
up layers
of ink
line.
in
little
.^'^'
The
painting
is
lias
The
century.
is
painting
is
house
in
which he men-
of a friend in 1135.
entirely plausible.
The
the
is
The
picture carries
Hung-wu
a colophon by
Tseng
to the
later
Fu
another
Wu
signed
was
in
the collections of
Shih-ch'i.
89
36
WHISPERING PINES
By
T'ang (dated
Li
Hanging
scroll in
]nV.
IN
1124,
and colors on
THE MOUNTAINS
Sung dynasty)
silk,
(No. 18).
The same
cm)
74X
tlie
picture in a
in
silhouette against
in
in
front of
somber,
to the
observer.
The
texture strokes
show
Li
Slender peaks
is
used
in
in light
the trees,
some
pink and
brown
in
an inclined position.
in
in
cliffs
Li
T'ang
of
Emperor Hui-tsung
some
pres-
Honan
province, served
Pienliang (Kaifeng).
in
Academy
the
The
painting
is
his style
on
it
in
Sung palace
90
It
carries
seal as well
it
was
in
the
91
37
Li
T'ang
Handscroll
in ink
(ca. 1050-1130,
Sung dynasty)
and colors on
^9%x^3'A
At the beginning
slll(,
hills
wooded
l^nolls of
We
The
Sung and
later paintings.
There
92
(49.7x186.7 cm)
in.
more
is
is
flat
and
straight, with-
cliffs;
some
in
Tree
trunks and rocks have strongly drawn contours which are slightly
modulated
and have longish sections. At the same time, the graded washes, the feathery
drawing of foliage, the concentration on mass and texture, soften the
whole
and give it a more painterly aspect. The texture strokes are of the same
"axe-
drawn
The
in
in
painting
a double line.
is
off
unmistakable
in all details.
long appreciation by
The
scroll also
was
in
93
38
In
leaf in ink
(ca. 1150,
and color on
a scene of dusk, a
silk,
Sung dynasty)
\0y, x
dense group
10%
in.
(26.4
of pines
right.
x26 cm)
and
distance behind the trees. Using a device very popular during the Southern
Sung
is
Academy
The
at
painting
Hangchow
is
signed.
official in
the Painting
the palace inventory seal of the years between 1373 and 1384; and another
official seal of
94
39
CAT
By
Li
Album
Ti (dated 1174,
leaf in
color on
silk,
Sung dynasty)
9%
9%
in.
(23.6x24.1
which seems
to
show
is
cm)
painted
in
an unbelievably fine
detail
culous treatment, the artist has managed to convey the sensuous and feline
charm, the essential character of the cat to a point where the "idea" of a cat
is
actually portrayed.
The
picture
is
Ti
95
4Q
Li
Ti (dated 1174,
Hanging
Two
scroll in ink
THE RAINSTORM
IN
Sung dynasty)
and colors on
silk,
*T/,xW/,
in.
(120.7x102.8 cm)
his hat the other has already lost his, and is about to jump down to retrieve it.
The genre element is rendered with a definite sense of humor.
The buffaloes are carefully drawn in fine brushwork that shows each hair.
The competently painted landscape setting, with its suggestions of murky
atmosphere in sky and ground, captures well the mood of the rainstorm. The
;
foreground bank
is
depicted mainly
in
some
washes, with a
light outline,
is
used
while the
willow.
The
picture
is
signed and dated to the same year as the previous work. The
inscription,
between 1373-1384.
96
97
^
2
S
98
a *i i fit
x f
*
A t ^ * *
-ft
41
CHILDREN AT PLAY
By Su Han-ch'en
Hanging
Two
(first
and colors on
scroll In Ink
silk,
77%
42%
Sung dynasty)
Another
cm)
made
of jujube fruits.
a stylized
are heightened
in
The ground
indicated only by
is
angular rock
some
"nail-head" strokes;
some
white.
done
some
The
tall,
in
slightly
tive character.
Su Han-ch'en was
He was famous
was
still
where he served
official
at the
in
Hui-
southern
and especially
for
scenes
of playing
children.
The
painting
attribution.
It
is
is
Museum which
are attributed to
is
in
the Palace
Su Han-ch'en.
99
42
Attributed to
Fan-shaped album
(24.5
leaf
(mounted as a hanging
Sung dynasty)
scroll) in Ink
and colors on
silk,
diameter
9'/, in.
cm)
This twilight scene takes place on the day of the Double Seven (seventh day
of the seventh
festival.
meeting of the herdsman and the spinning maid (Altair and Vega)
place
In
the Milky
Way
take
will
on a bridge of magpies.
the foreground courtyard, servants and retainers are gathered with oxen
and
carts, saddled
tion, a long
parti-
a natural tunnel in the fantastically eroded rock toward a tower in the upper
Musicians and a sheep precede the empress and her maids, who hold
The
and they
tall
left.
fans.
will
of the material
life
of the
Sung
aristocracy.
Chao
T'ang dynasty
The
painting
is
of the subject
(cf.
Tung Ch'i-ch'ang
in
2).
not signed.
account
painter of
He was known
the manner of the
military official.
No.
the north,
The archaic
flavor of the
by
beyond agree
The
100
picture
Ma Yuan (Nos.
Keng Chao-chung
was
in
the collection of
51-61).
(1640-1686).
^^e.^.-J'i
101
^ f
^
102
3^
!(*
J t
if in it
It 1$
43
(twelfth century,
and some color on
scroll in ink
Sung dynasty)
silk,
40>ix22
In. (102.1 x
55.9
cm)
we encounter
in
compositions
strokes are
In
(No. 36)
at
in
manner
the
of Li
fairly
prominent pinnacle
one
thern
in
Sung
latter time,
period.
as
is
ink
In
T'ang design
is
placed
the
Li
the tradition of Fan K'uan (No. 18). But the tallest mountain
light,
slightly
Some
stand out
hills
in
delicately
handled contrast.
The temple
in
the
in
downward
103
44
(twelfth century,
scroll in ink
and colors on
silk,
Sung dynasty)
68>$ x
40X
(173.9x101.8 cm)
in.
flattering
Chu clung
loyal
to a balustrade
the pleading
official in
Chang
Yii
and Chu YiJn struggling against two officers on the left. The
trunk and branches of a tall pine frame the main group at the right both groups
are reinforced by large ornamental rocks.
Some white heightening is used along the fold lines of the robes which are
on the
right,
and rather angular, with small "nail-head" ends. The fantastic rocks have
concave contours the cavities are shaded in black and grey.
Bamboo and other leaves have ink outlines the feathery green needle clusters
are done in color only. Some long, wet texture strokes are used in the shading
fine
irregular, broken,
of the bank.
104
ilVi"
*-
105
..:.^^1?!'-saiM:..
V
K
>
m
-.^-
'^^
A. I *W
tS:
^<^'~<^
45
BUDDHIST IMAGES
By Chang Sheng-wen
Handscroll
In ink,
12x635%
in.
Sung dynasty)
(30.4x1881.4 cm)
at one time cut up and made into an album; later It was remounted as a handscroll. Consequently, some parts are missing while others
The
like
his reign
name
Li-chen, he
is
who
of the
The
Buddha
of Healing (Bhaisajyaguru),
scroll.
in
the
to
some
represent historical
(Yunnan).
106
wear
local
Some charming
in
the background
show
painting really
is
art,
religious tradition,
intellectual
Japanese paintings
The
was
painting
is
monk
inscribed by a
who
it
is
Miao-kuang's inscription
who
is
followed by a colophon of
1378, 1379,
and
The
Sung
Lien (1310-1381),
1459.
107
46
Wu
Atiributed to
Handscroll
in ink
on paper,
20x53%
in.
(50.8x136.4 cm)
The picture illustrates the famous prose-poem by Su Shih; for a copy of the
poem in Su Shih's own calligraphy, see No. 115. Su tells of embarking with
two friends in a small boat on the Yangtze River, one moonlit night in autumn
and drifting past the Red Cliff. One of the friends plays a melancholy air on his
flute when Su asks the reason, the friend reminds him of a great battle fought
there eight centuries before. They sip wine and muse on vanished glory as the
;
night passes.
In
towering
right,
cliffs,
the river
is
just passing a
bend
of the river
beneath the
which continue toward the left, over mist and rapids. On the
widens and calms, leading us into the far distance. The moun-
some
108
W^-
:^
^*M?^-*
'^^||i^
in
an ink wash leaving stroke-like areas blank and untouched. The variety of ink
tone used in the trees adds to the sense of depth. This very painterly picture,
done
entirely in
wet
ink,
Li
of
and the silhouetted tree groups surrounded by dense grass. Altogether, however, the landscape has become more poetic and emotionally appealing, in a
The
in
the south.
copy
the northern and southern Painting Academies. Recently, the writings of the
Red
Cliff
by
Wu
saw
been attributed to the amateur painter Wu YiJan-chih, a prominent scholarofficial of the 1190's, who worked under the Chin Tartars in the north of China.
The scroll was in the collection of Hsiang YiJan-pien (1525-1590), who tells us
In
(ch/n) of
gold for
it.
109
110
47
SNOW
CLEARING AFTER
Anonymous
Hanging
On
the
scroll in ink
left,
IN
(twelfth century,
and some
light color
high mountains
in
silk,
fantastic
The
45>i x
39%
in. (115.1 x
100.7
cm)
river valley
the composition.
details of rocks
is
is
in
to Li
Ch'eng
much
larger area of
given over to the hazy void, and the rocks and other details are
much more "baroque". The temple architecture is of an early type, with completely straight roofs. The picture belongs to the northern tradition of Li Ch'eng
and Kuo Hsi which in the Southern Sung period had declined to the status
of a minor local tradition, carried on chiefly in the north under the Chin. The
title
referring to the
Min mountains
in
Szechwan need
Ill
48
scroll in ink
(ca. 1205,
and colors on
silk,
Sung dynasty)
58x42%
in.
(147.4x107.7 cm)
Lady Wen-chi was the daughter of a well-known scholar of the second century.
While on her way to Kansu, she was taken prisoner by Hsiung-nu raiders and
spent twelve years
picture she
in captivity in
shown
is
mother, and refuse to listen to the entreaties of a nurse who wants to lead
them away. At a little distance, the Chinese envoy is seated on a separate rug,
attended by his Chinese and Mongol entourage. The well-drawn group of
saddled horses
In
which
in
a laden
boots and hairdo of the Mongols contemporary with the artist, who soon were
conquer the North and, eventually, all of China. The gold ornaments of their
to
of the
its
setting
a sparse landscape
tradition is evident
the way the Mongols and their horses are drawn, with angular, accented fold-
lines
and
in
somewhat
stiff
postures.
The
painting
is
of the
Chinese envoy,
Academy. The
112
in
same
lively
at the Painting
Academy between
1201
%ir
^^
^ if, W'M
9Tl4l
*f
'sf**A
-^^,
113
49
LOHAN
By
Sung dynasty)
Hanging
One
scroll In ink
and colors on
silk,
46x22
of the
of
monkeys.
in.
(117x55.8
cm
young acolyte
Two
is
deer standing
a sha-lo tree
just receiving a
in
peach
affectionately.
The
picture
is
one
of a set of three
originally, there
ings depicting the whole series of Sixteen (or Eighteen) Lohan or Arhats.
The shaded, broad leaves, the tangled branches and knotty trunk of the tree;
the way the Arhat leans on
composed around him all suggest an earlier prototype,
probably of the tenth century. The same tradition is evident in the corresponding
section of the Chang Sheng-wen scroll (No. 45).
Liu Sung-nien was a southerner, a native of Hangchow. He served in the
Hangchow Painting Academy as a student (about 1180), then as an official
(after
1190),
is
(reigned 1195-1224).
The
painting
is
114
It
}l
115
50
KNICK-KNACK PEDDLER
By
Li
Sung
The three
Sung dynasty)
(dated 1210,
Fan-shaped album
leaf in ink
and
tiny characters
light colors
on the
The astonishing
matched by a most
(25.8x27.6 cm)
draftsmanship,
in
little
one
of the children
The peddler
is
lool<s
his brother
tugging
a
who
In.
merchandise; another
10^x10%
display of
lively
silk,
tree,
pack.
on
at
her
forcefully
skirt.
while yet another offspring, not empty-handed either, just appears behind the
pack
Li
at the right.
in
the south,
in
Hangchow, where he
member
of the Painting
Academy
in
Academy
started his
painter.
life
as a
He became
116
and
1220.
The
painting
is
It
was
in
the collection of
An
4,
51
1*
Li
Sung
(ca. 1210,
Fan-shaped album
leaf In ink
IN
MOONLIGHT
Sung dynasty)
and colors on
silk,
8%
8%
of
in.
in
(22.3x22 cm)
one corner
moon.
the mouth of the Ch'ien-t'ang
of the
composition,
in
the
bay
boat sails
The scene
of
is
which
river,
Hangchowr.
mood
of the picture
line
all
are characteristic of
37)
survives
in
an
The eaves of the pavilion are turned up at the corners with the pronounced
movement characteristic of the south and decorated with the imperial emblems,
dragons and phoenixes.
The
painting
paintings.
It
is
signed by
is
Li
The
painting
was
in
the collection of
An
117
w.
/'
52
ON A MOUNTAIN PATH
By Ma Yuan
Album
leaf in ink
and
IN
ca. 1190-1225,
(fl.
light colors
on
SPRING
Sung dynasty)
silk,
10}ix17
(27.4x43.1 cm)
In.
blown willow.
wild flowers
he stops for a
verse couplet
dance
in
moment
to
"Brushed by
Is
a distillation of
mood, everything
in
In
Is
is
in
it
subservient
the wind-
his sleeves,
The
in
the wind; fleeing from him the hidden birds cut short
their
is
Li
of the
field of vision
and awesome aspect of nature in the Northern Sung landscapes has given
way to a tamed and idealized poetic frame. The wet "axe-cut" strokes also
show the influence of Li T'ang (No. 36), but there is now more stress on
angularity, especially in the fold lines of the robes which have been called
"rat-tail" lines.
Ma Yuan was
originally
118
of
painting
is
Sung and
53
of the following
leaf In ink
(fl.
ca. 1190-1225,
and white on
silk,
10%
Sung dynasty)
x ^5'/. in. (27.6 x
40 cm)
An
old man is seen driving two donkeys, loaded with charcoal and firewood
he carries a dead pheasant hanging from a pole. A few trees with angular
branches, several rocks and some masterly "axe-stroke" texture on the slopes
snow
and cold.
The
painting
is
in
(1620-1691).
119
54
APRICOT BLOSSOMS
By Ma Yiian (f1. ca. 1190-1225, Sung
Album
and color on
leaf in ink
silk,
10 x
W/,
dynasty)
cm)
is
The essence
caught
in
The
attention
and
lifted to
In
is
in
a higher plane,
where
reality
which
is
idealized
it
Spring.
The
painting
is
signed by the
artist
Mei-tzu (see No. 51): "Meeting the wind, they offer their artful
The
120
in
of
painting
was
in
the collection of
An
charm ,wet
55
PLAYING THE LUTE
Attributed to
Ma
IN
Yiian
(f1.
MOONLIGHT
ca. 1190-1225,
Sung dynasty)
Hanging
scroll in ink
and
light
colors on
silk,
44 x 21
in.
(111.5x53.1 cm.)
p'i-p'a, in front of
under bamboo
right, a
crane keeps
clouded
moon
The
tion
painting
seems
is
plausible.
The
first
Ming emperor
is
of the years
between 1373-1384.
paintings
Palace
attributed
Museum
to
all
the large
Ma Yuan
in
the
Collection.
121
f k
-^
i-
i'
il
^1
^5.
Jl
>^
1^1
^f^
*i
'i*
;^-
:*j^
i.^-
^!L
^^
1^
^-^
'4:
^l
^A
'I-
-fe
14
,^
'il
i^
if
.fe
Ufl
*L .^
.^ .-^
-J'T
1^
-t
*'
''^t
-i^
15^
4 ^
f.i
Ifl
'
;^.
^'
'i^
z'*^;
122
55
BANQUET BY LANTERN-LIGHT
Anonymous
Hanging
An
(ca. 1200-1225,
scroll In ink
Sung dynasty)
imperial banquet
sillt,
being served
is
44x21
in
In.
(111.9x53.5 cm)
the spacious
bamboo
the dusky
The poem
fiali,
hall,
in
In
the foreground
blossom, sixteen
tall,
girls are
Wine
is
offered
Music
is
heard
in
in
Of prunus buds
To
in
Han palace, we
colored lanterns of jade and coral, ten thousand lamps are shining.
In
the
feel the
it
is
said
rain,
but the
laborer. Eventually, he
in
became
his
living
as a farm
The
from a poem by Tu Fu
(712-770).
The
picture
is
not signed, and the seal under the long poetic inscription
(No. 52) to
of Liang
whom we
can attribute
this painting.
It
to the
hand
has been
in
of
is
not
Ma Yuan
the collection
Ch'ing-piao (1620-1691).
which
123
57
In a
in ink
(fl.
ca. 1190-1225,
on paper, 18%
continuous diorama
390
in.
of river
Sung dynasty)
(46.5 x 889.1
cm)
The
painting
sistency of
is
its
is
style
seem
The
who was
124
its
was
in
the collection of
Sung Lao
Wang
(1634-1713).
first
There
colophon
is
a prot6g6 of the
'
;f
i^
J^
'^
-^^
i'
.-^j?'
^^'^
J
-.-^J!
125
58
Two
leaf In Ink
and color on
silk,
PINE-CLIFF
ca. 1190-1225,
(fl.
^0%x^5'/,
In.
Sung dynasty)
(27x39 cm)
cliff
which disappears
and shaded washes, the delicate atmospheric effects, all are typical of the
Ma-Hsia school.
The painting is listed as "unsigned"; there is, however, an obliterated and
illegible
signature at the
126
in
left.
59
leaf In ink
Trees,
and
Sung dynasty)
light colors
bamboo and
on
silk,
^0%K^6y,
in.
(27.5x41.6 cm)
growing
briers are
The
painting
Is
signed by
sing
tion.
Spring"
in
is
Chinese
in
127
60
scroll in Ink
IN
THE PINES
Sung dynasty)
and colors on
silk,
89y,x*3y,
In.
(226.6x110.3 cm)
of
form
in
trees with their long, wild texture strokes, belong to a world which exists
within his mind.
He
is
surrounded,
in
The
painting
indicates that
one
is
it
was painted
for the
128
painting
was
in
but by
Ma
Lin",
which
is
emperor.
The
itself,
it.
the collection of
Sung Lao
(1634-1713).
title;
same
51
Ma
By
Album
As
Lin (ca.
leaf
ink
in
and
twilight falls
entrance to a
colors on
9^4 x 10
silk,
in.
in
Servants
pavilion.
outside
stand
at the
sits
ready
to
light
feeling of this
blue
hills,
and
leaves
The
given above follows the Chinese label but does not seem
title
apply
to
violet
to the painting:
fortably
such a
in
small
and
building,
the
nobleman
dressed
is
because of
labeled
its
No. 56, which does in fact depict the preparations for a night
banquet. A very convincing suggestion, made by Dr. Li Lin-ts'an
of the National Central
Museum,
is
that this
is
Ma
version
Lin's
Ma
Yuan,
illustrating
"Fearing that
in
in
a couplet:
sleep.
He has
tall
silver
candles burned,
to
light
their
fragile
beauty."
these
brief,
it
last
spirit
of the
suggests,
we must
light
candles and
Hangchow
since
make
life
the
court
is
too
most of
An
Ch'i (born
1683).
insert at
page 128
129
rf%>
^o!^l|<:
<n
C^
.-.-:2'
62
Handscroll
in ink
(dated 1238-1240,
Sung dynasty)
on paper, 10Xx185
in. (27.1 x
266.4
cm)
The scroll illustrates a poem by Hsieh Hui-llen (397-433). Ladies are washing,
mending and sewing clothes for their absent husbands, as winter is approaching. The figures are carefully drawn with a soft, sensitive brush, in groups that
are well interrelated and spaced. The angular lines of the folds are softened
and subdued postures and robes move in a gentle and elegant rhythm. The
;
drawn faces are full of expression. Straight lines and right angles of
architecture and furniture provide a contrasting frame for the melodious flow
of the figure composition. Large ink landscape screens are imbued with the
same poetic and gently sad mood that is expressed in the figures the painting
on the second screen shows the influence of Chao Ling-jang.
In a consciously archaistic manner the ground is barely suggested by a few
light wash strokes the chrysanthemum bushes in light and dark ink are placed
in a manner reminiscent of the early Yamato-e painting of Japan. The archaizing aspect extends to the costumes and to details such as the T'ang style
finely
130
ftk^uft<*4.^
yy-
^^
\>^;Y"t:"""^'''
'*\-.*
f
xsir^-
r"<?C^ ^
The
drawing
in
is
filled
marked contrast
to the
style
of the
contemporary Academy
painters.
Mou
I,
he
a native of
to the court
which he
artist follows, in
in 1240.
The
the third
The
in
first
scroll
first
was
in
An
who acquired
it
131
63
A SAGE
By Liang
Album
leaf In Ink
The grotesque
on paper,
Sung dynasty)
19^x10%
In.
(48.7x27.7 cm)
one
sages
of the legendary
of the
is
Museum
in
ink, this
the Palace
rich black of
Li
Kung-lin
became an official in the Painting Academy between 1201 and 1204 and
eventually was awarded the "Golden Belt". He left the court and the Academy
at Hangchow for the solitude of a nearby Ch'an monastery, the Liu-t'ung-ssu.
The rough and abbreviated style of this painting would put it into the second
(No. 29),
The
132
painting
is
signed, but the signature and also the style are slightly different
from
all
"Old
Man
in
in
64
(ca. 1100-1125,
leaf in ink
and colors on
gentleman-scholar
sits
Sung dynasty)
11J-ix11 in. (29x27.8
silk,
on
cm)
front of a large screen
in
on
which are painted ducks among reeds on a marshy bank. Suspended from the
top of the screen is a hanging scroll with the portrait of the gentleman himself.
An
brazier
in
the background.
On
(zither);
;
how
the personage
is
in
to
being heated
in
a lotus-shaped
at
the
left,
three boxes
may contain
is
Book
of Tea,
It
has
T'ao Ch'ien
and appreciated.
The
painting
is
hand, a certain feature of the mounting of the portrait hanging scroll appears
to
133
65
THOUSAND-ARMED KUAN-YIN
Anonymous
Hanging
(thirteenth century,
scroll in ink
and colors on
silk,
Sung dynasty)
69^^x31%
(176.8x79.2 cm)
in.
is filled
hands and
is
shown
in
the "thou-
The
corres-
Amitabha floats
above the many-headed crown. Above the halo we see a Buddha enthroned,
accompanied by five seated figures on either side probably the ten dhyaniBodhisattvas.
The
is
of meditation)
supported by four
scroll by
134
in
some
Demon
Kings
left
in
the foreground.
shape
of the halo
66
(thirteenth century,
scroll in ink
and some
Sung dynasty)
light colors on
silk,
74 x
43%
cm)
Buddha, with a flaming round halo, is seated upon an elaborate lotus throne.
At his sides, we see two heavenly kings or guardians, two disciples (Arhats)
and two Bodhisattvas standing next to an Incense burner and offering flowers
to the Buddha. All the accompanying figures wear round halos and stand
on lotus flowers. The round faces and twisted figures still show T'ang
traditions of the Wu Tao-tzu school, as does the shaded ink wash on halo and
clothes. The details of the brocade robes and of the throne ornaments recall
Japanese religious paintings of the Kamakura period, i.e. of the Takuma school
(thirteenth century). The drawing is unusually lively and strong and makes this
scroll
one
of the best
remaining examples of
late
Sung Buddhist
painting.
135
67
The
leaf in ink
(1199-1295,
on paper, 12X
"three friends
in
21X
in.
Sung-Yiian dynasties)
(32.2 x 53.4
cm)
bamboo and
in
blos-
for the
Sung and
full
early
maturity of
Mongols.
The
painting
tion of
136
is
artist.
It
was
in
the collec-
68
in ink
Sung-Yuan dynasties)
(ca. 1235-1301,
10%x17%
in.
(26.3x44,3 cm)
The
in
drawn
in ink,
rendered
is
in
its
hind feet
color.
in
is
color
in
leaves white rings or stripes blank and untouched, thus giving the effect of
the glossy areas typical of the bark of peach and
After the
fall
in
of the dynasty,
Wuhsing
A man
some
other
fruit trees.
retired
69)
from public
life
who decided
and broke
to take office
The
is
painting
is
in
the collection
of
Chu
Sung period.
The first colophon
Chih-ch'ih
(Ming
dynasty).
10
..
:f!
T5V
137
go
By Chao Meng-fu
Handscroll
in ink
flat,
marshy
uy.xXy,
in.
(28.4x93.2 cm)
rise
The
hills,
plain.
do the
v>/avy
is
tra-
The
in
a loose,
almost sketchy way and with a marked disregard for outward beauty and charm.
The romanticism of the Southern Sung Academy landscape has been replaced
by a cool and intellectual mood, an austerity that harks back to the spirit of
The graded washes have disappeared, and there is little sense
the antique.
of
space and no atmosphere. The use of blue (in addition to Ink) for the mounhandled in a very individual manner, relates the picture to
tains, although
2).
Chao Meng-fu (1254-1322) was a scion of the Sung imperial family, a relative
of Chao Meng-chien (No. 67) and a younger friend of Ch'ien Hsiian (No. 68)
like the latter, he was born in Wuhsing (Chekiang). A brilliant scholar, artist
and official, Chao first went into retirement after the Mongol conquest (1276),
but ten'years later he responded to an appeal by Khubilai Khan for scholars
in
was
awarded the highest academic honors (he ended as one of the presidents
of the Han-lin Academy), but some more conservative Chinese scholars, such
as his former friend Ch'ien HsiJan, broke with him, regarding him as a collaborator.
For a
brilliant painting of
rocks and
calligraphy also
The
picture
friend
The
Chou Mi
first
is
included
in this
artist tells
known
(1344),
ch'ang (1602,
(1662)
It
a,
us that he painted
it
for his
comments
by
Chang
Yij
were written by Fan Kuo (1329), Ch'ien P'u (1446), Tung Ch'i1605, 1629, 1630) who had first seen it in 1582, Wu Ching-yun
has been
(1498-1573),
138
Yu Chi
90
of
is
An example
Wen
P'eng
1640),
Liang
>i
4q
/.
-*-
f.
-*;
ic
/H4-\ ! ^^!
139
70
scroll in Ink
and color on
^^y,x^2y,
silk,
in.
(182.3x106.7 cm)
The majesty
Kao K'o-kung, who was born about 1245 and died in 1310, was the son of a
whose ancestors had come from Turkestan.
Beginning his official career in 1275, he rose to high government posts in the
administration, serving as Minister in the Board of Punishments, and Civil
scholar from Tatung (Shansi)
Governor
of
latter position
was always
held,
was
As
a painter,
and
later
Kao
worked
in
the style of
Tung
28, 35)
apparent
of his
own
time.
not signed, but bears two contemporary Inscriptions, attributing it to him, by the scholar-official Teng Wen-yiian (1258-1328) and the painterofficial Li K'an (1245-1320) the latter is dated 1309. There are also two inscrip-
The
painting
is
tions by
Wang
140
An
in
'^^
141
'
71
?''{
A,:
'f
CLOUDY MOUNTAINS
Anonymous
Hanging
scroll in ink
The composition
and
Is
light color
on paper,
22Xx13X
in,
(57x35.3 cm)
Is
smaller
foliage.
In
addition to blue color on the distant peaks and sky, the ink areas carry an
houses.
The
In
some
painting
is
tradition of the
It
142
has been
in
which
is
parts, white
not signed.
two Mi (Nos.
It
28, 35),
the collection of
is
in
72
DUCK ON A RIVERBANK
By Ch'en
Hanging
scroll In ink
of
In.
(35.7x47^ cm)
found
in
the
inl<
tone and
in
w/aterlines contrast
Some
color
is
all
variation
resulting in a
Ch'en
Lin
of
an
official
in
at
the
Hangchow
Painting
Academy.
The
painting
is
not signed.
It is
us that Ch'en Lin did this picture "in play", and that
generation cannot reach him.
An
inscription by the
all
143
73
DRAGON-BOAT REGATTA
By Wang Chen-p'eng
Handscroll
in ink
The Spring
on an
on
silk ,12 x
(dated 1323,
96
in. (30.2 x
Yuan dynasty)
243.8
cm)
artificial
dragon-boat regatta
Sung. Along
the shore are a group of splendid palaces and pavilions, reaching out into the
water.
Men standing on
in itself,
of solidity
of architectural
if
He
also
titles
or
names
of the
emperor's
144
'f^
*^'
Kl"-
^m
*-
Vt -#"
'-VAT
..
-*-*^
^
^*
l^-. 2 f !
Sk
iff
-.**>
'
'
'
"
Jtf
'H
^.f."^^
-it^^m^i"^.:
''^
145
74
DWELLING
IN
In
ink
on paper, 12%
x 251
1350,
in.
Yuan dynasty)
(33x636.9 cm)
An
ideal
in a
wandering as the landscape ebbs out beautifully and melodiously in the distant
ink-wash hills over the water. The entire design was laid out in dilute ink and
then finished with successive applications of darker and drier brushwork.
nature
Huang
to the simplest
forms;
is
was a man
of
great learning, devoted to the arts of music, poetry and painting. As a painter,
he worked in the tradition of Tung Yuan and Chii-jan (Nos. 14, 15). Owing to an
146
I.
-J^'V
Doctrines
in
in particular
In
rest of his
life in
the
hills
near Hangchow,
end the artist tells us that after having laid out the
one burst of creation, unconscious of fatigue, he worked on
and on, whenever the mood was right, during the three years
entire design in
the picture
off
staying.
Wen
Chou
P'eng
in
Wang
in
94) in 1488
and
An
Shao-fang, by
Wu
Chih-chu, by
An
Wang
Hung-hsCi
(1645-1723), by
The original opening passage of the scroll has been cut off. The
was badly burned when the dying collector Wu Chih-chu threw it
it
Kao
Is
that
147
y5
CLEARING AFTER
By Ts'ao Chih-po
Hanging
scroll in ink
(dated 1350,
Yuan dynasty)
on paper. 51%x22>i
brushstrokes give
some
in.
in
(129.7x56.4 cm)
are covered with light grey wash, leaving only a narrow rim along the banks.
neatly
bank
recalls
is
perfectly expressed
In
of
landscape.
Ts'ao Chih-po (1272-1355) was a native of Huating (Kiangsu). Like his friend
Huang Kung-wang, he abandoned his official position in order to devote
himself to Taoist studies and painting.
The picture is signed by the artist. Another inscription by his friend Huang
Kung-wang (No. 74) gives us the date and tells us that the painter then was
seventy-eight years old, or three years younger than Huang himself.
The painting was in the collection of Keng Chao-chung (1640-1686) and his
son, and of a Manchu collector.
148
fs
47
Sfl
149
76
Wu
Hanging
Chen (dated
on
scroll in ink
dynasty)
1342, Yiian
silk,
69%x3T/,
in.
(176.1 x 95.6
cm)
painting.
The
man
old
sitting in
the
bow
of a boat
is
rowed by
by a calm expanse of
his attendant is
He
is
surrounded
vi^ater,
by a tree-group and some modest hills. The entire painting is done in broad,
wet strokes and sensitive washes of varying ink shades powerful vertical dots
accent the soft rhythm of hills and boulders.
Wu Chen (1280-1354) was a poor and unsociable eccentric who made his
;
living first
as a diviner and
later
life
of a Taoist recluse.
in his
in return.
An
He never
The
picture
is
Blue
poem
press on the
hills
by the artist:
in
depth.
Against the sorrow of old age, the pleasure of rod and line
How often, in plaited-grass coat and hat, have waited through wind
I
and
The
rain
The
night
is
The
150
picture
was
in
in
the collection of
Keng Chao-chung
(1640-1686).
1
l'
.^.
t!
pi
^>>$
ii
5-
a^."*'*V^"
*J*"
*..iii-*Sii^^'.^
S^**"'
.^uiiiijmA^.
151
-^
mrs
78
BAMBOO GROVE
Attributed to
Handscroll
On
in ink
Kuo
IN
SNOW
on paper, 12%
57%
in.
arranged
In
(31 .8 x 145.2
some
cm)
bamboo
down by the
bamboo stalks
Kuo
Pi,
became
well
known as a
mood.
69).
in
the tradition of Mi Fu
painter of
We are told
home town.
The signature may be interpolated, and the painting, which seems unrelated
known style of Kuo Pi, a work of some other Yuan dynasty artist, more
accomplished in some respects than Kuo himself, and working perhaps a
generation or so after Kuo's time. The attached colophons are by Teng Wenyuan (1258-1328), Cheng Yuan-yu (1292-1364), Yii Chi (1272-1348), Kao Ch'i
(1336-1374) and Tung Ch'i-ch'ang (1555-1636); however, none of their seals
to the
153
79
scroll in ink
Yuan dynasty)
(1290-1343,
on paper, 49%
29%
in.
(126.3 x 75.2
cm)
An
the twigs are grey with black thorns, the small berries are outlined.
bamboo
The
leaves are black on the top surface, grey on the reverse side. Wet,
The
entire picture is
done
in
painted with spontaneity and strength from root to top and from the stem
to the
few
large,
the rocks.
man
of letters
and an
academic
official.
As
librarian
The painting Is signed by the artist; he painted it for a high Mongol dignitary
whose seal is also on the scroll. There Is an inscription by Yu Chi (1272-1348).
The picture was in the collection of Liang Ch'ing-piao (1620-1691).
154
155
jffsbfif^.
80
BOATING
IN
AUTUMN
By Sheng Mou
Handscroll
in ink
colorful tree
43%
cm)
we may presume,
poetry. Distant blue hills rise over the haze on the water.
hills
A flight
of waterfowl
harmonious ending.
is full of
character and
vitality. Hills
of this lovely
scene.
the tradition
The
156
painting
is
of
which the
is
dated 1361.
last,
artist,
81
NOBLE SCHOLAR
AN AUTUMN
IN
GROVE
By Sheng Mou
Hanging
scroll In ink
53y.x23y.
in.
silk,
M'%
(135.3x59 cm)
air of serenity.
gown provides
sition
The
soli-
a strong
shades
varied
off
foliage
formalized
is
short-hand patterns
in
different
of tensile strength.
full
of the landscape.
sensitively handled
and
strokes.
The
wet texture
to the clear
number
works
of features
another
is
the
and
in
hills is
one
Sheng Mou's
blue
hills
in
the
nervous
line
used
for tree
Sung
period.
The
in
Yiian paintings.
signed by the
The
painting
is
artist.
157
82
(ca. 1350,
Hanging
and some
scroll in ink
Yuan dynasty)
light colors
sitting
on a
An
on
silk,
river
48x22%
in.
(120.8x58 cm)
of trees, playing
song of his master; a fisherman in his boat has stopped workand enjoys the concert. The trees stand out in silhouette against the
expanse of the water over which a flight of birds leads us to the far bank with
its sketchy hills and trees. The whole painting is done in wet brushwork.
Banks and rocks, trees and twigs strongly resemble the style of Kuo Hsi
(No. 20). The broad, flowing contour of the banks, the elastic bending reeds,
to listen to the
ing
Yuan manner
in
Manchuria. After
The
picture
is
signed by the
158
in 1323,
artist,
and there
is
a poetic inscription by a
^
'-li.j
.u^^^:^^
''a^
-^
159
g3
scroll in Ink
clump
The
Ti (dated 1338,
and colors on
of gnarled pines
Yuan dynasty)
silk,
56%
35%
cm)
picture.
movement
and expression. Dry and wet ink, in varying shades, is used in combination
vi/ith color some blue-green on the needle clusters and pink on other leaves.
The banks are outlined and shaded in a typical Yuan manner; the interior
drawing has the same somewhat tangled and mushy aspect that we noticed
with
Chu
Te-jun.
The
in
the tradition of
20),
but
the exaggerated dry twigs and branches as well as the "baroque" knobs and
of
traits.
Wuhsing
in
We
The
in
160
It
was
161
84
,
'-f
'-
'
:-i:
ill
'4-
0. jrt.--
;t
il ^
'"
-*
A'
'* -*
.if
'-i.
'^'
'*-
III
*-
t-
"^
.'*
^ .*t
*!
I ^t
By
Tsan (dated
Ni
1363,
Yuan dynasty)
jt
Hanging
on paper, 37X
scroll in ink
17X
in- (94.7 x
43.7
cm)
*|"
-^'i:^.->,^From
a rocky
we gaze across
thatched shelter,
the
g3^^T--'-.-
i..-.
----
are executed
in
which
of this
landscape
Is
The
lonely
in
The
lonely,
obviously
from any
is
cool
and horror
of
human
of
his
vulgarity.
landscape
official
of the rebellions
among
and friends and lived for many years on a small houseboat, wandering up and down the streams and lakes of southeastern Kiangsu, or lodging In temporary abodes. He wore
relatives
among
in
order
been
in
162
It
has
85
Tsan (dated
Ni
Hanging
Yuan dynasty)
1372,
on paper, 37%
scroll in ink
17%
in.
(94.7x43.7 cm)
Once more,
in
the
beyond the
rise
and rocks.
of land
Its
same economy
the
detail.
of
means
is
applied to
dots; otherwise,
flat
a sketchy, seemingly
in
an occasional
mood
austere
is
visit
by
breathes
some
recluse.
through
An
cool,
grey day.
The
painting
dedicated
of
his
it
is
signed by the
to a Taoist physician
artist
who
and recluse
poem.
was in the
it
with a lengthy
The picture
Chao-chung
collector.
collection of
(1640-1686) and of a
Keng
Manchu
'^-m
163
i 4
w ^ y ^#
^ ^ ^ i*
'^
'!,
<*,
*1
<-
(*.
...
Ik
$"
-^
-^ *^
Zi V
*-
86
i?
-.
i'
*3.
1 1
?i
"^
J)
,.,
,.,
S"
;,f-
"
PORTRAIT OF
Nl
TSAN
Anonymous
Handscroll
Ni
Tsan
in ink
is
shown
dynasty)
in.
at a
(28.2x60.9 cm)
when he
still
lived
surrounded by
he looks
artist,
at his portraitist,
somewhat
self-consciously.
Chang Yu
in
164
the collection of
Sung Lao
(1634-1713).
87
i-
AUTUMN MOUNTAINS
By Chu Shu-chung
(dated 1365,
Yiian dynasty)
Hanging
scroll in
ZlYjXWy,
in.
inli
and
colors on paper
light
(69.5x26.4 cm)
eye view,
zigzagging
distance.
higher
The
The clouds
and
higher
ed by the trees
bird's
in
rises
in
into
is
the
repeat-
washes
white
mixed with
parts
ink, in
buff-pink
washes
trees.
No
dry
brushwork
is
used
are
The
style of the
painting
is
derived from
way of
Kao K'o-kung (No. 70).
Chu Shu-chung was a Confucian scholar
that of the
two Mi (Nos.
28, 35) by
The
painting
is
signed by the
artist.
165
88
THATCHED LODGE
AUTUMN
IN
By Wang Meng
(died 1385,
Hanging
and
scroll in
mountain
steeper as
it
inli
Yuan dynasty)
light colors
moves
on paper, 48J^x21%
slopes running
cinain, its
HILLS
down
(123.3x54.8 cm)
in.
to a river shore,
becomes ever
among
rocks; a fisherman w/atches his net, another angles from a boat, a scholar
reading a scroll at his w/indow.
The composition
is
organized
in
is
a sv\/eeping
light
washes
grey
Dry black lines reinforce the tree trunks and outline the
different shades.
On mountains and
banks, broken, short, dry brushstrokes form the outlines, sometimes becoming
rows
of dots.
The
extraordinary richness
in ink
values
in
becoming
well scaled
is
detail,
the pictur-e
size of the
more
is
clearly organized
and
of the
brilliance is
The mood
Tsan (Nos.
of Ni
The
down.
color values.
of
in
distant vegetation
used
is
is
84, 85),
is
radically different
approach.
in
nephew
of
69).
Having
first
served as
near Hangchow,
when
fall
dynasty. Under the Ming, he once more entered public service and
prefect of a district
1380,
Crane"
in
looked at paintings
in
fall
of the
of the
became
mighty Hu Wei-yung
in
once had
he died of cold and
five
years
in jail,
hunger.
The
painting
(1525-1590).
166
is
signed by the
artist.
It
was
in
167
39
scroll in ink
dynasty)
1365, Yiian
22X
in.
(120.3x55.7 cm)
The rugged mountain thrusts powerfully upward from a river valley, seeming
more like a living thing in motion than a static mass. The magnificent pines,
painted with violent slanting strokes, add to the impression of force and unrest,
movement on
and
cliffs.
ink, especially in
well-drawn roofs
is filled
T'ang (Nos.
18, 36),
light
blue washes.
in
manner
in
Kiangsi.
picture
is
recalling
As
of his
a painter he followed Mi Fu
signed by the
artist
who
literary
painted
quotation,
life
in
sil-
The
the shady recesses of the peaks which contrast with the tan slopes and
in
LI
Kao
the Shang-ch'ing
in
and
is
is
further characterized as
Manchu
168
collector.
169
90
An
a.
entire scroll
(1525-1590), Li
By Chao Meng-fu
Handscroll
in ink
(1254-1322)
on paper, W/,%Ziy,
in.
(25.9x69.2 cm)
of the rocks,
one
BAMBOO GROVE
By Kuan Tao-sheng
Handscroll
Clumps
in ink
of
IN
on paper, 9;^
in a
which
is
is
depicted
signed by the
artist,
artist,
see No.
69.
(dated 1308)
x 44>i in. (23.1 x 113.7
bamboo growing on
are grouped
painting,
b.
The
cm)
mood
bands
of mist,
of the picture is
tender and poetic. The rounded rocks recall Chao Meng-fu (No. 90a) but are
more
softly
84, 85).
some
170
The
critics,
crisp grasses
Kuan Tao-sheng
(1262-1319)
was
right.
painted
in
picture,
the wife of
it
was
her sister.
c.
By
Ni
Tsan
Handscroll
(1301-1374)
in ink
on paper, 10x28>i
In.
(25.4x71.6 cm)
hills is
separated by
Done mainly
In
in
Some
nature.
The
is
By
Wu
Handscroll
inscribed with a
on paper,
in
1336)
10%x35%
fall
poem
AMONG MOUNTAINS
Chen (dated
in ink
A MOUNTAIN
d.
white
hills,
painting
example
a fine
of the artist's
shore and
is
rhythmic flow.
in
in.
(26.4x90.7 cm)
dense forest
of
fir
hills,
which
rise
Broad wet outlines and washes are overlaid with darker strokes
in
and
hills.
which the
ink possibly is mixed with white. Strong, blunt, vertical dots in rich black ink
accent the soft and melodious movement of the composition. This very relaxed
It
is
is
artist
of
Wu
Chen's "abstrac-
(No. 76).
171
e.
Handscroll
in
Ink
on paper,
10%x40%
In.
(27x102.5 cm)
winding around
river
bamboo grove. The mountains rise again to steep cliffs; further down the
slope we see a splendid lodge built on a high stone masonry foundation.
Distant
hills in
such
closer to
is
earlier
76, 90d)
altogether,
15)
Ma Wan
Lu yO brewing tea
By Chao Yiian (fourteenth century)
f.
Handscroll
Lu
We
Yij
In Ink
and
(died 804)
see him
light colors
on paper, 10%
sitting in a
in. (27 x
for his
and washes
Wang Meng
a style recalling
"Book
of
Tea".
province.
;
comma-shaped
resilient.
summoned
cm)
78
The surrounding
30%
hills
of
Hung-wu
Chao
friend
period (1368-1398) he
of
was
A ^<i"- ^%
h- -i
4f
'
<K
it ft
<
111
1 ^i
n ^
*,
172
i^'u
"SK'
^'
J?-
'1-
fe
i-'i
iAt
It
If
)t|-.
"V-
.5- /.
*b i
.1
.^
<4
ON A
g.
By
THE RIVER
CLIFF BY
Handscroll
In ink
(25.8x61.5 cm)
in.
Two gentlemen
third is
charm
to the painting.
was a disciple of the Taoist Fang Ts'ung-i (No. 89) and of the
Chang Shuai, and a friend of the painters Ni Tsan and Chao Yuan (Nos.84
and 90f). He is supposed to have studied the style of Kuo Hsi (No. 20), and
some trace of that perhaps shows In the outline of the foreground cliff. The
Lin ChiJan-a
poet
painting
is
memory
of a
who
tells
us that he did
it
in
day when Ni Tsan and Chao Yuan exchanged paintings and poems
h.
SCHOLAR APPROACHING
By Chuang
Handscroll
HIS LODGE
in ink
and some
light color
on paper, W/,x25y,
in.
(26.2x65.4 cm)
approached by an elderly scholar crosswashes and broad wet strokes with some
is
is
Yuan dynasty. Blue and white may have been mixed with the ink; some pink Is
added to the face.
Chuang Lin lived at the same place in Kiangsu as Kuo Pi (No. 78).
The painting has a poetic inscription by the artist who tells us that he was
inspired by a painting of ChiJ-jan (No. 15). There
Tung Ch'i-ch'ang
is
also an Inscription by
(1555-1636).
?,
m ih
^#
.4-
It
i '11 1
4-
HjLi-
-rJ^'^Wv4,
B.:,;i-,
173
A
'^
p%.
ff^
174
91
LITERARY GATHERING
By Wang Fu (dated
Hanging
scroll in ink
and
1404,
A MOUNTAIN LODGE
IN
Ming dynasty)
light colors
on paper,
51%x20X
in.
(129.5x51.4 cm)
A thatched
Painted mainly
in
cliffs,
in
the background.
dry brushwork laid over wet strokes and washes, the powerful
mountain landscape
recalls the
work
of
(Nos. 88,
80). Elastic
tains blend
in
a wild
exchange
of poetry
and music.
Wang
who,
like Ni
(1403-1422)
Literary
Academy
he received the
in
title
made
member
of
the Han-lin
rich
Wang was
Wen
27, 77).
to the scholar-
175
92
(ca. 1430,
scroll in ink
Ming dynasty)
and some
light colors
on
silk,
66y,x32y,
in.
(167.9x83.1 cm)
is
among
is veiling
his provisions.
Tall,
woman
is
feeding
In
hills rise
Sung Academy
was
evocative
style.
make a
living
himself an
emperor's
as a professional
by the artist.
176
and agrees
in
style with
177
178
93
(ca. 1500,
and colors on
scroll in ink
IN
silk,
69%
One is
moon. The front
MOONLIGHT
Ming dynasty)
x 42 in. (177.2 x 107.3
profiles of the
a rocky bank
alighted.
cm)
skillful
treatment of the white neck and breast feathers. Delicate graded washes pro-
duce subtle atmospheric effects of moonlight and mist, and the colors are
skillfully shaded and subdued. This poetic picture is a splendid example of the
decorative academic art of the period.
LiJ Chi, a native of Ningpo (Chekiang), studied bird and flower painting under
painter named Pien Wen-chin. During the Hung-chih period
was summoned to the court by Emperor Hsiao-tsung and was
made Commander of the Guard of the Gold Embroidered Robes, a very high
another
Academy
(1488-1505) he
honor.
The
painting
is
signed by the
artist.
179
94
LOFTY MT. LU
By Shen Chou (dated
Hanging
scroll In ink
and
1467,
Ming dynasty)
light colors
on paper, 76>^x38%
of ink values is
the
cliffs
in
In.
Kiangsi province
of slopes
(193,8x98.1 cm)
The
extraordinary richness
and some of
dense and complex compo-
to organize the
tion of
The woolly texture strokes, in particular, place the painting in the tradiWang Meng (No. 88) which here, however, is handled in a highly indi-
vidual
manner. Strong accent dots are scattered over the mountain top and
sition.
Shen Chou
river.
but chose a quiet life devoted to his interests in poetry, painting and calligraphy,
and to his mother who lived to be almost 100 years old. Shen enjoyed the
friendship of the most outstanding scholar-officials of his time. In his art as
well as in his
life
Lij
Che school
followed the tradition of the great Yuan dynasty landscapists and through the
latter, of
Tung
180
181
95
(ca. 1500,
Hanging
scroll in ink
An
man walks
old
water, bare
Is
hills
Ming dynasty)
on paper, W/,xiS,y,
clearly that of Nl
Tsan (Nos.
in Ni
The
artist
182
is
the atmosphere
84, 85),
tightly knit,
(159.1x72.2 cm)
in.
-^
J3 ^>
t i *
^^^
>tW^
4y
183
gg
The
1494,
Ming dynasty)
on paper,
13%x22X
In.
(34.7x55.4 cm)
lively
iris,
lily
In this
self-expression.
his
184
:.^
185
97
SPRING
IN
KIANGNAN
n -...
and
scroll in ink
scholar
is
boating
among
1547,
Ming dynasty)
41%x12
colors on paper,
llgtit
river.
In.
(106x30 cm)
~-.-^
and individual
which
of
light
national hero
in
Wen
T'ien-hsiang
member
some time
Academy and
Literary (Han-lin)
served for
and editor
capital as a compiler
life
in
the
of the
to poetry, calligraphy
.)
and painting.
He was
closely
for his
austere character.
As
by Shen
Chou
work as
As
tradition
a painter he
of the
and
a young man, he
whose
99)
worked
in
life
different
was
far
from exem-
manners,
all
in
the
guished by
critics
collection of
186
is
Keng Chao-chung
(1640-1686).
is distin-
in
the
98
OLD TREES BY A COLD WATERFALL
By Wen Cheng-ming (dated
Hanging
scroll in Ink
and colors on
junipers climbs to
waterfall,
tlie
dropping
1549,
silk,
Ming dynasty)
of twisting
top of
tlie tall,
over the
rocky
cm)
narrow picture.
cliff
between
like
simple
hanging,
a sabre.
The
The
painting
It Is
is
a splendid example of
who was
Wen's "rough"
style.
187
gg
FIGURES
T'ANG STYLE
IN
By T'ang Yin
Hanging
(1470-1523)
scroll in Ink
In.
courtesan
in
Tuan-tuan,
Li
which he spoke
a scroll,
is
who
It
front of him
called
(149.3x65.9 cm)
her maid
is
waves protect
it
folding
screen
with
and indiscreet eyes. An angular flowering tree reaches over the screens; a
mushrooming garden rock and tree peonies adorn the foreground. The angular
is
as a painter of beautiful
women.
189
*^
-jQQ
In
(1470-1523,
scroll in ink
and
Ming dynasty)
light colors
on
slllt,
76>Jx40%
In.
(194.5x102.8 cm)
in
in
composition as well
T'ang (No.
36)
and free execution, full of verve, is typical of the artist's period and school
which is closer to the Che School academicians such as Tai Chin (No. 92)
than to Wen Cheng-ming and the other gentlemen-painters of the Wu school,
and very far removed from the intellectual climate of the great Yuan masters.
The
It
was
in
the
191
^Q'l
and colors on
In Ink
Ming dynasty)
silk,
^^%x 138%
to the river,
In
(1470-1523,
and
cm)
rocl^y
shore introduces us
Autumn
it.
leaves
on the water. Further along, two other scholars have stopped their boats
float
by a waterfall
other
one
Is
in
is
gentleman walks
in
the garden
is
another
is
final tree
group brings us
Color
is
are red
in
used
a kind of reversed texture stroke technique, the artist has applied darker
washes and wash-like strokes in such a way as to leave lighter areas between them in shapes which resemble brushstrokes.
The drawing is strong but elegant; the poetic atmosphere of the leisurely
scene
is
content than
The
The
painting
in its style to
is
inscribed with a
Wang
by the
is
closer
in its
friends.
artist.
is
first
colophon, by
Ch'ung,
painting.
192
poem
literati
Ho
Liang-tsun,
193
1Q2
Ch'iu Ying
Hanging
In a
scroll in ink
(first
AUTUMN
and colors on
harmonious and
IN
silk, 61 x
52%
In. (155.4 x
Ming dynasty)
133.4
cm)
land interrupt the expanse of the river and lead our eyes
to the distance v\/here high
mountains
rise
in
and spits of
a zigzag
movement
bamboo.
In
the foreground
a group of people waiting for the boat; the figures are well drawn, with
is
some
white highlights along the fold-lines. Fine, outlined reeds grow along the bank
the greyish-green rocks with accented contours are modelled with darker
washes and "axe-cut" strokes in the manner of Li T'ang (No. 36). Every detail
is carefully drawn with great precision
yet the whole composition has atmo;
mood
element.
moved
to
was considered an
The
194
An
It
was
in
L 'n
^i^
^ -
*&
^0
;.i
-fi
I
ii
#
AU
M.
[^ -A
:)^
#>
u
^.
,f?^-Sr
'H
.,
.^-*
195
:-^f^^
}^2^
196
1Q3
Ch'iu Ying
Hanging
Two
(first
scroll in ink
and
light colors
on paper, llOy,
39%
in
Ming dynasty)
in.
The
off
In
more
privacy.
Blue
cm)
boulder closes
(279.5 x 100
is
of the
of
The subject
it
of this painting
as well as
its
within the realm of the "literary" taste of the period. Every detail
shows
artist's
the
work
The
painting
is
It
was
in
(1525-1590).
197
1Q4
IN
By Tung Ch'i-ch'ang
Hanging
(1555-1636,
on paper, 126%
scroll In Ink
mountain landscape
is
W/,
Ming dynasty)
cm)
rounded conical rocks, boulders, and slopes which are echoed in the
conical, simplified pines. Foreground vegetation is done in broad, wet Ink
built of
The reduction
of natural
shapes
nearly abstract pattern corresponds well with the cool and intellectual
of the picture. Classical traditions are discernible, but
to a
mood
K'o-kung (Nos.
Tung Ch'i-ch'ang,
(Shanghai), made
member
home
from Huating
The
painting
is
his
inscribed by the
painting attributed to
understanding of
198
at
i t
i^
199
m^..Uri
...
105
LIFE
The
in ink
activities of the
11%
in.
(24.3x31.1 cm)
album,
in this
are centered around books and poetry, writing and painting, rubbings and
well as of a
The
in
The
archaizing element
is
evident
fine,
light
shading
in ink
or color washes.
The
in
the
particular
rhythm of the lines, which seem to have a life of their own, the elegance of
drawing combined with a conscious awkwardness, the exaggeration of the
200
iSiSSi-t*
tfie
The album
is
inscribed
was
in
spirit.
the collection of
century).
201
-|Qg
VERDANT PEAKS
By Wang Shih-min
Hanging
scroll In Ink
and colors on
silk,
64%
cm)
hills
on
line,
especially
in
We
the contours.
left
blank. There
very
little
we
emphasis
Tung
Ch'i-
Tung
Yuan and
is
is
a remark-
Wang
to a
Wang
of Sacrificial
the
fall
in
the Literary
Academy and
a dramatist.
Worship, but
of the dynasty.
retired
He was
because
of
ill
a distinguished scholar
and man
of letters,
and
was much influenced by his teacher, Tung Ch'i-ch'ang, and the latter's friends.
He also followed Tung in his preference for the Yuan painters, in particular
Huang Kung-wang (No. 74).
The painting is signed by the artistthen 81 years old who tells us that he
painted it after a picture by Huang Kung-wang. It obviously is not a copy, but
a free creation inspired by the spirit of the great Yuan painter to whom he
pays homage.
202
'(
*-
203
jjf.
204
I'i
ii'o
"107
scroll In ink
(1598-1677,
Ch'ing dynasty)
Another landscape
31 x
^5%
in.
(78.8 x 38.8
cm)
way
this is constructed in a
Wang
was
a distant relative of
at the
is
done
same
place and
Wang
Shih-min (No.
became close
in
Wang
106).
Shih-chen (1526-1590),
They
lived for
some
time
examinations,
artists
of
as
mutual
The
Wang Wen-chih
Huang
On
and the
(1730-1802).
205
206
1Q3
scroll in ink
and
light colors
on paper, 99y,
and
style
is
40%
In. (254.1 x
103
cm)
modelled peaks
a waterfall threads
its
to vale.
and
Wang
is
well scaled
Rows
of dots, in a
Chlen, accent the contours of the foreground rocks and the far-off
hilltops.
Wang
as a disciple by
Wang
Chien and
Wang
student of the old masters. His copies were famous, and his paintings
in
the
were highly
time. They brought
is
and
of varying quality.
the style of
This painting
who
tells
of his long
is
and industrious
life
is
of his best.
one
Wang
Hui stamped
it
it
with a special seal which indicates that he himself considered the painting
a masterpiece.
207
109
LANDSCAPE
By
Hanging
scroll in ink
on paper, 33%
19%
in. (86.1 x
is
49.4
cm)
above. Strong and solid trees and rocks are done mainly
some
is
Washes
of
tells
of the great
YiJn
a very rich
in the manner
once more we realize the degree to
these tenth century painters was conceived through the
In
to
in
of
in light,
are reinforced
also used for the dots and distant trees that have taken on
some contours
painting
is,
in fact,
closest
74).
in
When he died, the expenses of his burial were met by his intimate
Wang Hui (No. 108). It is said that YiJn gave up landscape painting
having realized that he could not surpass Wang Hui, and thereafter
his father.
friend,
after
specialized
in
The present
painting
208
It
shows
favorite of
.li
it.
"^ v- \ T\
f'
it
*>
1^
'.1-
'
i^.
i-i
^
to
v^
'A"
it
.1^
i'.
J:
--H:,,
j^^-
209
11Q
By
Album
Wang
Hui (dated
1672,
x 17 in.
Ch'ing dynasty)
(28.5x43 cm.)
us
in his
left
in
blank or painted
was done
in
the
in
color.
manner
of
The
Hsu
to
landscapes by
Wang
2.
Chao Meng-fu
Kao K'o-kung
3.
Li
4.
Fan K'uan
5.
Ts'ao Chih-po
6.
Wang Wei
1.
Ch'eng
after
(ink)
(ink)
and colors)
(ink
after
Lu Hung
(ink)
(ink)
to the brilliant
Hui,
skill
of
Wang
wide
Hui. However,
historical
more
knowledge as well as
design and appearance of the model that he evokes than to the more intimate
individual features of style. It reminds us of the manner in which a motif from
in music may be used for modern variations.
album are inscribed or sealed by the artists.
a classical composition
All the leaves of the
^4 *
t f
Jlp
4^ i*
w
ffr
1*
5.
^t !
ti
210
<&
111
(39.7x26.8 cm)
The album, ostensibly in homageto the old masters whose compositional devices are used or suggested in the
manner of an intellectual exercise, in fact displays nearly everywhere the individual style of the artist himself.
The curiously leaning conical peaks and slopes, derived from Tung Ch'i-ch'ang (No. 104), are quite typical so
is the insistent repetition of rows of flat dots along the contours of rocks and trees in a manner related to the
style of Wang Shih-min and Wang Hui (Nos. 106, 108). The brushwork is crisp and brilliant throughout.
Wu Li was the descendant of a Kiangsu gentry family, a scholar-poet and musician who studied painting under
Wang Shih-min and Wang Chien (No. 107) and became an intimate friend of Wang Hui. Around 1679 he was
converted to Christianity and baptized under the name Simon-Xavier a few years later he entered the Jesuit
order. In 1688, in Macao, he was ordained a priest and took the surname "a Cunha". The rest of his life was
;
devoted to missionary work around Nanking and Shanghai. His friendship with
they hardly
The album
is
is
no trace
of
western influence
Wang
Wang
in his
painting.
(1781).
211
']']2
The
scroll in ink
on paper, 32%
19%
cm)
literary
ways and
light colors
for
new
expressions
pictorial
is
strokes which reinforce and model the lighter wet under-drawing, the gradual
modern and
all
individual way.
Wang
outward likeness
more
The rows
of
in
painterly device; the accent dots are placed in a highly arbitrary way.
cool rhythm
Wang
Wang
his
(including
Shih-min (No.
turn a magistrate, a
Academy. During
of
a precarious balance.
in
and pupil of
in
to nature.
in
landscape
far distance.
Ch'i-ch'ang and
of this imaginary
last of the
106).
of Finance.
He was
imperial palace.
He
also
was one
of the
summoned
to paint in the
The
picture
is
212
inscribed by the
his grand-father
\jt fi
213
^1^1
113
The
seen
in
writer
handscroll form,
is
the
in ink
on paper, 9%
(reigned 713-755)
x 72"/i, in. (24.5 x 184.9
cm)
is
the
painting
titled
is in
(hsing-shu), with the individual characters quite close to their standard (k'ai)
The
eulogy,
in
in
more
fluid brush-line.
was composed by
In
his
in
is
Wei
of
in
one
of the
poem composed
commemorate it.
The calligraphy
a certain
to
"imperial writing", and furnished with a seal of the K'ai-yiJan era (713-741).
of the
palace seals, and those of a number of private collectors. The noted scholar
Wang Wen-chih
214
114
AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL ESSAY
By the Monk Huai-su
In Ink
Born
tine
in
in
his
on paper. 11*^K295^i
In
in.
(28.3x755 cm)
life.
money to buy enough paper for the constant practice required, planted
banana palms and used their broad leaves instead. Eventually he was able
to travel to the capital, Changan, and learn from the great calligraphers of his
day. He died in 785. The essay written here is an account of his development,
with some comments on earlier masters and quotations of praise for Huai-su's
own writing, which his contemporaries called "the calligraphy of the Drunken
Monk."
This work is a rare early example of the "Wild" Draft script (K'uang-ts'ao)
of which the eighth century Chang HsiJ, called "the Sage of the Draft Script"
lacking
and reportedly Huai-su's model, was the all-time master. The characters are
composed with great freedom, and executed with a fluency and fervor that
suggest both the untrammeled nature of the writer and the state of drunkenness
he was probably
Among
the
in
many
when he
wrote.
is
a record of
its
having
Kao Shih-ch'i
the Chin emperor Chang-tsung (reigned 1190-1209) and of the palace inventory
of the years 1373-1384.
215
115
By Su Shih (dated
1083,
Sung dynasty)
The
writer,
most
Su Shih
brilliant
and
(1036-1101), better
versatile
men
in
in.
(24x258.5 cm)
Chinese
of the
among
who were
his close
friends, he
it,
see No.
in
childhood. For a
summary and
46.
it,
In a
prose
it
The writing is classified as being in the Running (hsing) script which was
Su Shih's speciality among the script styles, but is actually very close to the
k'ai or Standard script. The brushstrokes are full-bodied and sure. The writer
signs with his given name "Shih". The Ming dynasty calligrapher and painter
Wen Cheng-mi ng
has added a few lines that were missing from the text because
damage. His seals are on the scroll, along with those of his contemporary
Chia Shih-tao, his son Wen P'eng (1498-1573), and Hsiang YiJan-pien (1525of
1590).
'iijL
216
-5L
There
is
t- k'
a colophon by
Tung Ch'i-ch'ang
1^
^ ^ 4-
--Jii
^^M # ^^
1 *'"-t
116
in
handscroll form,
Huang T'ing-chien
Is
(1045-1105,
in ink
Sung dynasty)
on paper. 12"/ii
counted, along
witli
Su Shih, Ml
He
excelled
In
Integrity,
poem
Is
;
As
a prot6g6 of
reflected
In
for his
his writing.
is In
the
former
style.
The
cm)
text Is a
Is
that
original
willful eccentricity.
The
first
colophon
Is
Sung
by an unidentified
defect.
The
(d. 1275),
scroll
was
later
of
owned by the
phons composed
for
It
by a
number
of
late
He comments
brush
of the
dated 1323. Seals on the scroll Include those of the Ming dynasty painter
Ch'lu Ying (No. 102) and his patron Hsiang YiJan-pien (1525-1590), and the
An
217
118
Po^""
The
In
handscroll form
text consists of a
"Executed
in
In ink
on
poem
silk.
(reigned 1101-1125)
10>^x ^0A%
i.e.
gourd-shaped seal
is
satility
is
distinguished for
and
is
signed:
impressed over
(27.2x265.9 cm.)
era (1119-1125).
In.
ill-fated
skill
this.
31.
As
for ver-
it
for virtually
all
his writing.
The characters
are
composed
by the Chinese
The
in
it
verges on preciousness.
There
is
a short
219
i^'l
"^
ii ff
^ ^
1
'^^
Ji,
Ilifit
"
1^
?l
!>-*;* ii
-^
^
'lig
'i
^f
J*
*H
^ *
n
'J^
ii^
<&
-^
'I
ic
^?f
;*
'I
,-i
'z -K -^ ^^
^ 4 ^
i.
-ST
?'
^"
ii
/4
*^
J-
'i
^"^
in ink
on paper. 14>j
x 24'/,,
in. (36.7 x
Sung
who
first
61.5
cm)
emperor
of the
Southern
Hangchow
after the
north of China had been invaded by the Chin Tartars. Like his father, he
proficient as a poet, calligrapher
As
is
was
in this
medium
survives.
calligrapher, he
associations.
220
?^
^^
'
^^
120
RED CLIFF
(dated 1301,
in
onpaper. Each
leaf
about 11% X
leaves, in
crane
the Red
Chao Meng-fu
is
in
dream
to
in
Su,
known
best
as a painter (Nos.
Chinese
two friends.
Cliff.
were
his
flies
90a),
69,
in
the west
achievements as a calligrapher
his
equally
The
great.
present
scroll
The
calligraphy
is in
(hsing-k'ai) script
ticular brilliance.
leaf.
the Running-Standard
The
"Chao",
is
to
at
February
following note
portrait.
"My young
1301,
friend
and
the
Ming-yuan
has given
write the
for
also
first
made
a portrait of
page."
He signs
Su Tung-p'o on the
with his style (tzu),
"Tzu-ang."
There
is
a colophon by another
famous
calli-
tember
T'ang
Chao
many
7,
1301
in
,
Ti (No. 83)
I,
collectors' seals.
221
0:1
fA
^ -^ n V
# i^ fc
^
>^ -^
i?u'
^^
0) ^^
'5-
-?
m^ K ^
MiiWM- f t
123
DOVES ON A FLOWERING PEACH BRANCH
Attributed to
Some
37%
15%
in.
(96x38.5 cm)
it
was
used
first
in
this
were continued
and variations
of that style
became
medium
for
copying
all
In
were used
it
later.
mass
and
began, but although the traditional Chinese attribution places this piece
224
the tapestry
the early all-over patterns of birds and flowers that covered the whole area with a dense
of rich colors
wall
locally. In
in
later
in
in
painting.
the
124
LANDSCAPE
Attributed to
Here on a
jutting
31%
cm)
is
seated
in
a pavilion sheltered
is in
effect a
seals.
woven facsimile
Again the
of a
islet,
hills.
The
mounpicture
traditional attribution to
Sung
is
225
125
IMMORTALS
IN
Attributed to an
Silk tapestry (k'o-ssu;
In
A MOUNTAIN PALACE
anonymous
10Vix13'/i.
In.
artist of
the
Sung dynasty
(25.5x41 cm)
monkeys. Evidently the scene represents a Taoist paradise; and the densely
crowded composition and formal stylization of the mountains, trees, clouds,
etc., true to the tapestry medium in which they are rendered, and quite unlike
a painting, suggest that this piece may well be earlier than Nos. 123 and 124.
226
126
EAGLE ON A PERCH
Attributed to an
Silk
anonymous
embroidery. 42>ix21%
In.
the
Sung dynasty
(109x55 cm)
is
embroidered
in
artist of
white and
its
some
The Sung
attribution
227
127
li.
H. 4
in. (10.5
1028 B.C.
cm)
//,
is
in
in
in
prehistoric times. Cast on the inside are the three characters shu-fu-ting,
128
whom
the vessel
was dedicated.
or Early
Type fang
tsun.
H.
Chou dynasty,
17%
In. (45
cm)
is
brown
its
size,
and the
and the rather flat character of the relief places it in a small group
on the Shang tradition, may have been made later and far
of a
elements
like
at
of
Changsha
in
Hunan
228
the design
in
sit
later.
There
is
no inscription.
229
^29
CEREMONIAL TRIPOD
Chou dynasty, Reign
Type
ting.
H.
20%
in. (53.5
King Hsiian
of
(827-781 B.C.)
cm)
The
only decoration on this vessel is the single band of horizontal scale pattern
around the top of the deep, more than hemispherical, bowl. Two handles stand
strongly on the thick rim, and the vessel
is
come
Duke
of
1850)
and remained
to the
in private
Chinese Government
that time a
relic of
was
good many
hands
in
first
for
1948 by
published
of the leading
in
all
was presented
1896 by
Wu
it
Chou
dynasty,
in
it
spite
provides no solid evidence for dating. Evidently these early scholars were
convinced by the very size of the vessel and by the magnificent long inscription
must have been made in the golden age following the founding of the
In recent decades further study has shown that both the style of the
script and of the vessel itself are those of the second half of Western Chou,
and a period about the time of King Hsiian (827-781 B.C.) seems to be indicated.
that
it
dynasty.
230
231
130
p'on.
The
D. 25
in. (64.5
of
King
Li (861-827
B.C.)
at the
in
is
cast an inscription
One
documents
As
probably
in
Sometime
It
lay in
Li
known as
in
(861-827 B.C.).
we have no
some two and
was
was brought
buried.
to light
thereafter,
the ground
in
is
territorial
it
the Ch'ien-lung reign of the Ch'ing dynasty about A.D. 1770, and thereafter
passed through the hands of a series of private collectors whom it attracted
not only because of its great size and remarkable condition but even more
by the length and interest of its inscription. The text immediately occupied
in
modern
script
first
chai-cbung-ting-i-chi-k'uan-shih which
first
appeared
in his
in 1804. Five
it
into
Chi-ku-
years later
Carnegie
No.
1)
marks the
first
attempt by a westerner to
232
in
archaic Chinese.
131
LARGE BELL
Chou dynasty, Reign
Type chung. H. 27%
in. (70
at
upper part
nipples
cm)
of
is
surmounted by a
bell are
vertical
suspension. On the
the horizontal panels between each row of three nipples, and also
in
on top of the
bell
in
the "Middle
Chou"
style;
two
coiled dragon patterns appear in the bottom center of each side, and incised
are 57 characters
ters
in
Ave
lines.
in
eight lines
in
four lines
at
On
below, on the
lett
side
a single inscription
of 122 characters.
There seems
to be
it
into
most scholars
as Sun l-jang,
assigning
it
to
for
233
132
WINGED BEAST
Han dynasty
Carved jade.
This
ward
in
ancient times.
off evil".
carved
cm)
is
dians
L. 6 in. (15.5
in
On
A.D.
purposes has
famous beasts
overlooked
The Chinese
the chest
1774.
133
might be
traditionally
them
poem
p'i-hsieh
tomb guar-
of the Ch'ien-lung
emperor
at the
and although
later
an imperial
Although
is
called
is
too striking to be
it
than Han.
LEAF-SHAPED CUP
Han dynasty
Carved jade.
Carved
cup
is
of
L. 6 in. (15.5
cm)
brown jade
in
of
stem, this
234
its
and the
realistic
134
SMALL VASE OF BRONZE FORM
Sung dynasty
Carved jade. H.A'/,
in. (11
vessel
bronze
cm)
is
carved
in
the form of a
Shang dynasty
is
covered
wooden stand
an inscription dated
in
the eighth
moon
of 1555 referring
Wen Cheng-ming
was
the studio
who owned it at one time. On the side of the stand are the words
Wen Fu chih, indicating that the stand itself was carved by
Wen
Fu.
135
The
in. {14
cm)
the
and
in
the
235
136
LEAPING FISH
Ming dynasty
Carved jade. H. 6><
In. (16
cm)
The
fish is carved in such a way that the body is largely white while the blackish outer crust of the stone has
been used to accent the tail, dorsal fin, horn, eyes, lips, etc. A small hornless dragon clings to the fish's belly.
is
No doubt
Is
to be
regarded as the symbol of scholarly success: the carp leaping above the waves.
137
HEAD FOR A STAFF
Ch'ing dynasty, Ch'ien-lung reign (1736-1796)
Carved jade. H. 6
in. (15.5
dated
in
cm)
a rock pigeon on an arching perch which rises from a base in the form of a beast with
socket
is
In
the latter
incised
is
in tiny
staff.
An
imperial Ch'ien-lung
poem
Ever since Han times the Chinese have regarded the carrying of a staff as one of the prerogatives of an elderly
gentleman
such a
finial for
staff.
in
belief that
in
Explanations of the origin of this custom are various. Most generally accepted
is
the
pigeon expresses the wish that the old gentleman may continue to enjoy unimpaired digestion with advancing
years.
138
SQUARE VESSEL WITH COVER
Ch'ing dynasty, Ch'ien-lung reign (1736-1796)
White
jade.
H.
5%
in. (13
cm)
is in
it
in
was made
in
Ch'ien-lung times
in
On
the bottom
is
in
the round on
inscribed Ta Ch'ing
imitation of an antique.
139
BELT
HOOK
Ch'ing dynasty
Carved jade.
The
L.
brilliant
3%
in. (8
cm)
is
the color
ts'ui,
"kingfisher",
and
is
what
Ancient
belt
in
with inlay of precious metals or turquoise, jade, glass, crystal, etc., but almost invariably the part that receives
the hook
is
missing. This eighteenth century version elaborately carved with dragons, gives an idea
how
they
237
140
DOUBLE VASE
Ch'ing dynasty
Carved iade. H.
Two
4X
in. (10.5
cm)
small covered vases are carved out of a single block of yellow jade without
separation. By
way
of decoration, small
in
relief
on the
surfaces.
'141
SCHOLARS SEAL
Ch'ing dynasty, Ch'ien-lung reign (1736-1796)
Carved Ch'ang-hua stone. H.
In
3%
In. (8
cm)
the miniature landscape carved on this seal, a boat with three passengers
and a boatman
floats
on a turbulent
river
beneath a towering
companions
cliff.
This
is
the
Red
Cliff on the Yangtze River, an outing that inspired him to write the famous
prose-poem (fu) of that name (see also Nos. 46, 115, and 120). Inscribed on
the seal are some lines about the Red Cliff by an unidentified man who signs
himself "the retired scholar Ch'ang-ch'un", and another inscription dates
the seal in the year 1737 and gives the name of the carver, Shih T'len-chang.
Ch'ang-hua stone comes from the district of that name in Chekiang province
and was highly esteemed by seal carvers for Its color and texture.
238
his
142
BOWL
Sung dynasty
8%
ChiJn ware. D.
The
In. (22.5
cm)
is
cut to resemble the tips of lotus petals and the sides are slightly moulded to match.
showing
slightly yellowish
bowl may,
this
in
fact,
where
it
143
VASE
Sung dynasty
Ju ware. H.
6^
The shape,
in. (16.5
cm)
hasa high
hua
is
239
144
VASE
Sung dynasty
J u ware. H.
The
8X
In. (22.5
cm)
a cracl<led greenish
is
covered with
lip
is
poem of 56 characters
was carved, corresponding
the month between 26 May and 24 June 1778,
an imperial Ch'ien-lung
when
it
145
NARCISSUS POT
Sung dynasty
Ju ware.
L. 9 In. (23
The shallow
cm)
oval
dish
with
gently
an uncrackied
is
light bluish
covered with
green glaze.
on the base,
of Ju sent as samples to
Chingtechen in 1729 by the Yung-
pieces
240
there
reproduce
that the
this
rare
146
LOTUS BOWL
Sung dynasty
Ju ware. D.
The
rim
is
6%
in. (16.5
cm)
deeply scalloped, and the high sides are moulded into nine corres-
is finely
crackled
all
over.
241
147
BRUSH WASHER
Sung dynasty
Ju ware.
L.
5X
in. (14
cm)
w/ith
is
to
duck
148
PYRAMIDAL VASE
Sung dynasty
Kuan ware. H.
cm)
rectangular vessel on a low foot, this piece consists of three tiers of diminish-
ing size
topped by a short
lip;
between
242
21
when
it
is
is
covered with
to the
poem
month
149
in. (15
cm)
was
150
11
is
poem
March
of 90 characters
on the base
1785.
FLOWER RECEPTACLE
Sung dynasty
Kuan ware. H. 6%
The
In. (15.5
cm)
roll
is
summer
of 27
on the
in
the
of 1778.
*-fc^
243
151
BRUSH BARREL
Sung dynasty
Kuan ware, H. 3%
Of
cylindrical
In. (9.5
lung
poem
cm)
some areas
of large crackle
on the base
is
an imperial Ch'ien-
month between
2 February
152
NARCISSUS POT
Sung dynasty
Kuan ware,
L. 9 in. (23
The shallow
light
cm)
is
imperial Ch'ien-lung
poem
of eighty-four characters
the
between 26 May and 24 June 1778. The important difference between this piece
145, which is classified as Ju ware, is that the latter shows light buffcolored clay in the six spurmarks while on this piece they are black.
and No.
244
153
VASE
Sung dynasty
Chiao-tan Kuan ware, H. T/,
The vessel
of
in. (18.5
cm)
rests on a low, finely cut, black foot; the glaze, described by the
"suburban
altar" of the
all
over. Chiao-tan
at
is
Chinese as
the so-called
Hangchow. Wares
of this type
154
site.
6'/i in.
(15.5
cm)
base with
five
lip
has a convex
is
the shade
245
^55
*-^^ ^^^
Sung dynasty
Chiao-tan Kuan ware, D. 6y,
The
circular dish,
in. (17.5
cm)
crackle; carved
in
Igg
SQUARE DISH
Sung dynasty
Chl Chou ware,
The
W. 5%
has a
foliated rim
design of rams
white,
in. (14
among clouds
mat glaze
is
imperial Ch'ien-lung
Chou was
cm)
in
low
relief
appears
in
the bottom
the greyish
poem
on the base.
246
VASE
157
Ming dynasty,
Yu-li-hung ware, H.
late fourteenth
12'/, In. (32
century (Hung-wu)*
cm)
Beginning
because
at
is
painted
in
instead
of
red.
the top, the horizontal bands of decoration include plantain leaves, thunder pattern, fungus scroll,
etc.), lotus
Ming and Ch'ing porcelains made at Chingtechen under the several reign names whether they
bear the reign marks or not. In this catalogue we have followed the Western practice of assigning them to definite periods only when
they are so marked; unmarked pieces are given approximate chronological dates, and the reign classification of the Chinese follows
Traditionally the Chinese classify
in
ail
parenthesis.
LARGE BOWL
158
Ming dynasty,
Yu-li-hung ware, D.
late fourteenth
century (Hung-wu)
cm)
Like No. 157 this piece was decorated with copper oxide under the glaze, but here the firing was more successful
and some of the design came out in red inside the rim is a border of fungus scrolls above the main design
of scrolling lotus; on the outside are waves, peony scrolls, lotus panels, and thunder pattern in that order
;
from
lip
to foot.
247
159
TEAPOT
Ming dynasty, early
White ware, H. 4%
In. (11.5
is
the handle
is
white.
160
WIDE BOWL
Ming dynasty, Yung-lo reign
White ware, D. 8%
In. (22
(1403-1424)
cm)
So
thin is the clay in this ware that the Chinese call it t'o-t'o/, "bodiless"
under the glaze the Eight Treasures of Buddhism are drawn in slip in the
the bowl.
248
is
drawn
in
in
the
archaic script
in
the bottom of
161
STEMCUP
Ming dynasty, Yung-lo reign
White ware. D.
4%
in. (11
who
(1403-1424)
cm)
this
stemcup
is
decoration inside the bowl consists of two dragons, and the four-character
mark
162
STEMCUP
Ming dynasty, Yung-lo reign
Red ware, D.
6y,
in. (16.5
(1403-1424)
cm)
This deep red glaze which the Chinese called chi-hung, "sacrificial red", was
one
of the great
to imitate
it,
lang-yao, invariably
fell
some wonderful
in
reds
In this
like
later
attempts
the K'ang-hsi
in
the
249
163
Named from
in. (20
cm)
the shape of
nese ceramics
the color
its lid,
in this
instance
is
poem
Emperor
cut
calls
in
it
now
in
uncommon
called pao-shih-hung,
In
in
Chi-
"precious
translates our
word cinnabar; he
164
BOWL
Ming dynasty, early
Red ware, D. 8%
in. (20.5
cm)
Another example
this
In
in
250
165
OCTAGONAL BOWL
Ming dynasty, early
Red ware, D. 6
in. (15.5
cm)
This bowl, also covered with the glaze currently called pao-shih-hung, has no
'155
STEMCUP
Ming dynasty, early
Red ware, D.
Much
No. 162
glaze
is
like
is
in. (15.5
cm)
in
is
also similar
In this
in
that the
among clouds on
the
outside with conventional cloud and scroll forms below. These decorations
are executed
In
explained.
251
-Igy
SAUCE POT
Ming dynasty, Hsiian-te reign
Red ware, H. 4X
The
In. (10
Underneath on the
glaze blue.
252
(1426-1435)
cm)
vifhite
253
168
SAUCE POT
Ming dynasty, HsiJan-te reign
Blue ware, H.
i'/. In.
This
is
pot
(10
like
the
preceding
169
STEMCUP
Ming dynasty, HsiJan-te reign
Yu-li-hung ware, D.
The
with
small stemcup
three
peach)
bowl
4%
is
in
fruits
is
(1426-1435)
cm)
(pomegranate,
apple,
and
the
six-character
underglaze blue.
254
in. (12
HsCian-te
mark
in
(1426-1435)
cm)
is
call
in
every
dark blue
chi-ch'ing,
170
COVERED VASE
Ming dynasty,
The vase
is
In. (36.5
cm)
lid,
lotus
in
mixture
blossoms
cloud-collar frames on the shoulder, and peony scrolls on the main design.
If
it
ed that
171
inl<-like
it
was made
decade or two
and the
later,
possibility
is right,
cannot be overlook-
FLASK
Ming dynasty, early
in. (29.5
cm)
well painted
one
of
"flat
this piece
is
unusual
in
showing a
whom dances
known only on
to the
a similar flask
255
"72
FLASK
"I
Ming dynasty,
In. (33
cm)
Chinese
because of its characteristic flatness. Like No. 170 it sits rather uneasily in the
Hsuan-te reign to which the Chinese have assigned it and may v/eW have been
made somewhat
173
FLASK
Ming dynasty, early
Blue and white ware, H. 9>^
Still
cm)
another variant of the pien-hu form, this flask stands on a low flaring foot
and has a bulbous mouth the main decoration of rectilinear panels symmetrically disposed around a central six-pointed star and serving as frames for
;
waves and
floral
256
designs
174
COVERED GOBLET
Ming dynasty, Hsijan-te reign
Blue and white ware, H.
5%
In. (14.5
(1426-1435)
cm)
Chou times;
a horizontal line on
is
written
175
BOWL
Ming dynasty, Ch'eng-hua reign
(1465-1487)
cm)
Yu-li-hung ware, D.
8X
in. (20.5
is
deco-
in
is
the
underglaze
blue.
257
176
BOWL
Ming dynasty, Ch'eng-hua reign
Blue and white ware, D.
8%
In. (21
cm)
among
is
177
(1465-1487)
is
is
decorated
of lotus panels
below;
BOWL
Ming dynasty, Ch'eng-hua reign
Blue and white ware, D. T/,
Around the
In. (19.5
(1465-1487)
cm)
258
row
17g
STEMCUP
Ming dynasty,
late fifteenth
7 in. (18
century (Ch'eng-hua)
cm)
the
latter,
this
ch'i-lin
and the
feet,
drawing, and the blue on this unmarked stemcup suggest the attribution to
Ch'eng-hua.
179
STEMCUP
Ming dynasty,
Inside this
in. (16.5
(Ch'eng-hua)
cm)
on the branches of
second
6%
fruit trees.
in
The
quality of the
work points
to a date in the
perhaps Ch'eng-hua.
259
180
SAUCE POT
Ming dynasty,
late fifteenth
The decoration
181
cm)
tumultuous waves
of the porcelain
In. (13
century (Ch'eng-hua)
is
and
dragons over
workmanship suggests
comparable date.
SAUCE POT
Ming dynasty,
Enamelled ware, H.
late fifteenth
4%
On
in. (12
century (Ch'eng-hua)
cm)
this pot the usual blue and white technique has been supplemented in the
main design where the wave pattern has been incised in the clay, and the
dragons have also been incised and then covered with a green enamel fired
260
182
in. (8
(1465-1487)
cm)
This well-known design of cock and hen with chicks beside a rock and flowering
plants
was
outlined
first In
known
to
In
second
firing,
covered
tou
the bases.
183
WIDE BOWL
Ch'ing dynasty, K'ang-hsi reign (1662-1722)
White ware, D. 8
in. (20.5
cm)
in later
of the
times. This
Yung-lo reign
Is
in
in
Ming that
in early
in slip in
archaic script
261
184
LARGE DISH
Ch'ing dynasty, K'ang-hsi reign (1662-1722)
Yellow ware. D. 15%
in. (40.5
cm)
is
sprays
185
among
in
is
filled
is
similarly incised.
COVERED JAR
Ch'ing dynasty, K'ang-hsi reign (1662-1722)
Enamelled ware. H.
The
262
of
in- (14
cm)
drawn dragon and phoenix are in overglaze iron red while the rest of
is in underglaze blue and tou-ts'ai enamels; the six-character
the period is written under the base.
finely
the decoration
mark
5%
186
SMALL DISH
Ch'ing dynasty, marked K'ang-hsi (1662-1722)
Enamelled ware, D.
The outside
A%
In. (12
cm)
Chinese
this
technique
is
called fa-lang-ts'ai,
is
In
used for
enamels painted on copper and for cloisonne. As a result there is some confusion when, in translation, this ware is described as cloisonn6. That word is
properly used only for metal objects on which wire c/o/sons are applied to
grounds. Such a highly refined pink as we see on this dish was not perfected
until later.
seems more
187
BOWL
Ch'ing dynasty, marked K'ang-hsi (1662-1722)
Enamelled ware, D. 6
Solidly decorated
in
In. (15.5
in
cm)
this
imperial K'ang-hsi
too
it
mark
is
written
case
lung period.
263
188
PAIR OF
BOWLS
6'/, in.
The decoration
in
overglaze enamels shows rocl<s, canrielias, prunus, and twelve magpies and
by a poetic couplet
period
is
cm)
(16
In
in
red
is
accompanied
189
PAIR OF
BOWLS
In. (16.5
cm)
Here the decoration includes sparrows among bamboo trees again accompanied by poems and seals.
group
of
used on No.
cloisonn6.
In
blue enamel
Is
technique
is
In this
enamel
nothing
like
190
PAIR OF
BOWLS
cm)
In. (15
Yung-cheng enamelled wares In this group, these two bowls are decorated in monochrome
in sepia enamel and fired over the transparent glaze producing a result
Chinese ink painting. The four-character mark of the period is written in blue enamel on the base.
191
PAIR OF WINECUPS
Ch'ing dynasty, Yung-cheng reign (1723-1735)
Enamelled ware, D.
of
pair of
ter
cm)
The decoration
192
PAIR OF WINECUPS
Ch'ing dynasty, Yung-cheng reign (1723-1735)
Enamelled ware, D.
1%
In. (4
cm)
like
in this
period.
is
mynahs amid
written in blue
bright red
maple leaves
is
265
193
TEAPOT
Ch'ing dynasty, Yung-cheng reign (1723-1735)
Enamelled ware, H.
4%
in. (11
cm)
a ground pattern of dense sepia floral scrolls are reserved two panels; on
one side are two quail among rice ears, peonies, and chrysanthemums, and
on the other two magpies with bamboo trees, roses and chrysanthemums.
In each panel is a small poem in black followed by a simulated seal in red.
On the base Is the four-character mark of the period in blue enamel.
In
194
TEAPOT
Ch'ing dynasty, Yung-cheng reign (1723-1735)
Enamelled ware, H.
On
3%
in. (9
cm)
is
done
In
panel on each side of the pot frames a landscape scene minutely painted
blue enamel with a line of poetry and a simulated seal
of each.
on the base.
266
in
in
enamel
195
LARGE VASE
Ch'ing dynasty, Yung-cheng reign (1723-1735)
Blue and white ware, H.
cm)
in. (71
Most
blue,
is in
scrolls
with
on the shoulder,
Rococo Europe.
China on Europe
a vase like this,
of
Rouen
glaze blue
196
21%
faience.
in
it
made
in
touch
in
such an intermingling
of styles that
seal script
deep underglaze
time resulted
not
in rich,
In fact,
at this
were
LARGE VASE
Ch'ing dynasty, Ch'ien-iung reign (1736-1796)
Blue and white ware, H. 25>i
In. (66
cm)
Hexagonal
in section with tall neck and flaring lip, this vase is finely painted
deep underglaze blue; the decoration, like that on No. 195 which must be
very close to this in date, combines several Chinese motifs with others which
reveal the Chinese knowledge of and interest in designs from contemporary
in
in
seal style
is
written in under-
267
>68
197
LARGE VASE
Ch'ing dynasty, Ch'ien-lung reign (1736-1796)
Monochrome ware,
The shape
H.
17%
in. (45
cm)
of this vessel is
light
is
described by the
fact there Is
porcelains
198
LARGE VASE
Ch'ing dynasty, Ch'ien-lung reign (1736-1796)
Monochrome ware,
H.
20%
in. (50.5
The shape
cm)
in
199
TEAPOT
Ch'ing dynasty, Ch'ien-lung reign (1736-1796)
Enamelled ware, H.
5%
ground pattern
finely painted
in. (14.5
cm)
200
in
enamel
seal script.
PAIR OF STEMCUPS
Ch'ing dynasty, Ch'ien-lung reign (1736-1796)
Enamelled ware, H.
The
3%
In. (9
cm)
chrysanthemums
is
particularly
delicate; and the birds constitute a rebus, for the phrase shuang-an ("double
quail")
is
homophonic
in
underglaze blue
is
written
left.
269
201
VASE
Ch'ing dynasty, Ch'ien-lung reign (1736-1796)
Enamelled ware, H. BY,
in. (20.5
cm)
cups (No.
mynahs
a setting
202
VASE
Ch'ing dynasty, Ch'ien-lung reign (1736-1796)
Enamelled ware, H.
This vase
is
6%
in. (17.5
cm)
lip. Birds and trees again make up the decorabamboo, peach, and weeping willow providing the setting for magpies
and orioles; and the scene is accompanied by the usual poetic couplet and
simulated seals. On the base is the four-character Ch'ien-lung mark in a double
call "garlic
tion
v\/ith
square
270
in
blue enamel.
203
TOOTHPICK CASES
Ch'ing dynasty, eighteenth century (Ch'ien-lung)
Enamelled ware,
L.
3%
in. (9.5
cm) closed
beads, seed pearls, etc. The porcelain enameller reaches the peak of his virtuosity (albeit a peak just short
of
it
decadence
I)
in
these wares where, not content with merely decorating the glazed surface, he transforms
brocade as a setting
in
the panels.
204
TINDER BOXES
Ch'ing dynasty, Ch'ien-lung reign (1736-1796)
Enamelled ware, H. ca.
2%
carrying
flint
and costly
made
and
in. (6.5
steel
and
cm) average
work
of gold-
and aristocratic
in
most
skillful
porcelain workers
of
the
most elaborate
boxes were
(cf.
single-case Japanese inro and the surface texture imitates sharkskin embellished with
is
As
European figures and a Christian church minutely painted In enamel colors. On the base
each the six-character Chien-lung mark is written in the seal script in red enamel.
a landscape with
271
205
THUMB RINGS
Ch'ing dynasty, eighteenth century (Ch'ien-lung)
Enamelled ware, D. ca. ^y,
These ornamental
In. (3
rings
cm) each
made
wood, stone,
inlaid
Asia the bowstring was drawn with the thumb curled under the
its tip
first
protection against the tension of the draw and whip of the cord at the
two
As
moment
of release, the
ivory, jade, or
and across the continent from Turkey to Japan and the thick cylindrical type
shown here has been current in Eastern Asia for most of the Christian era.
Elaborate imitations of other materials executed in porcelain were for the most
;
part
used as jewelry by Manchu princes who, in the midst of the elegant luxury
life of Peking, wanted always to be reminded that
272
first
and
last,
archers.
206
4X
in. (10.5
cm)
Although glass appears to have been known and nnade in China for some two millennia, it never achieved
the artistic or commercial importance in the Far East that it did in the Near East or in Europe. One possible
explanation of this is that the Chinese did not need glass because from very early times they developed such
great
skill
many ways
And
porcelain, which
was unknown
in
Europe
same
purposethe manufacture of vessels for the storage of liquids and for the serving of food and drink. The richly
colored opaque glass that was carved at Peking in the Ch'ing dynasty is known by the name of that city, and
the opaque white glass with delicate painting in enamels on the surface was largely Inspired by the European
contacts that played such an important part in the Chinese culture of the period. The scene on this small vase
shows a woman reading to a child in an autumn landscape, and while the subject matter and the personages
are Chinese they are rendered in a European style of painting that became popular in China at this time. The
until
is in
is
a finer,
SNUFF BOTTLE
207
the
same
in
in. (7
cm)
of the
period
is
written
in
273
208-209
'*'^"'
^ VASES
On
a main
In. (13.5
cm)
background color
body and
lighit
blue for
the neck, these vases are decorated with floral patterns and ornamental scrolls
("Buddha's hand citron", pomegranate, lichee nuts, peaches) together with flowers of the four seasons;
the other has grapes, melons, lotus, and apple blossoms. The eight seal
characters in the medallions with jeweled pendants are read together as a
The
imperial K'ang-hsi
and
187, these
century.
274
mark
but as
seem more
in
in
four characters
is
written
in
blue enamel on
likely to
210
TEAPOT
Ch'ing dynasty, marked K'ang-hsi (1662-1722)
Enamel on copper. W, 6%
In. (16.5
cm)
Like the vases this teapot has a background of strong yellow, but the decoration
period
is
written in blue
is
probably
late
Ch'ien-lung.
MA
SQUAT VASE
Ch'ing dynasty, marked K'ang-hsi (1662-1722)
Enamel on copper. H. 3
In. (7.5
cm)
of
scrolls densely
disposed
over the strong yellow ground. Again the four character imperial mark of the
K'ang-hsi reign
is
made some
fifty
years
later.
275
212
cm)
ground pattern densely covered with floral scrolls, which the Chinese
"brocade pattern", are reserved lour panels in ornamental frames. Around
the neck, between the dragon shaped gold handles are two swallows on apricot
branches on one side, and two birds among plums and bamboos on the other.
The two main panels on the body frame landscapes with European figures and
On
call
buildings.
213
On
the base
is
3%
in. (8.5
cm)
is
On
the base.
276
214
EWER WITH CUP AND CUPSTAND
dynasty,
Ch'ing
Ch'ien-lung
reign
(1736-17%)
Champlevi enamel on gold. H. (ewer) 7%
in
In. (19
cm)
enamel
for the
is
itself
as the
the opposite of
ing
ewer
finial
to the
lid;
215
CHUEH AND STAND
Ch'ing dynasty, Ch'ien-lung reign
(1736-1796)
Cloisonne enamels on copper. H. SV,
This
century
eighteenth
bronze
ceremonial
originated
in
center
the
version
form,
in
of
made
and
in
that
pro-
is
which
domical
is
cm)
of
chueh,
Shang dynasty
the
in. (17.5
Such
fit
eighteenth
known. The
century
fact that
examples
are
form
the chiieh
of the
some
twenty-four
other
centuries
Shang
in
extremely fine
in
quality,
this piece
and serves
enamel paintings
of floral
scenes and
mark
is
in-
277
216-217
TWO
CYLINDRICAL BOXES
D. T/,
cm)
floral
In
box
a Ch'ien-lung
is
interior,
been scratched as
The making
and
poem dated
1782 written
in
with a needle.
immense amount
strained, purified
bands Including
of care
etc.,
was brushed on to a light wooden base in many thin layers. When this coating
was complete, the design was carved through, and in the finished product
the layers are clearly visible through an ordinary pocket glass; as many as
fifty, or even more, may be present on the best early Ming pieces. The ground
it
floral
decoration
is
background color
in
is
revealed,
bottom, in these red wares, a black layer has been inserted, presumably to
warn the carver that he was approaching his lowest level, and this runs like
a topographical contour line all through the design. Lacquers for ordinary
use were made with far fewer layers, and cheap Imitations were (and still are)
made by moulding red paste or by painting a single coat over a design carved
in wood to simulate the early technique. But these latter deceive only the
most unwary.
Many problems remain
Some
still
treated with the utmost caution. In the Ming dynasty, tradition holds
that Yung-lo
carved and
material
makes
it
possible to add both kinds of marks to any piece, and the presence on certain
ones
of
most
reliable
guides
in
if
not earlier.
Is
widely
''";!'
t-^
V-
279
218
BOTTLE-SHAPED VASE
Ming dynasty, early
6%
Carved lacquer, H.
The shape
a
scrolls
The
cm)
of this vase,
in. (17
band
of
In
uncommon
in
Sung
dynasty.
On
the
thunder pattern, and the neck and body are covered with peony
among which
in
is
undoubt-
edly early.
219
SMALL DISH
Ming dynasty, early
Carved lacquer, D.
5%
In. (15
cm)
the dish
280
is early.
220
OVAL DISH
Ming dynasty, early
Carved lacquer,
L. 10 in. (25.5
cm)
The grape and grapevine pattern that entirely covers the surface of this dish
is carved in higher and more uneven relief than that on the pieces with Yung-lo
marks and some details are even undercut. Although it is impossible to be
precise about the date, the free and
problems outlined
221
in
but the
in. (27
cm)
commonly used
in
centuries for pieces inlaid with mother of pearl and other materials, but a
member
In
this typical
among peonies
is
cut
through the many layers of black lacquer to a reddish brown ground. The four
character Hsiian-te mark on the base
it
in
is
may
or
may
worth noting that the peacock and peony pattern appears on porcelain
is
used
all
through
IVIing.
281
222
CIRCULAR DISH
Ming dynasty, Chia-ching reign
Carved lacquer, D. 7%
(1522-1566)
cm)
in. (19.5
fierce five-clawed dragon among clouds in the center and the four small
dragons chasing around the cavetto are carved in red against a ground of
mustard yellow, and the claws and the tips of some of the cloud scrolls are
The
accented
in black.
In style
mark on
the base.
223
QUATREFOIL DISH
Ming dynasty
Carved lacquer,
L.
10%
in. (26.5
cm)
is
abstract design,
In
by no
in this
is
its first
means
known as
guri, a
appearance
certain.
The
in
No doubt
an
of red
and
written
282
it
far
thrown no
light
on
its
224
Ming dynasty
Carved bamboo, H.
This pi-t'ung,
literally
5%
in. (14
"brusli tube",
cm)
bamboo leaving the figures in low relief further details were then carved on both the higher and lower surfaces
as required. The work was done while the bamboo was still green. Carefully controlled drying and staining
were the final stages. Bamboo carving, like lacquer work, was originally and essentially a Chinese art and most
of
of the products
were
articles for
use on the scholar's desk: brush pots to hold the brushes used
A number
recorded
in
writing
name of
known about him beyond
carvers working in the Ming
Chu San-sung who achieved some degree of fame in this field. Little
that both he and his father Chu Hsiao-sung were distinguished bamboo
a certain
the fact
movement
is
dynasty.
225
6%
cm)
In. (16
last, this brush pot is decorated with an elaborate and complex scene
T'ung trees (Pawlonia), bananas, and bamboo form the setting for a small
studio which is rendered in some detail at the window is a lady standing by a table with a scroll open before
her. Beside the scroll is an inkstone, and the lady holds a brush in her hand, about to write. A man stands
with folded hands watching her while a servant boy bearing a covered bowl enters by the side door.
with great
skill.
226
WATER CONTAINER
Ming dynasty
Carved bamboo,
cm)
blossom beside
227
work
of
it
is
it
makes up
this water
feel that
SCHOLAR'S ARMREST
Ming dynasty
Carved boxwood,
cm)
As the form of the armrest the carver has taken a segment of a rotted branch
and carved a spray of prunus blossoms on the hollow side. On the rounded
surface are carved three poems one in seal script, one In the clerical style,
and one in the running hand. Each is accompanied by a signature and simulated
;
284
228
BOAT-SHAPED CUP
Ming dynasty
Carved rhinoceros horn,
L.
^0%
in. (27
cm)
This intricate carving represents the story of Chang Ch'ien, the Han dynasty statesman and traveller, floating
down
log) is a
poem
in a
boat that
is really
inscription of uncertain
emperor
in
1782
at the
cup (which
is
is
the hollow
written a five-character
229
SMALL BRUSH POT
Ch'ing dynasty
Carved bamboo, H.
In
the
with a
while
6%
in. (15.5
cm)
285
230
SMALL BRUSH POT
Ch'ing dynasty
Carved boxwood, H. AY,
The shape
is
cm)
In. (12.5
irregular
lilte
carved
in relief
on one side
with
In
231
ARMREST
Ch'ing dynasty
Carved
ivory, L.
The armrest
is
of
^^%
in
in. (29.5
cm)
mostly
Eight
in
the round.
On
the outside,
in
low
286
relief, is
nineteen
hundred
and
sixty-one.
Illustrations
in
Printed
in
of Art.
Switzerland
of
Washington,
^^