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LINEAR PERSPECTIVE IN CHINESE PAINTING

By BENJAMIN MARCH
The \videsI:'n:~J acceptance .of.n:odern art and the popularity of certain schools of
JfOpean paInting styled primitive, have tended to Jt:s(ro~' the formerly almost
tlexib le idea ch;l.( one (~'PC of illusory li near pcrspt:crivc \vas inhen:ndy necessary
a pa;mlog wonh~' to rank J.S a work of art. Familiarity with what was onCe
(aoge in our own Occidcoul painting has contributed to a bn:;J.king down of the
Irrier \vhich conventional ditferenccs often Set up between Chinese paintings and
lOSe who might otherwise ha\"c enjoycd them. If it be trUe thac Oriental paint ing
Lve a decided impetus to European painting in the di recti on of greater freedom. it
no less true thar modern painting has helped ro make Orienta! paiming more
adily and generally acceprable in the West . Prejudice, it is [rue: , sti ll lingers, but
general the: stuJent of Chinese art need feel under no compulsion roday ro hIe an
)ologetic thesis in behalf of Chinese perspecti ve in order that alien enjoyment may
: hcilitate:d or his mlln pass ion justified. To understand how a painter or school
lficeived and soh'ed a given pro blem, and why the particular solu ti on was chosen,
a sufficiently interesting matter, however, ro warrant the recordtng of such concluons and dara as are offered herewith.
One of the problems faced more or less consciously and intelligently throughout
Ie whole hisrory of painting is that of the presentation of the third dimension, the
eation of an impression or illusion of depth, the depiction of things orleople
anding behind other people or things at varying distances. Some peoples an times
lve felt more keenly than others the need for establishing illusion, but in all
ctorial, as opposed to simply decorative painting the problem enters somehow. So
e address ourselves to rhe atrempt to describe precisely and explain rationally the
l1in<:s<: theory and practice of perspectiv<:, limitin g ourselves for purposes of rdative
mciseness co chat form which is known as linear, depending upon th<: lin<:s of
a ....... ing rather chan upon the colours, tints and washes of atmospheric perspective.
It may be well at the outset to review some of the descriptions and explanations
. Chinese perspective that have been presented in the past, in order that it may be
ear how little and what litrle may be regarded as original in the presem paper. In
lite of the European admirati on for things Chinese in the eighteenth century, it is
)[ until the latter part of the nineteenth that any very general appreciation of the
r of painting can be noticed, and then we find it ri sing in cor~nexion with Japanese
'r. The earlier reactions co Chinese painting were largely dispa ra ging. first, on
:COUnt of the lack of shado\'..s, and so of plastic modelling . and second, on account of
Ie perspt:ctive diffc:rences. It waS easy to call the Asiatic work primitive and say
lac the Jitferc:nct:s were due: to ignorance or i.?:noring of true perspecri\c. This
ridently led some of the earl ier ardent lovers of Japanese painting to leap to the

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defense of (he Oriental, for William Anderson mentions [he controversy in introducing his chapter on perspective in Tht Pictorial Art of j,/puN. His is the earliest
;ltcempc so far found by this writer at a dispassionate analysis. He says, 10 part:
"The eJ.rly artist would undoubtedly have been glad to dispense with perspective altogeeher, in order to CSClpc che perplexing cask of reconciling che differences between his visuJ.!
impression o f size :lod shlpc lOa his consciousness of reality. He was, however, forced to
admit the funJJ.mcnt:li principle rh:H remOte objects lppcJf n:b.clvd,v sm:liJer rh:m [ho~c:
which arc nC:.lrer; bur he refused ro apply it lOY fun her chan was necessary to enable: hIm
to make a picture. He would draw a disCJ.oc mount:lin sm;tlkr th;tn ;t foreground cottage,
:md was even taught to adopt a rough kind of ratio for ;tdlusring the proporrion:tte size of
;tn objec t accord in g to its Jls(;tnn~: from the spectator, ;tnd thus secured a certain degree of
approximation to the true ;tppcarance without the guid;tnce of scientific rules. HH'ing conceded so much to optical Jaws, it would seem to require little inductive power to bring the
painter a stage further, to comprehend th:lt the same rule of apparent dIminution of various
objects in his picture, in propornon to their distance, should apply to the ditTerent parts of
an individual element. Bu t like a child in his tirst attempt to draw a house, he will not sec
the imrropriety of representing as par.llJd in his sketch the lines which he knows to be
par;tlle in nature, and while his perspective is .lpproximltc:ly 'linear' for a landscape diHance
as a whole, it is always isometrical for parts of a single objec t ,
"For the European the effects of the system are sometimes cu riously illusive. The paralJd
lines ?f a surf.!ce recedmg from :~c tator are maintal.neJ parallel in the d rawing; but to
the \\ estern eye they appear to dj';erge as chey recede, or, III other wo rds, to converge towards
the point of station, and it is only by admeasurement that the error of IOterpret.ltion is
corrected . A tessdaced floor looks like a vertical wall, to which the feet of the figures in
the picture seem to adhere by some unknown laws of gravitation; and a room interior never
displays more than twO walls and a floor, a. third side and the ceiling being excluded by the
method of represcntation .. ,
"With the intention of increasing the range of view, some of the older painters w~e in
the habit of raising the horizontal line nearly to the tOp of the picture, as though the sc~e
were regarded from an immense heigh t , but at the same time they wou ld frequently conil.dict t he fiction of a bird's-eye view in the drawi ng of the foreground obje<:ts: the practice ,
however, was not general, as many dr.lwings by the ancient Chinese and Japanese masters
offer no special peculiarities with respect to the poine of sight, ,.\

Because Europans observed that one of the most common forms of Chinese painting is the vert ical panel, and were impressed by its difference from the usual forms
of European painting, the idea of the high horizon came to be accepted; and because
they failed to remark that such a location of the horizon line is by no means the
rule, an hypothesis was elaborated to account for Chinese perspective on the theory
that the artists paintcd nO( one behind another bur one above anO(her the planes
in recession from the spectator. Dr. Bushell so described the Chinese rendering of
distance :
" If the clear vision of rlastiC form hJ.s been denied to Chinese painters. they h3.ve at any
rate a blrly iust feeling 0 linear perspective, they have observed, in hct, that distance madiIles the apparent dImensions of objects and th:H their size changes co the eye in inverse r:H io
to their distance from the observer . But they have nm atuined to the knowledge of a correct
vanishing poine, or of the exact laws of the foreshortening of figures . When they ;lim at
giving the impression of distance to their field they h.lve recourse to a pecultar process ;
they place the pomt of view of their composition very high, and arr.:!.nge in groups, o nc
lbove the o ther , the objects or persons represeneed, the dimensions of the tigures o r objects
become sm:llkr and sm:dkr in proportion 3.S they approach the upper bord,er of the frlme
work; in l w ord, whH ;l western pJ.inrer would puc in the br disC.1n.::e o t h is picture thc
Chinese :l.rcist places I t the co!, of his ... ~

This theory \\."as ca rri ed further by Raphael Petrucci, to the tra cing of the descent
of [his method of compos iti on from the engraved stones of ceruin combs of chc
Han dynasty, noubly Hsiao Tang Shan :lnJ \Vu liang Tzu . The stoneS.He :l(tu.dl~'
permanent recordin gs of graphic designs ; tigu res pred ominate and thes e He: t~'picallv
arra nged in h orizontal registers or zone:s which are Ji viJed from t:J.ch othe r b\'
'so W. B,,~hdl,'(h"'m Art ~ ,,,,6 : 11, pp. 103-10';1.
' W . .\",lerson, Tlx P",,,,, .. I ..lrtro! ;"p.. ,, ( ,8S6). pp. :.o6-!oS.
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ddinict: lines. These zones hJ.ve been incc:rprcccd:ls n:presenr.l tive of successive vertical
planes increa sing in distance from the spectator here rCJ.rranged in an ascending
rather than a horizontally receding o rder. M . Petrucci h as given careful aetemion
to the study and defense of Chinese perspective and we quote from his more or less
summary commencs in Chi1J(J( Painters:
"Chinese perspective was formulated long ~forc that of the Europeans and its origins arc:
therefore Jilfcrem . Ie was evolved in an age when the method of superimposing different
regisren to inJ icHe: differen t pbncs was still being prJctiseJ in bas-n:::lids. The succession
of pbncs, one lbo\'c the ocher, when coditicd, led to :I system th:l.C W:lS rou.ll:-' different
frum ou r monocular p=rsp=ctive. h resulted in a persp=ccive as seen from a height . No Jccoum
is taken of the habitual height of the eye m relarion tLl che picture. The hne of the hurizon
is placed very high, parallel lines , instead of Joming at the horizon, remain par:dlel, and
the different planes range one above che ocher in such a way chac che glance embraces l
V:lst sp:lce. 3

M. Petrucci was one of the first \\Titers on the subject to emphasize the fac c cha.c
any system of perspecti ve is a compromise with three-dimensional nature and binocular vision, and that the Chinese and Occidentals found Jiffen:nt solutions to the
necessity for compromise. He further illustrated the departures of Occidental artists
from strict adherence to thei r systems for the hei ghteni ng of arriscic effect,4 and
Laurence Binyon adds comment to the effect that the laws of sc ience are not the
laws ofart.'~
In his description of Chinese perspective Oskar Munster berg adds the observation
that while buildings are always seen from a height looki ng down on the roofs, and
never from the level looking up at the fa~ades, people are always represented as
from the level and not from above. even when associated with the houses . He further
comments on the fact that while diminution in size is observed in the vast distances
of landscape, no attention is paid to it when the distance represented is comparatively short. And he denies (he artistic necessity of inflexible adherence to a single
manner of revealing depth. 6
A particularly pregnant suggestion for the understanding of Chinese perspective
is given by John C. Ferguson in his recent book Chinese Painting:
Landscapis ts were not confined to our convention of perspective. Somecimes the st:lcionpoint is taken from one hillcop looking ou t over others still higher :lnd separltcd by intervening valleys. Again the beholder is on a hill looking up a valley beyond w hIch ridges of
hills fade .lW:lY into the distance. At one tIme the correct view or ground line is obtained
by standIng at the right-h.1nd side of the painting, lnd:lc ocher times by standing;l.t che left.
The heholder if nt/'tT POlltu/ OJ Jta tionoTy .l He must ad just himself co the :lrtist rather than
com pel the artist to work as if an observer could not move. The perspeccive is line:lf, but
inste:ld of one original pbne as Ln \\estern Faiming there is:l succession of pbnes one :lbon:
the other, as in hanging paintings (Ii cbou), or one next to the ocher:lS in scrolls (ibvu . bii.m ) .
The reduction :lnd n:lrrowing of che comiguous pbnes brings the parallcllines to one ~':lnish
ing point, not to tWO as in the Western coO\'ention.1

\Vich this review of descriptions and explan~l.(ions of Chinese perspective offered

in the past, no onc of which is either enr irely sa ti sfacto ry or enri rely erroneous, \Ve
arc in a position to proceed \vith our inquiry by examining the ide:!. of perspective
in gene ral and the European theory in particui3.r. Perspective, a ny perspecci\'e, is
a system or method for representing or gi \-ing the imprl.:ssion of three dimensions
in two. that is to say, far mJ.king .l pbne deep and spac ious. The effects sou~ht
r:ln~1.: frum the :lw.:mpt ro creHe a con\' in cin~ illusion of space and depth. ;J.S if che
picture forn e were a winJow frame, to the aimasr symbolic suggesrion of the n is t-

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cncc o f u..:p rh as in mur:d p~in( in~. PicroriJ.i perspcccivl: invoh"(,::) (he USe of boch
l inear and atmospheric pl.:fspeccin.:. LincH pt:rspecciv\'; is cU!lcernd with ch ..: drt:cc
of di st ance u pon the rdarions of measurable qua nt iti es such as height s, width s,
and angles. Atmospheric perspecti; c; is dependent upo n the effect of distance: on
co lo ur , rone, :lnU clarity of dCClil. The Chinese n:cognizc:J [he bers of atmospheric
Pl.:fspc.: ctivt: not beer th J.n the rang per iod, as is s hown in Wang Wei 's nOCeS on
[h e mlW.:r of distant Jct:liis . Th e.: usc.: of In atmosp h eric etTen o f distance in their
pa inti ng is commonly obscn':tbk and n:quircs no sp(';cia i comment :H che momt:nt.
F o r [he ~urat i on of th is p;lpcr , rhc:n, we shall conlinl; ou r atremion striccl~' CO iinc:lf
pl.: rs pl.:C (t VI.:.
What we in the Wes t have been pl eased to call "t ru e" pers pec tive is a geo metri cal
system ba sl.:d upon the la\v s uf uptics derin:J from st udy o f (he phenon1t.:na of vision.
With the more demencary o f these phenomena everyune is f.:tmili ar. Thus. d istanc
object s appear smalle r than ncar objec ts ; parallds s uc h as (he curbs of a st ree t or the
tracks o f a railroad appea r to co n ve rge as th eir distance from the o bserve r inc n::ases,
bur they neve r meet until they rea c h che uhimate limit o f sight. These appearances
arc due to the rdative an gks of the visual ra ys fr o m the objects as t hey meet t he
ey e, The d ia gramm;1t ic sketch in Figure :\ shou ld make th is c1car. If \'"c takt: d as
a human eve wieh a lens in iront a t c and rhc retina.l[ th c b;1 ck, a nd .1 and b as t wo
trees at differ ent dis tan ces from t h e e::ye , th c n we nor ice thac rhe visual rays fr om
the e::xt re mities of (J to th e eye, represented by broken lin es. form a more acute ang le
than the visua l ra ys fr om b, th e nearer tree , as they me::c t the:: eye, Th ese visual ra ys
a re:: passed through t h e lens of the eye and the images of the trees are pro je:cted upon
the retina, but those rays which met the eye at a narr Ower angle make a smaller
ima ge, 1./ /1' than those which mee rhe eye at a wider an g le. b'b. As the di stance:
of th e object from the eyc, g iven a constanc size, evidently modi ti t:s th e anglc of the
visual rays, i t is appare nc that mo re d istant objects wi ll inev itabl y appear to Ix
sma ll er tha n near objects, In an y acce mpt to es tim a te dis ta nce:: we de::pend upon an
empirical know ledge of th is apparent systematic diminuti o n of size, but there is
anoth er imponant facror al so . That is [he face eha[ w e sec commonly with tW O
eyes, and it is this b inocular vi sion that g ives roundness to objects, chat gives us
an apprec iation of t h e exi s tence of space between twO objects thac happen to st and
one behind another in such a way thac their silhouem:s ovt:rlap in ou r hc:ld o f vision .
Th e effect of binocular vision is due to the reconciling o f tw o different views o f rhe
same sce ne from two sli gh d y different angles . Thi s angle o f difference g ro w s less
a s the obj ec t or scene recede::s from th e spectatOr . with a const:qucnt tlarcening of
the fi dd in the far distance. So mething of the impo rtance of binocula r v isio n co a
normal person ma y be observed in a simple exper iment. Let one wh o is accusto med
to [he usc of twO eyes try li g hting a ciga rett e with one eye closed, Th e simple:: process
of brin gin g a match to the e:nd of t h e cig arette will be found a mo re comp licaceJ
proceeJin g than might bc expectcU.
Th e camera is generally regarded as a. de vi ce whi c h will mechanically n:ndl:r a
true perspectivc. but it is a fact wd l known to ph ocog rapht.:rs rh:lt JifTe n:n ccs in
th e:: foc al length of len ses will materi:llly alter che pers pective o f the rt:sulcin g photog ra phs. Probably familiar to everyo ne art: the pl.:rs pecriv e dis mrrions o f r he v!;ry
sh o rt focus lens by wh ic h , fo r instance. an o uts tre tc hed hand is made to look gmt esqucly o ut o f proporrion to rhe body to whi c h it is J.rt :lcheJ, H UIr.:l!l t.:~t.: s ".try in
fucal kn g rh s :lIsa, The ea rth 's curv atun: has its own effect upon the \isuJ.l percept ion
of distance. and :lny system which a ims at imitating tht: f:tcr~ of ," isu:l1 appe:lrancc
sh o ul d ideally accomm od at e all o f (hese man~' circumstancl.:s which J.rhcr v ision .
The Western system of li near pe rspective, howeve r, co mpromist.:s prJ.crically a ll uf
them. eve n thou g h its intent is sc it:ntifically to p r e~t.:n t the visual im,l:!t.::lS it actu:llly
i s St:t:n. The artist must adJ t o tht: geometrician's mt.:[ ~ od hi s o w n interpre ta t ion.

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the limitations of the system as follows:
The conditions of !inc:u perspective arc somewhat rigid . In the first pl:r.c" we are supposed
[Q look at objects wich one eye only; that is, the visual rays are drawn from l single point
and not from cwo. . Then, :tglin, the eye must be placed in a certlin position . . at a
given height from the ground .. . lnd at a given disc:lnce from the picture . .. In the next
place, the picture or picture plane itself muse be venical and pcrpcnJicuLJ.r to the ground
or horizontal plane, which plane is supposed to be as level as a billiard cable, and to extend
from the base line . . . 0( the picture co the horizon, thac is , to infinity, for It does noc partake of the rocundlty of the earch." ( Elsewhere the author says thac " ~c c ive up co a
certain point is a ure science not depend ing_upon the accidents of viSIOn, but upon the
~iCrlamof re:l.son mg.
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We C3n only work ou c our proposi t ions and figures in space w ith mathem:uical precision
by adopting such conditions as the above . But aftenvards (he artist or dra ughtsman may
modify and suit them to a more elastic view of things ; that is , he can make his fig ures sep:lrate
from one :lnother, instead of their outlines coming dose together as they do w hen we look
at (hem with only one eve. He also will allow for the unevenness of the groun d and the
roundness of ou r globe; h~ ma y even move his head J.nd his eyes, and use bo th of them, and
in fJ.ct make hImself quite at his eJ.se when he is out sketchmg, for ~;l.ture docs all his perspective for h im. At the same time, a knowledge of th is rigid perspective is the sure and
uncrring basis of his freehand drawi ng.' lo

Further along in the same work Mr. StOrey gives additional evidence of the
artist's necessity to transcend the mathematical formulx:
The wonderful effect of distancc in Turners pictures is noc to be achicved by merc measurement, and indeed can only be properly donc by studying Nature and drawing her perspective
as she presencs it co us . . . When we turn to a drawing by Turner, such as the View from
Richmond Hill,' we feel chat the only way to accomplish such perspectivc as this, is to go
and draw it from nature, and even thcn co use our ow n judgmen t , as hc did, as CO how much
we may emphasize or even exaggerate ceru!n fcatures.' ll

It is apparent then, that noc only is the system of linear perspective as formulated
in the West a comprom ise with nature , but also th at for purposes of successful
pictOria l work the artist must compromise with the system itself. The system
becomes, th en , a kind of convention by which the artist learns to facilitate hi s interpretations of natura l form, and having mastered the essentials he uses them according
to his own genius JUSt as he uses the other branches of his technique.
This Western method with its arbitrary mathematical rules is based upon th e
laws of optics , and takes as its fundamental geometrical proposition the definition
of para ll el li ne~ as lines that mee t at infinity. The projection of a point at infinit y
is taken as a finite paine upon th e horizon , a line determined by the supposed height
of the eye from th e ground, and so we get our vanishin g-poine s to which th e parallel
lin es converge. Looking at twO streets at an intersection, we obse rv e thar, in [he
(\"'0 extensions we can see. the lines of each con verge toward their O\\'n vanishin gpoines, Similarly the li nes of a building seen from the co rner converge in twO di fferent
direct ions at ri ght angles to each other. Two vanishi ng -points arc therefore posited .
on the horizon but not necessarily withi n the limits of the picture. These with th e
station-point, or eye position, the ground-plane and the picture-plane. once fixeJ,
determi ne th e sys tem or convcntion. The lines from the eye co the vanl shing-poin es
are de-scribed as lines of sigh t .
Th iS rC;lIl~' artific ial formula in its present form OweS its ori gin to the exp! oucions at the be~inning of [h e EuroFean Renalss:lOce in the ea rly tiheenrh cent ury,
and historicall\' it might better be called Rc n:lissancc per:ipect t\c than Wc stern
perspective . It 'wa s nor aCtua ll ~' a new sysn:m. :dthough it haJ 111;\'er beforc been
so exacdy regula tcd . We find from Hdle niscic- Roman timcs w;I ll p:lintings in Pompeii
:lnd elsewhc~c which show a very obscn'ant conception of con\c rging line perspcc'G .....
p.

s.

Sco r~ r, Th< Tim"y .mJ P'.J(tm oj P:>',?w,,. ( '91 0) ,

" Ihi. pp. !.4- ! 1.

"Ib ,J, pp. ~, 3;.

1>1

(iv~ . J\ios( of th ese Jcsil!;ns an.: o f the n:Hun;: o f t hcJ rr i(:d SCt: nav. r.: nri(hin~ plane
w:llls with co lumns anl winJows char exist on ly in paint. and providing \'~cws of

Landscapes and buildings beyond chat apparently open

OUt

the: wall s

to

further

artificial vistas. At first g lance many appear convi nc ingly illusory . and doubdcss
so thcy were CO the Romans, co wh om the convention wa s acceptable. Th e gene ral
aspc:c[ resembles our so-called "paralld paspccrivc ." in whi ch ont: line of sight
is cake n as par:t11c:1 co the picture-plane with th e: !;n(,;s along it rcmai ning para lld ,
so that only ont: po int o f convt:rgcnce is dTccrivt: in (he: picture Prec ise examination
inJicates chac {he stati on -poim in (h e P o mpt:ii~tn fr csCOCi W:I S rd:Hi Vl:ly sr ari on:try.
but chac cht: vanishing poine was not pn:cisely tixeJ, anJ o nl y rdati\'dy singl e.
Thert: is documentary evide nce fur bdiO::\'ing- chac chi s cypt: o f pc:rspect ive had
ics origin in the Greek cheater . L~ With the ri se otC hri stian art m; tinJ [he HellenisticRoman type definitely discarded. The desire fo r a more spi rit ua l paintin,!! , and the
rt:prescnration of sacred figures and conct:ptions o f my steri es anJ apocal y pei c visi ons
led to a n::l.ction from tht: reali sm of the pn:ccding peri od with it s attention ct: ncereu
rather in this wo rld than in the next. In Ori t:nral an , du ubtl ess intlut:nct.:d fr o m
Central Asia, the se early Chri stian painters founJ the moJels t he y so ught. :\frer
the fi rst thousand years of th e Christian era, rhe sp reaJ o f Islam furthcr foreili.d
the tasce for symbolic as opposed to rt:;l lis tic represenr at ion. So th e ch ss iol rt.:v ival
of the Renai ss ance brought realisti c perspective to li g ht as a vircually new discovt:ry,
and perfected the formula by the adoption of the twO vanishing points and the
ot h er conditions \ve have described. The perspective formulated and adopted, not
without some dissension. ie came to be regarded as practically esseneial to good
paiming until our own times . So again it appc:ars that any system of perspective is
not an absolute good, but is good and desirablt: only in rdation to Circum stances,
and thac its acceptance by artis ts, patrons an d peo ple is o f more signiticance than
its theoretical accuracy .
Now in coming to a description of what we m:l.y regard as the typical Chin ese
perspective. we find that the problem is neither simple no r stacic. That is to say ,
I ( is neicher a single system , nor a primitive and un sysn::marized convention, nor a
conception that has not changed with rime. It will be necessary for us. th erefore ,
not only to inquire into the hist o ry of Chinese perspective , but also to study the
perspective o f landscape and the perspective o f builJings and furnitu re as more o r
less i ndependent conceptions . Fi gu re d rawing we shall leave for more detailed
consideration some other time . Th e divi sion w e han: suggestt.:d is not, of cou rse,
a hard and fast o ne , because buildings do occur fr equendy in landscape and la ndscape convention s const:quendy affect their drawi ng some what , but on the wh o le
{h e marter \.... i11 be clearer for the separate treatment.
The earliest Chinese paintings of \vhi ch wt: have auchentic pict o rial d ocu ments
are of the Han Jynasty . The permanent rt.:corJin~ of Jrawings by carving them on
the stOne slabs o f tomb-chambe rs ha s given us con{..:mpor:lf~ cxampk-s o f Jc:s ig n
and composition, to which a few o rigi na l deco rati ons on tilc s, a bronze box . and
a lacque r tray have added evidence on co lour and bru shw ork. The subject of Ha n
paintin g has been \vell and th oroug hly dealt with r t.:cen rl~ by Otw Fi sc h er. IJ M ost
uf tht: Han materials date from the htrcr part of the tirst ct.:nrur~ throu g h the sccond
Century of th e Chri sti:l.n era . and most o f the cumbswlles.He o f Sh:J.nru nl.! . On examination', (w o so luti o ns of the prubll.:m o f the thirJ Jilllem illn .lr:.: to be fOltnJ, :a.l t ho u.!!h
m os t uf the des igns on the stoneS :J.re not concer ne J with Ji.,: F'th .lnJ Ji st:1.nc t.: at :a.1 1.
The mos t commun..tvpe, where Ji st:l.nce is inv o ln :J, is r h.lt in which 3.11 the '.t3.r io us
tig urt:s in a sce ne ar~ represented indiviJu:l.llv anJ cl,)mrktd~ . almost with ou t ov erbppin g. and the mort: Jis t ant tigu res are pl.tct.:d :.l bv\c the ne.lra ligures with o ut
" :-"1. :-.: . Sw,r:..!Jcr, , ir.. " ", P.Jmlmt ( t.,!j . rp ~ ~~. Ii)'
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fur ,omp~nWf1s of t"rlr pl ,nung SI)ks.

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y diminution in size. Thus , in a deta il like: chat show n in Fi gu re I , wh ere , in

mman with many Other of our illustrations from ancient pictures , it has been
etched for greate r clarity and directness as evidence , one of the Cwo kneeling
;u res apt?Cars to be about co desc end upon the back of (he othe r . And in the bard e
:ne in FIgure l. no rerrai n is indicated and the horsemen and chariots arc obviously
be rega rded as dis tributed over a plain th roug h which a river passes . fn suc h
cn c:s as this, one may imagine th e view as from a heig ht , but the figures arc shown
fr o m a level, without foreshortening. a nd we must concl ud e ChH the ;J.w:mpr co
trad uce such an element of reali sm as is imp lied in {he sd e-e tian of a stat ion-point
a concession to Western detinition unwarranted by the fa cts. Stones of this type
:c ur in both Hsiao Tang Shan and Wu Lian ~ Tz'u.14 In th ese designs buildin gs
'e gene rall y presented as if they were t'ovo dimensional. as in Fi gu re I , but an
:t tmpt to show twO sides of buildings is to be seen in a stone in th e Museum o f
me Arcs o f Boston ( Fi gure , ). Here are twO gate s with to w ers dra\vn on a slantin g
lsc line . This use of the slantin g line to sugges t receding distance seems to occur
lly once in the Wu Liang Tz ' u group, in th e de tJ.i! shown in Fi gure 4. In thi s
.me g roup th e two men to the ri gh t , sitt ing side by side, overlap cons iderably in
ll cli ne instead of being placed one a bove the ot~e r as are the kneeling men i n
ig ure 1. The mos t conSistent attempt to indicate depth with a secting on th e slant
Ig line plan is to be found in a group of stones of the first century fr om the tomb
um ber of one Chu Wei , in Shantung , illu straced very comprehensively by Dr.
ischer. l~ Here we may discern for the first time a definitely pictorial as distinguished
'om a decorative o r schematic composition . Two long scenes in particular, scen es
f feasting in which both men and wom en sit or stand on mats whil e servants in
le foreground dispense refreshment from a lavish array of vessels, interest us. To
1.e left of the composition from the east wall of the chamber is a group. probabl y
f servan ts, o r retainers ; standing behind a low wall or screen, which is skilfully
rawn with th e twO rows of figures partially overlapping and clearly displalin g
heir relative positions with reference to each other and to the ground line a th e
ic[Ure. In the second composition, sketched in Figure 5, there are tWO of these side
:reens, with groups back of them , which are ad just ed on opposite slants so that
hey seem to converge toward the distance with reference to th e horizontal s:round
,lane. There is, however , no designed co nvergen ce in th e lin es of the individual
creens themselves . Th e compos itio ns are lo ng and horizo ntal , and the designs
ompact and unusual in anempt ing a thrcedimensional effec t in suc h res tricted
pa ce. For their period th ese are uniquel y reali st ic and must have been the \"'ork
If a very observant ani st with a specific pi cto rial intention, one of th ose in divi dual s
vho makes, rat her [ha n follo w s, tra d icion . What litcie lan dscape there is in ch e Han
Ira wings is us.ually incidental and tOO trivia l to give any clue to a th eory of land
cape perspecClve.
What we do noc find in the Ha n docu ments is adequate iorernal ev idence co support
h e view that the horizon tal reg isters cle:lrly defmed one fr om che ot her br drawn
ine s and placed in vertical succession were ever really meant co represent pla nes
)f recedin g d ista nce . Generally che various zones are w holly sepa ra te , episod ica l in
hem sdves , or if twO o r more are rdat ed thei r reb ri o n is rhH of it ems in a scri es,
'0 be fo ll o\ved as lin es o f wriri ng , rarher chan viewed as a single pic[Qriai composi
. io~. Th ey are like sectio ns of a frieze, racher chan rec ed i ng planes of di sta nce in
t picture.
There is no doubt [hat later Chinese pai nti ng de n:l o ped fr om th e Fi cco rial art
)f the Han o r earlier pe riod s . The t~ ' pica l rep resenc;l ci on in ch is rache r pnmiti n:
In is fr o m the le\cl. with no atremp t to sh ow a third di men sio n. but where de pth
.s in vo l ved the more distan t figu res are usually placed above the nearer ligu res within
"E. Cb"" .lnlln, Miss .., ,1NU.I.j''fMt J.."1 I .. Ch"" S'Pfl ~
...
- ~ ..It ~ '~r'~ll )' tis s. ~i, ~S, ~ o, ItO, IJO, 136, eiC. a.
IK .. er, .p . fll . , p . 9, IS.

''0. FIScher, .p. rtf ., pI. 1':.- S3 .

"-5

the: same zone or register, while some attempt :H 3. more convincing realism is to
be found in a few of the compositions, and each figure or group is usually drawn
independently, without an y auempr at a fixed or single viewpo int for the whole
design, except as l design. It is a plausible hypOthesis chat this ccoveneion. as shown
in Figure 2., developed from topographical sketching. In tO a rough map figu res wefe
placed. without :lttencion ro diminution (If size . And the dra\ving of the vari ous
figures and groups as units related only in their parr in the design may well hl\"C
come fr om the bet that in working over fairly large surhees ( mural PJinring \n.s
popula r at this time. J.Ccording to literary evidence) the artist actually moved from
detail to detail as he wo r ked.
This latter detail is importanr , for while the h~'pOthesis that the Han dcsigners
used a vertical series of zoncs or registers to convey (he idea of distance cannOt be
supported enrirdy , we do
tinu that this second fear~
p
ure is carried thro ugh the
,-"
who le hi stO ry of Chinese
painrin g. The inevitable
'<:~~.,'....
co rollary of thi s, inrerpreted in terms of our
Western -perspective, is
chat the station-poine inHead of being fixed either
absolutely o r rdatively is
without restri ction movabl e or multiple. This is
I'the feamre suggested by
h
~)J
~
Iii
Dr. Ferguson, an d it is th e
most significant single
point in the description of
the linear perspective of
Ch ine:se landsca pe in te rm s
of Western terminolog y.
Each portion of a composition is drawn with rderenCe to itself .lIane, so far
as ItS perspec tiye is concerned. Laeer, probably in
the Six Dynasties period,
the principle of dim ini shing size was Je ydoped. as
w~ shall Sec presencty, but
that has no bC.lring upon
fiG . B. DI.'\GR.,\:\'I T O ILLI:STR .\TE Til E EffECT OF
the st.lt ion-F'oinr . This is
... :\'IOV .\8LE ST.\T!OX-POIST
clearly shown in [he paineing Palaces on the EnchlnreJ M oun (:lin s. by f\:ao (hi-pci in (he Goycrnmcnr
~luseum in Peiping ( Figure 6). Thl.: supe rficial dlcCt is .lS of \i t:win~ the SCene frum
a height, but on closer cx;lmination we obse rye that e;lch group 0f bllilJin~s is
Secn from .lbvut the same an,:!:l!.! .l S e:tch oth.: r grour. requiring therctl) r!.!. j Jiticr;;:!1[
ey e position for C.lch.
:\ow if we have twO similar objects in a fixed posit ion on a horizontal pbne and
W e Se t ouc to d raw each fr o m appruxim.:u: dy t he: same anglc: with rcfere:nce to chc
ho ri zontal. wc lind ch at this has the dfect of raising the second in the picture plane .
Figure B will make this clea r . If we have t\vo cubes x and.J on the plane bh. we

"

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,ay ~rc:c[ the picture plane :1t pp' and Jra\v boch of the cubes fr om thl.: single lixl:J
aeion-poine 5, when rhe visu;J.i rays will intersect the: piccun:-pbne a[ I anJ 2.,
iving the:: images as in x ' and y'. But if after drawing x from the poine s. we Jecide:
) draw y from :1bout the same angle and ascend to rhe srJ.rion-pllinc s' for the second
ic:w, we gc:t tht: visual rays intersecting rhe piCture-piane at I anJ 3. giving rhe
oages as in x" anJ f ' , This is b~' W:ly of:l conlirnuw ry JemonstfJrion of tht: effect
f the movable station-paine. Ther.: is no c\'iJcncc that the Chine se furmul:Ht:J suc h
mJ.thcm:nicJ.] rheor~' o f theif pcrspc:cri vc, anJ [h e m:lI1l1Cr of s0h'ing [h<: r ro~!t:m
f Jepth wa s Jcn:lorcd empinc:lIl~', [:leha chan an:1[ .vtic:dJ~ , so Ltr as \\'C Cln 5 :1.\ ',
,owcvcr. chere is critical defense of a roving vicwpoinr.:ts \\'c sh:dl sh uw rn:sen dy
I :t quo[;ltion from Shcn KuJ.. If it bt: argut:d rhJ.r (he bct th:tt (he r:tbccs in the
ao Ch' i-p' ei pictun.: were on a moun rain and thar (hat would affeC[ (he comparison
.ade in Figure 13, it is CO be answered th:tt this JiiTerence in position woulJ nm resolve,
J( r:tch er aCCcntuacc, the ditTercncc in :tngle of vision from a single st:ttion-point.
It \vill be seen (h:l.t the positi on of the horizon has no intrinsic reb-tion

CO.1

sys t em

f drawing which employs such a movable point of sight, as irs Jetermination has
:ferenc<.: w only one of the sevc ral st:l.tion-poims. Mr. Anderson.:t s \\'e h;l\'e nored,
)mmcnted on the fact that the high horizon which ha s been g:encr;lll~' m:lr!.;cJ by
'estern students as a charaCteristic of Chincse painting, is not univcrsal in Chinese
.ndscape. Indeed we may go farther and say that a horizon within the upper quarter
f a vertical composition is not only not usual but is very rare. As a rule the horizon
from a half to cwo-thirds of the way up from the bottom of the panel. and in
)me pa.intings the horizon is below the center. Any impartial examination of a
:ry extens ive collection. or of the reproductions in such a work as Dr. Si(!~n's
bimJl P:lilltings in ~mmc.11J Col/ations, will make chis bct abundand~' clear. We
resent only a few typical landscapes from various periods to reinforce the observaon. In scrolls and album leaves the horizon may be high, or even beyond the upper
mics of the picture, as in the picture of the "Ten Horses " attributed to p'ei K'uan
f the Tang dynasty and its copy by Chao Meng-fu. barh in the Metropolitan
luseum in a single scroll ( Figure 7); and in the small picture of "Smoke anJ Trees
y th~ Chen Marsh,"' by rang Yin of the ]\I[ing dynasty in the Government Museum
I Peiping ( Figure 8). The horizon. however , in the famous tenth century lanJs(;lpe
:roll by Tun g Yi.ian, in Boston , is only slightly above the middle; of [he picture
~igure 9). In the "Seven Pines" attribured ro rang Tzu-hu3. of the Yi.ian Jynasty,
I the Metropoliran ( Fi gure 10), the horizon is actually belo\\" the Center of [he
ieture. The atcraeti\'e and t~"pical Sung landscape in Figure [I, in rhe Freer Gallery,
as ICS horizon about cwo-chirJs of [he way up . Mr. A. W. I.hh r has a Sun~ IanJ:ape on paper representing a warerfall. in \yhich the point of si~ht is practically
ngle and well bel o w che top of [he fall ( Figure I::'), Th e Ma Yi.ian album kaf
:proJuced in Figure '3 from che Bosto n cnl!t:ction s h()\\" s ;1 ~Il"fini[d~" It)\\" huril.on
'hich is chU;lCtefisric of mos t of rhe piCtUres attrihukJ tu this m:lstt:r .1nJ co his
)ntemporary H sia Kuci. The '\Iin)! painting r~' Wen Chen,t.:-m in .t.; :: Fi.l!ure 14) lnJ
le Ch'in~ LtnJ sc ape by Chan.t.: Tsung-cs an .!.! ( Fi~un: r, ) s h uw rhe same char:lc:ristic of a horizon neare r the Centtr [han the upper orre[!llt~ uf the ricrure" So
: idcnce can be multiplieJ to JcmLln sr rlce [har the C hi nl:~e st:ltil>n-roinr IS Jlen; r
"bitr:lril~' fixed, thar the hori l.d n m:l.y be hi )!h or !I)\\". an~1 rh.tt .1 sim r k (\llllrn.;iun Iluy ha\'e a r L"\;LC I\ ~I .\ s ingle r nine of ~i .~ht \\'hik :1 m<lre ( (Hill'L-", ,!~~i .C::l m:l~'
Iy o h'e a Jozen or more ditfcren( stat ions .
\\"h ile we :l.rc trYi ng to a n:t1 ;;zc .1nJ ,k sc nhc Chi l1 t: se rcrs feOl \ "; it must :It) r l'>c
)rgotren (hat the Chinese h.:l.J (hu r own iJcls .lbvu( it The ,,-rDl t.> r r,-rsFc(ve,.l'ii.m-cl'mitd.. "br-nor , " is okt:n . Dr F:.:r!!u <;.o!1 tells ll". fwm rn...: R 1; ~. 1)/
b.wYS.I'; A T';wg painter , FJ.n Ch ang-shou. \\":I S sal~l w he " urdul ru ~hL) \\" [he
"J. C.

F"rgu~ul1. DP. Clr .

p.

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1:"7

undulations of the count ry and the 'fa r-nea r' ( rebcivc distance) of the objects."l'
Wan g Wei of [h e eighth century ldt notes on the effect of distance on the perception
of detail. 18 Most of the Tang paintin gs extant are Budd hi st things fro m Tun Huang ,
but ~mong them in certain sm:ame rs and in the margins of la rge r mandata paintings
we hod scenes Jone in a definitely Chinese mann er apparently un i ntluenced by [nJian
(r:lJ ir ion. So me of these, as in Plat e:' VI! of Si r Aurd Stein's ThallI.llId BuddlhlS l9
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undulati ons of the counery and th e 'far-near ' ( rd:ui ve d istance) of the objects ."!7
Wang Wei of [he eighth century Ide notes on the effect of di stance on the perception
of detail. \8 Most of th e Tang paintings extant are Buddhist thin gs from Tun Huang,
but a mo ng them in ce rta in strea mers and in the margins of larger mandata paintings
we h nd sce nc;:s do ne in a defi nitel y Chi nese ma nner appa ren d y un i nfluenced by Ind ian
trad iti on . Some of these, as in Plat e" VII of Sir Au cel Stein's T housand Buddhas !9

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mi g ht see m w ~i \' e ;erific.l ti o n CO the iJt: .l o f th e rep rcst: nt:Hi o n o f J ista nce by
l s(enJ ing r t:~ij rcr s, w cre it no t q uit .: ..: iel r (h ;a {hc vlr ious JC[lil s in such lpprt:n tly si nlc co m posi t ions arc se pr:Ht: episoJ.:s . T ht: scent:ry in m.l ny of l' hest: li ttl e
pi c ture s I S qui te con \cnr ionl l. hut in t'x n b nners reproduced on Pb re XXXVI I of
the sa. me pu bt iClc ion (he bn J scape is well , if pr imici \' ely, conce iveJ :lnJ th e prin ci Ftc
" H ..\ . G,in, .111 f~".J.r:t~ :.,;,. HlllarJ _/ C}"'''lt p"rar, ..t
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of dim ini shing siz e is clearly apprehended . Landscape, we know from literary
sources became increasingly important in the SiX Dynasties and Tang periods at
(he same time that the arc of painting became: quite defini tel y the: prerogative o f
[he liceraci .
Kuo Hsi , painter and writer of the tenth century, was the first, according to
~rofesso r Taki. ~o describe th e three distances in mounta in painr ing .Z1l Hi s descrip{Ions are anal~' r1ca l of [he three appt:ar:tnces and met hods of rendering depe h in
mount:lin painting. and the relevant pa ssages from his t:ssay Lin Ch" !(,f/I K,IQ ClJ/b
are quoted in translation:
" MOUntl ins h;ln: t hree Jist:!nccs. From [he foo r of mountains lookin,(:: up [0 rhe peaks is
called Ju,o-yi,1I/ ' high J ist:lnce, sec Figure 16]; from mountJins in franc looking throu~h co
muu,:!cains behind is c.alled sb w -)fia~ [d:ep dis cJ n~e, sec Figure 171.; from near f!1uuntJi~s
lookmg o ff cow:uds diStant mountams IS called p m!,-Jliall [lc:vc:l distance. see Figu re H~ ..
In bo-yuan the colours arc dear and bright, in shen-yib.n the colours are du ll and obscu re;
in p'ing-yuan the colours partake of both brightness and obscu rity . In b oyuan che .!Spect
is :.!brupt . the ide:.! 0f shc:n-yuan is reiteration ; in ping-yu:in ehe ide:.! is blcndin,g- cog-eeher,
\"Jnishing in mists. Concerning men .lnd ob,ccts In che three dist:.!nces, in bo-yuan they
are clear and visible from afar ; in shen-vuan chey are tine ;l.nd small; in ping-yuan they are
blc:nded and Indiscinct. The delf and (If visible :tre nO( shore, che rine .lod small .lre noe
high; the blended lnd indis tinc t are not brge. These are the three disrances"~l

When the three di stances were discussed in {he standard text-book on Chinese
paint in g, the Chi(h Tzu Yiion Huo Chiiofl, published at the end of th e seventeenth
century, the necessity for the effec t of de pth was emphasized and certain other means
to secure the effect were described. Our illustrations , Figures r6 , Ii , I S, are taken
from the Chith T,u Yuan and the accompanying tex t is given herewith in translation :
. There :tre three conventions in the paiming of moune:tin scenes. When the scene is thac
of 2n observer at che foot of mountains looking up, it is called L.i":1lian-high distance.
When the scene is t h:u of an observc:t looking through peaks in the foreground ;l. t pe2ks
furt her behind, ic is called shtn-),;"m.......-deep disunce. When ic is that of;l.n observer on 2
level plain, it is called p'in&-)';"m-Ievel distance. In the kaoyuan style the appearance
is abrupt; [he' idea of the shen-yuan method is to pile one peak: upon ;l.nother; che effect in
the pingyil:tn style is one of serenity. These points refer to (he general effect of che whole
pic t ure. U there is depth withou t dist:lnce 2 picture is sh:tlJow . If there is;l. level view withou t discance it is confined. If there is height with out discance it is ill-proportioned ( it loses
its height). However, if height is needed ;l.long wlch distance, w2tert;l.ils , ...ill supply height,
like the thousand fath oms of Yen Tang or t he three ranges of Ku2ng Lu. What would these
be wichout height and dlSC:tnce? If dept h is needed ;l.long with distance, clouds supply it,
like the green dept hs of YU Nil or the enveluping blue of Ming Hsing. What wuulJ these
be without Jepth ;l.nd dist:tnce? If a level effect is desired along with dist:tnce, mise C:in be
used, lS when the height of Hu;l. Tzu is m:tde clear ( Jbove che mist ) :tnd the \';l.lle~ of Yu h:ing
shows darkly ( through tbe mist). What w ould these be unless the levd pbin W:lS combined
with dis(;l.nce)::

A vay up- tQ-J are text-book by Hu Hsi-ch '(j an on Chinese landscape painting :11so
brings our th.: imporcancc of the thn:c Jistances.
L:tnJscJpc is Ji~ided InCO level distJnce, deep diSClnce and high dist:tn..:e, three views,
th.l{ is, [of which ; by men of old it WJS correccly Slid th:tt by mise levelness is proJuced,
by wlcerfJll s, hei~ht is produced, JnJ by clouJs, depth is proJ uced. In using mist. w:.LterfJlls
and clouds the rositions must be propurt lon :.Ltc or disorder wdl result ... !J

Summarizing, \\e may cha racte rise c;1ch of these three: aspeccs of yiL:WS h ridl~ .
Kao-yuan reprcsents the \icw from the foO{ of mountains looking up t\) rht: pC:1ks,
che aspect is a brupt; colou rs are clc:lr anJ bri ght; lil!;urcs arc clc:tr ;J. nJ \"isibk from
af..tr. Height anJ dist:1nc-= must be combined or hl."1 g hr Icses irs cti"':Ct. \\:!ce:rhll s
help to s~prly (he cffeC[ of height. Shen-y u:ln fc=rres'cnrs thc \"1-:\ \ from mounc.lins
'''5 TJ ),:,. TI-rt! F."~.H c~ ()",~, ..! P-':~""( 191':'. r. ~~ .
'" :1~-t-I~l!.1'l . book I. Tr. r')~'''," I... Or J c.

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)r peaks in from through co mountains behind; th e id~a is reiteration or the piling

)f peak upon peak; the co lours are dull and obscure, the figures fine and small.
Without distance, which clouds will help to supply, the elfect of shen-yuan is
;hallow . P'ing-yuan is (he view from near mountains across to distant mountains,
) t across a level pla in; the idea is of blending together, of vanishing in mists , which
nay be used to give distance , without which the view is confined. The effect is one
)f serenity; co lours partake of both clarity and obscurity; figu res are blended and
ndiscinct , Si nce by defin ici on (landscape is, of cou rse, Jh,./Il-Jhui .t..A<.. , " mou n:ains a nd water" ) Chinese landscape includes mountains, these three dis(lnCeS ma y
)c caken as generally applicable . A single picture need no more be confined CO one
:y pe of distance, however , tha n to one point of sight.
Chinese: lan dscapes are unified by the keen sense and fine tradition of design, the
dea of conforming co the inward nacure of things , and the idea of propnety in
elationships. Rivers and roads, for instance, must have th e effect of comlng from
1 sou rce and go ing on co a destination . As early as the fift h century Hsieh Ho emphaii zed these matters in hi s Six Canons. 2~
It must be remembered, also , that Chinese landscapes are stud io paintings , made
Nithout the: u se of sketches from nature. and are in effec t rather compilations than
iingle scenes. Thus, the sign ificant landmark s of many miles of road leading to a
amous temple may be included in a single venical picture, and scrolls often present
niles of river scenery which could nOt possibly be seen from anyone place. The
:hinese painter moves through his picture and the observer must do likew ise and
lot stand aloof and external, although the design effect of the composition as a
Nhole is never forgon en.
Now coming to the maner of the drawing of buildings, interiors and furniture,
Ne find the Chinese working under what at first may seem to be hea vy h andicaps
:0 pictorial freedom, a freedom definitely retained in landscape painting. Buildings
.n landscape are typicall y presented from about the same angle of elevation not
)nly through different groups in a single picture but through the an as a whole,
Isually about thirty degrees above the horizontal. As Dr. Miinsterberg justly
:emarked , views of buildIngs from the level looking up at the fac;ades are nOt done.
[hen, th e convention of keeping parallel lines approximately parallel in stead of
:onvcrging coward vanishing POlDtS makes it imposs ibl e to show more than two
.valls with the floor of an ordinary room, as Me. Ande rso n nOted. These cond itions
.1ave not always invariabl y ob tai ned, but before discuss ing the history a more careful
iescription is in order.
In ou r Weste rn geometry we have nOt one definition of parallel lines but two.
[he Euclidean geometry defines as parallel lines thac nevcr meet even if indefinitely
?ro longed. Th e definit ion o f non -Euclidean geometry referred to earlier in t hi s pape r
nust be taken as a variant or equivocation of this ddlnition, which is the common
mderstanding of parallelism. In the para ll el perspective of the West we hnd both
le11nitions effective in the same com position , so that li nes converge al ong the line
Jf sight which is perpendicular to the picture plane but not along the line of sigh t
parallel co the sa me pla ne. To the Chinese one group of buildings ma y be smaller
:han another, but with a sin gle building or severa l buildings in a cl osel y rdated
group no diminution in size: is noted. and par:d lcl lines remain parallel. that is CO
,loY equ idi stant , through out their len~th . In effect the Chinesc:drawing is pr3.crically
what we call isometric, a fo rm whi ch is used in the West for shop drawing s in
Ivhich a th ree-dimension al form is co be n:presc:nced to a measuCJ.bk scale in 3.11 its
~.

In pllnmng ,he compomlon on ~ IhoulJ obs.:f\: con11<1~nC\" l nJ rrorrlc" III ,h~ r:ll"un ,,{ ,hln~l .
6. Th e Jtl .... ,ng In,)" IJ ~ gUIJed b. :ormcr m. J["s.
Sec B. MltCn The .\pprol cn ro Gune..: Plll1l1ng,,
.i" N,wl. New Yot k .."pril le, L~lo . Secllon I.
p. 31; also L. Binyon. TO. Fli!.hlOj ,Ix Dr.lj" ( lj' -4).

l'[ . ;\ pic[ure shoul d be inspirc <.llnd [lO''\CSJ Ide \f\ IIse lf.
t . The rr,u"~",,"OH; . huulJ be ollianrht C llI~ CSll ll ll$hd.
,. In ':rlwlng ,he: forms u/ [h,n.o:; un~ . huulJ COnh)r m :0
,heIr natural properties.
~ . Colour should be: a pplied in accotJ~n'e .... idl th~ na l ur:
of Ihe lub)C1:I.
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Cl!NTURY

l ' UN IL UANO.

Fl a. 1.1. CONVIl II.GING LINE l'i!R5PIlCTIVI! IN AJANTA,

HU D DIL I STIC PAIN TI NG FROM

CA Vil I. S I(ETC II IHI FfIOM YA ZDANI, AjlU/11I

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Pl.ATS

LXXI. March : Un'"' PmpmjIJ' in Chinm Pu;tJl;'lj

,)-

Jares. To the Chinese accustomed to his convention his lines look parallel and (00:orrn [0 the actual na curc of the objc:cts in his experience, and ours seem co converge;
Nhilc to us Ollr lines suggest parallelism and the Chinese divergence ( Figure 19)'
There have bee n man y willing to assume that the Chinese perspective in the ma[(er
) f parallel li nes is primitive and founded upon ignorance . The facts , however, do
:lOt bc::ar out this contention. [f we turn again to the paintings recove red from Tun
Huang we find in many of [he:: Buddhistic pieces an apprehension of the converg ing
:ffc:ct of parallels . In one banner, for instar.cc::, a temple is shO\vn from the fronc in
iuch a way that we look up under the eaveS and down at the floor, wit h the recedin g

!dges of roof an d floor converging. St ripped of irrelevant clouds that han g over the
heads of div inities seated before it the temple is d rawn as shown in Fig ure l.0. It
is inte restin g to note in the border to the same mandara a series of scenes, referred
to above, in the Chinese manner, in which is a building showing no trace of perspective convergence in the parallel li nesY The use of conver~ing parallels in some of
these Buddhist paintings may well derive from India, for in several of the frescoes
in Cave I in Ajanta an observant use of perspective conve rgence can be no t ed.~a
Figure 2.1 is a sketch from one of the frescoes showing convergence in vertical but
nO{ in horizontal planes. The detail sketch ed in Figure 1.2. shows conve rgence in
boch pla nes.
Coming down to th e classic age of Sung, we find that the idea of converging
perspective is nO{ entirely foreign. There is in the Freer Gallery of Art a handscroll
representing scenes in a palace, of which a decail is reproduced in Figure 2.3 . It has
been attributed to Li Kung-lin, but however that may be ic is acceptable as a Sung
work. Here is a very close approximation to the parallel perspectlve of the West ,
with the lines parallel to the picture-plane actually parallel and lines receding represented as converging. That such a scroll is not an isolated case may be gathered
from an eleventh century critic Shen Kua. It is a fair inference that something like
perspective convergence might have been found in the work of Li Ch'eng to which
he takes exception. He says of Li , that
"whenever he puts kiosques, pagodas, or other build.ings, on the mountains of his land.scapes, [he] painted them with cocked-up eaves, so tha c the spectator looked upwards and
saw che inner part ; because, he said, the point of view was bdow the object, jUst as a man
sunding beneath a pagoda sees above him the rafters of the eaves.''!"!

And something of the actitude tOward pictorial freedom chat determined the
Chinese cho ice ot th e di stinctive pe rspective chey ha ve typically employed in landscape may be caught from the words which follow:
This reasoning is faulty . For in bndsC:l.pe chere is a method of looking at big things :15
if they were small ( olerial perspective). If people loo ked at imitation hills in the same way
thar chey look at re:J.1 hills, thar is, looking from the bolSt up to the summit, it wou ld only
be possible to see one r:lnge ac a rim<:, lnd not range behind range : neicher would the r.l\ines
lnd valleys in the mounuins be viSIble . Simil:lr!y, you ough t not to see the middle court
of;l. house, nor w hole is going on in the blCk premises. You cannOt lay dO"\'n che rule that
if you hlve a man on the east side, then the west side of che hill must contain the disunt
scenery, and vice versa ; under such conditions no piCture could possibly be fainted . Li Cheng
diJ nor know the mechod by which big objects are made to look sm al . By chis meth od
eNects of height and diStance can be more skilfully secured th:ln by simply cocking up che
corners of houses ... ~~

Europe.1n painters in thl: ranks of [he jesuits brought their meth ods of drawing
inco China. from th e sixteenth ceoeury on, but the Western stvle had little or no
influence on Chinl:se painting in !;!cneral. Some artists did adopt a mea sure of European perspcctiye, and a vl:ry inral:scing serie s of exam pll:s is to bl: seen in the LibrJ.ry
" .\. . SI:in. cpo(il., pI. \'11.
''Sc~ G. YnJ~ni. IfjJ"'J ( 1910) , pI. xx. XXI. XXX\',
w: .; LaJy Hcrnngh~m, Aj,nnJ Fnmu ( 1;15), pI. XII, XIII,

XX\[[!. XXIX. ~!c ;

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PAVILIONS AND PALACES," ATTalBU THD TO U KUNG - LIN ( 140 - 11 06). OliTAIL Of
LI:::fT IUL.I' Of scaOLL. PUISR O,l.LL.ll kY Of "IlT, WA SIIINOTO N

PLATH

LXXII . M""h: Linttlf Pmput;lIt in Ch imse Puil/lill!.

of Cong r ess.~~ Thert.: is a Sung dynasty primed ed ition of the Kmg Chih T'u from
which the pictu re of the w o rship in the temple of the silk godJcss is reproduced
in Fi g ure 1.4. The original paintin gs for th is ed ition were said co have been done
by one Lan Shou, who about 1145 presented to the Emperor Kao Tsung forty-five
drawings in illustration of the processes of tilling and weaving. In 1696 , under the
Emperor K'ang Hsi, a new ed iti on of the Kmg Chih Tu was published , with illustrati ons engra ved from paintings by Chiao Pin g-c hen . Ch iao is said ro have studied
EurolX~n perspective as m;ldc known co the COUH by Pere Buglio, and t he results
of his etforts may be seen in the iltustrations menri oned.~9 Figure:"5 shows the same
SCene of worship of thc sil k goddess as engraved from the d ravying by Chiao Pingchen, and in Figure l 6 we hJ. ve a reproduction of his origina l paiming, now al so
in the Library of Con gress. Here , as in practically . if nOt quite all , of the pictures
influenced by the West , the:: perspective is that we have described under the term
of Western nomenchture as pJ.ra lld perspective , with on ly one van ishin g point.
But the European method never became popular. and when this writer was stud y
ing pain t ing in Ch i na his tutor had him draw houses in th e traditional manner; no r
is the tradition departed from by mo re t h an a few of the paint ers who follow the
native style.
Now we ma y well ask why, having seen examples of converging lin e J?erspective
since early times, ha ving had it experimented with by distingu ished paInters, and
having ha d it presented a s su perior during rece nt centuries, why did the Chinese
still c hoose to adhere to the isometric convention? That it was a matter of choice
can sc arcely be denied. The essentia l reason is chat Chi nese painting is and has been
the studio art of scholar arti sts; an imm ediately influential cause which is attended
by nume rous conditioning fac to rs. Thus, Chinese painting was a studio art because,
fo r one thin g, it was the art of the literati. Ie seems that in t h e earlier times pai nting
was do ne by craftsmen and was chi efl y imaginative decora tio n, but during the period
of the Six Dynasties it became the particu lar possess ion of the scholar class, which
t hencefo rth establis hed its criteria and rul ed ItS conventions. It was closely identified with call igraphy, so thac the nov itiate of the pain ter has been the practice of
the writer . While arti sts in the Wes t are trained in the rendering of fo rm s. the artists
in China are trained in the manipu lation of th e brus h ; and according to thi s writer's
obs.e rvation t he primary point In cri ticism is t he matte r of brush st rength, pi Ii
~.IJ. 30
The calligraphic necessi t y in painting is es tablish ed as the second of Hsieh
Ho 's Six Canons, and while the direc t rdati o n between ca lli g raphy and pa intin g
st yles varies at different pe riods , the:re is in the hiscory of Chinese paiming on ly
one disti ngu ished artist who rose co fame from craftsmanshi p rather than fro m t he
road of scholarl y drill. Now these: sc ho lars from ea rl y times have evinced a stro ng
love of nature, a de:e:p affcC(ion of intimacy untainte:d wit h a spurious sentimema li ty .
But the ir relati ons to (he natura l world were rath er more subje:ctive than objective:.
It is true that profound observation is shown in the stylis tic , almost symbolic repre:
senc ati on of t re:es and rocks, so ca rdull y classified, and fina lly compil ed in the Chieh
Tzu Yiirtn, but the J.rtist in his contact with nature: so ug ht rather a spiritual rappo rt
than the filling of a notebook with skctc hes. That sketc hing from nature may once
ha ve been a common practice: is suggested by the rang emperors surprise whcn
Wu Tao tzu ret urned from hi s journey to th e Hsiao anJ Hsiang withou t any picmrial
reco rJ, but thc .l!rcJ.t painters answcr thac he had all thc scene ry in his heart reveals
the attituJe w hich has prev:lilcd sincr: his eime . Occasionally in the records a painter
is sai d co ha\c sketchc:d from nature, but the exceptional character o f suc h a proceeding is cl<::lrly indicated.
:0.\ .

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The writ!::r part icu larl y rem embers one excursion inco the count ry with :l group
)f sc holars of the old school. Thi s autumn morning we set off for a walk char wa s
;0 cocal twenty miles as if for a scroll around rhe school gardens. If we felt hun gry
we stOpped in some linl.: village fo r a biscuit, and tea or a cin y cup of wine. At rhe
~ cmplc by th e hmous . Oneacre Spring. " which we had co me to visit, th e priest
gave us tea again. and we sat idl y in the pavili on by the water speaking of the
hi story of the place. o f the grcac Ch'jen Lung who used to co me there . of poetry
th:tt h aJ bee n wriw:n th ere. and of (he: China of our Jav. In the lace afternoon we
wa nde red back CO O Uf city. in n:s [(:d and bea ritic sca re of mind, to tin ish OU f picnic
with an info rmal supper in a courtya rd under the stars. Of such occ asions of leisurely
assoc ia t ion with the co unt rys ide a nd friendl y commun ion with kindred soul s are
poems and paintings born. Such men as formed this group go int o t he country \v it h
the quietly casual poi se and ass ura nce of one walkin g into hi s own home, Shtch
boo ks and writing equipment , es pec ia lly the: Chinese writing equipment , are impedimenta , and hinJrances CO that intimacv of co mmunio n which is sign ificant of the
Chinese scholar 's attitude cowards nature, The Chinese crit ics go deeper than (he
surface resem blance of things wh en th ey compare pictures with poems. Chinese
scholars hav e poeuy in their traini ng as well as brushwork, and Chinese paintings
are very rea ll y visual poems . similarl y composed, an d translated inco beau tifully
drawn forms instead of beau tifull y drawn ideographs, Th e impressio ns , vi sual material and stimuli may come fr om nature, as in the case of landscapes and certa in
class es of verse, but the works of art are constructed in the studio, The anal ogy can
be ca rri ed even furth er and the designs of pi ctures compared to the forms of versification , and the traditional forms of trees and rocks to the accepted l?hraseo!ogy
of poetry. These fa cts and attitudes w ell account for th e freedom of VIewpoint 10
Chlnese landscape and for the fact that such paintings are no t copies of actual scenes;
for their profound rea lism even when they most lack the sense of actuality,
The freedom which th e Chinese anist enjoyed in hi s landscapes seems to be sharply
delimited i n hi s painting o f building, bu t such is actuall y not the case, Unhampered
by a single fixed point of sight he can, as Shen Kua suggests , show several court yards of a ho use wi th eq ua l spac iousness and detail. An d our convent ion of converging lin e perspective is obviously quite inconsistent with such representati on . Further,
there is g reater freedom of design possible co a lai nc er who is not bound by the
ri gid necessities of the single stat IOn-point, an th e vanishing-points and other
paraphernalia of Wes tern perspective.
Another factor in th e psycho logy of the Chin ese pai nt er ha s to do w ith mathematics, an d especia ll y geo met ry . The studio painter. part ic ularl y the one ....... h o does
not w ork fr o m ske tches, whi ch . as workin g drawings of architecture would doubtless smack coo much of the workshop to th e Chinese scho lar. needs, if he w ould
prese nt perspec ti ve con vergence, a rath er th oroug h groun d ing in th e ge om etr ical
ba sis of t he svscem in orde r to mak e full and acc urat e usc o f it s intricac ies, i\'ow the
Chines e: literati h:l ve never devdoped m:lthematics as a pure sc ience:. and ce rtainly
no t that ph:l se of mathem:ltics whi ch is, perhaps more tha n an y other br:lnch o f
ch e sc ience:, so direccly depe:ndent upon deductive reas on in g, namely, geomet r ~ . The
Chinese: sc ho br has been, as Dr. Dubs poims OU t in his ess ay on "The F:lil urc of
the Chinese to Produce Phil osop hi c:1 l ~.\ ste m s, "H preemin ently a pra ct ic:1l ml n,
devotin ,!! h imself co th ose things w hich Wefe prl.ctic.d for him , chiell," go\'ernmc::t.
with \ .... hich thc class ical :'tnJ litt:f:H\' cultu re of his coum rv wa s inJi ssolubh' idenritied. ~b thcma[ics \\':1S prl.ctiC:l 1 co ' the w ork shop. anJ wh.lt sa\'o ureJ chc'rw f the
Jn cratu s stuJious!;' .l.\'oiJe:J, Kno w lcd!!e fo r its own S:lh:c seem s to h:t,'c nuJc: li~de
o r no impre ssion . '50 geometry as :l science. which is essential co the el a bor:Hion
o f a perspec t i\'e formula suc h :lS h:1 s ob tained in Europe SlnCe th e Renaissance, \US
" H. H, Dubs, "The

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'0 Produce Ph,losophiclISruems, "

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i~ c1o'l h - .lJ..in (0 wric ill ,!!. r r!)ti(l t:r: ( ~' in \\ h iLh is rracri..:;d f(l (
rhe scholar. Further. it wa s dosel y n:iaccd to pot: cry as:tn aVt:nut: of expressi o n for
a sensitive anJ c.:nlotional people , wh o were;l.e rht: same eime a practical people with
a nOticeab le: lack of inrerl.:s[ in m:lchem:ltical spec ulatiun .
So , in reca pi ruiari o n , 'vc no t e ch :l t C hinese pc:rs pc:c riv c: is char:l ( [cri seJ. in comra S(
with rht: Rena issance pers pcc ti ve: o f th e Wc:st. hy [\ . . . 0 J i s tin( d~' typ ical ka t urcs :l stlti o n-po i nc mOY;lblc: w i th o ut n:s rricci o n , u r numerOl]" s u[ ion- ro i nc~ \'. trh in :l
single: r lcrun.: , .1 nJ rh e ~! r.'\\" l n .t.: u f r.l ral lt:! lines ;i s trUe . ra th t: r th.ln .trprc: nt . rar.dld :; .
;\ Il J w e ha vc: sc;en r!1;l.( th .: s..: k ;J.[ u rcs an: J Ut: to (hOiC e f.lrh(.; r t nan i l!n o r.1nce . :1 nJ
thac th e c hoi e!.: \\':1 5 ( On dit ioneJ b~' t he b e t t h :lt Ch in!;;s!;; p:l H: [Ing ' h lS been t h e
s t udio pai m ing o f sch o l:tr -:l.rcist s wh ose pit.: ru n:s Were vi su:! l f'o!;; m s rath er t h :U1
rrose fe co rJ s, trln s Ltti on s fHh er th.:t n tran scripti o ns , an d wh o h.l J no ta s te fo r [)lI,;
mHhem;!cict! theorizing n ec es s ar~' to produ c<: :l singh: eX:lCC !co met ri c.d fo r m ula
fo r th e uni vc:: r sl l sv lu t iun o t .1 ~ c ner;! l prob le m. c \'en h:l J sut.: h :l solu ti on bet: n th:s ir:lh lc. wh ich , acco fJ in,!-: trJ the r q 'c hology o f thl." :Irti s ts, it \\' :15 no r. T he rr o~lc.:m
o f d is tlnC c 'oya s nO[ ignor.:J. inJlvid ual s bo rro w ed :1 nd ex pc rimen t d \vith var ious
meth o J s o f rt: rr ;;sc n Llti o n , ,l nJ so lutio ns were fo u nJ in h.lr~'!1\Jn y with the iJeli s o f
ch m c wh o so ug ht th e m .
A lso wc h:l ve no ted th :lt :l ny syste m o f perspec tive is l co mp romi se, and tha t if
the sys te m be ri g id. co mpro mi ses must be made w ith th e sys tcm i[self in {h e imaes ts of picto rial effecti ve ness " Furth er, fo r practiClI purposes the acce pta nce of the
co mpromise is more important than its theoretical acc~1- l cy " Whether one system
is super io r to the other o r nO( depends upon so many debatable criteria that it would
be silly to a.ttemp t such an evalua.tion , Probably the utmost that an info rmed and
impartial cficic CQulJ Sl Y is t h:lt in lan dscape , at lea s[. the Chi nese are mOfc so ph ist icat ed than the Western ani sts of th e Re naissance tradition " (n some m ode rn paim ing
o ne C:1n ob scn'e tenJcnc ies roward s the manners which th e Chinese have fo und
ag reeable in both pe rspective varilnes ; in tht; lack of a sin g le hxed point of sig ht
because of a des ire fo r greate r freed o m, in lack o f attenti o n to the strict b w s o f
co m ." crgin g line per specr'i ve beca use o f primary inten:st in d esi gn farh er [han depi cti o n , or, poss ibly, bt:Gl. u SC it m:ly seem unimpo rta l1r ro spc nd th e tim e and effo rt
nec essary ro mas ter th r.: intri":::l<,:il:S o f the sy str.:m " At a n ~' r.lt e, ~[r. Bi nr o n's sta temcnt th;![ "ch e laws t lf sc ien cc arc not the bw s 01 Ht"' apFc;u s [ 0 eXFress a rre\'lil in~
op ini o n amon g the rnt)Jern s o f ou r J ;!y "
Di s pur.:tt ions mClll( to prll \'c. o r affi rm a prejuJice, rh:u o nc arc fo rm is a bs rr:lcdy,
;lr b itrar ilv :l nJ :t bso!uteh' I--c rr e r th a n a not h er :t rt fo rm rem ind o ne o f C h ul n g T w "s
s ror~' of '""Thn:e III t h t: :\ :l nrni!l ,l! ' " :\ kcerer o f nhln kcy s u nce rnl~1 hi s ch ;lr.'.-tes thH
th ey rnit:ht h :I.\"c three c h csr n ll t s r.: .l ch :1.[ ni ,l !ht :tn ~l fo ur in thc mu r n ing" whCrCUr,Hl
di <;s:Hi -:. f:i crion \" ;1 S c: ;; ncr:d h- a n\ ~ \"()Cift-rl1u s!\' c ...:rn:sseJ :-: 0 rJ-:~" k<:e r cf !! r :lc i o ll ~ h
\' id J cJ hi .. P ,ll!; ( r ~:' ~, l!llt''-! Ir 'HI) .:...:\.r( i ~ i n !! hi ... i'rCfO !!.lCl\"C or" ~\la r ~l i .l ns hir , ;! n\i
dlJl1l!I.:J thc f.l ClVIl .. ,) d ut c"l( h Ill Un hC \" rcccI\"cJ tuu r dlc "r nur s ,H ni l! h[ J. nJ rhn.:e
Itl thr.: m ()rn i r~"~ " \\"a il th is .trr.l nl!cm t:rH ";t.!! w t: rc \\" ,,;11 s:l tl sJir.:J "
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un kno wn . P;t inring

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