Upload
stephen-little
View
217
Download
5
Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
The Art Institute of Chicago
Early Chinese Paintings in The Art Institute of ChicagoAuthor(s): Stephen LittleSource: Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies, Vol. 22, No. 1, Asian Art at The ArtInstitute of Chicago (1996), pp. 36-53+94-95Published by: The Art Institute of ChicagoStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4104357 .
Accessed: 14/06/2014 23:46
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp
.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].
.
The Art Institute of Chicago is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Art Instituteof Chicago Museum Studies.
http://www.jstor.org
This content downloaded from 62.122.73.250 on Sat, 14 Jun 2014 23:46:28 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
Early Chinese Paintings in The Art Institute of Chicago
STEPHEN LITTLE
Pritzker Curator ofAsian Art
The Art Institute of Chicago
he Art Institute of Chicago's collection of Chinese paintings comprises over one hundred works and is strongest in paint-
ings of the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644- 1911) dynasties. Less than twenty of these date from the entire preceding eon of Chinese
painting, and all but one of these earlier works dates from the Song (960-1279) and Yuan
(1260-1368) dynasties. But although few, the
early examples comprise a broad range of
materials, techniques, styles, and subject mat- ter that, in its totality, represents the major gen- res of painting in China between the tenth and fourteenth centuries.
The earliest Chinese painting in the col-
lection, a recent acquisition, in fact antedates the Song dynasty. This work, featuring a
bodhisattva, is a magnificent fragment of a Buddhist mural dating from the Five Dynas- ties period (c. 952; fig. i).1 Executed in ink and
pale green, brown, and ocher mineral colors on plaster, the painting depicts a graceful, androgynous figure leaning to the left and
making an offering. The lines that describe the figure and its drapery, some drawn in ink and others in brown pigment, move in fluid
patterns. It is dressed in light robes and flow-
ing scarves, and can clearly be identified as a bodhisattva by its jewelry and halo. In the
Mahayana Buddhist pantheon, bodhisattvas are
enlightened beings who have vowed to defer
entry into Nirvana in order to help all other
sentient beings attain enlightenment. Bodhi- sattvas thus play an important role as saviors in Buddhism.
Research prior to acquisition revealed that the painting had been published in 1949 and
belonged to a celebrated group of related frag- ments, all of which depict seated or standing bodhisattvas. The Art Institute's fragment and the related works were originally recovered in
1923 from a ruined Buddhist temple along the Henan-Shanxi border in northern China by the dealer C. T. Loo. Exhibited by Loo in New York in 1949, the fragments were eventually dispersed to museums and private collections.
Today related fragments can be found in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; the Honolulu
Academy of Arts; the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City (fig. 2); the Minneapolis Museum of Arts; the Musde Guimet, Paris; the Princeton University Art Museum; the St. Louis Art Museum; the Toledo Museum of
Art; and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Wash-
ington, D.C. For several decades, scholars believed that
these fragments dated from the eleventh cen-
tury (Northern Song dynasty). Recent research
by Wai-kam Ho has convincingly demon- strated that the paintings date instead from the
LEFT
Anonymous.
Yang Pu Moving
His Family (detail).
See fig. 10o.
All of the works
illustrated here are
in The Art Institute
of Chicago, unless
otherwise indicated,
and all of the artists
represented here
are Chinese.
The Art Institute's early Chinese paintings comprise a broad range of materials, techniques, styles, and subjects.
Museum Studies 37
This content downloaded from 62.122.73.250 on Sat, 14 Jun 2014 23:46:28 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
• m
/
,m-inI
; g: '
Y_,
ru,?~
This content downloaded from 62.122.73.250 on Sat, 14 Jun 2014 23:46:28 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
LITTLE EARLY CHIN ESE PAINTING
FIGURE 1
Anonymous.
Bodhisattva, Five
Dynasties period,
Later Zhou dynasty,
c. 952. Fragment
of a wall painting; ink
and colors on plaster;
84.5 x 57.2 cm. Kate S.
Buckingham Fund,
1991.24.
38 Museum Studies
This content downloaded from 62.122.73.250 on Sat, 14 Jun 2014 23:46:28 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
LITTLE EARLY CHINESE PAINTING
mid-tenth century (Five Dynasties period), and come from a Buddhist temple known as
Cisheng Si, located in Wen Xian, Henan prov- ince, about ten miles north of the Yellow River between Kaifeng and Luoyang. This is based in
part on the discovery of an inscription on the above-mentioned fragment in the Nelson- Atkins Museum of Art, reading, "In the xinhai
year [951] of the Guangxun reign [951-53, of the Later Zhou dynasty], on the eighteenth day of the seventh month, a wish was initiated; in the second year [952], on the twenty-fifth day of the second month, the work is completed. Recorded by Fan Jiuguan."2
That the group of paintings comes from the Cisheng temple in Wen Xian is corrobo- rated in an account by the early twentieth-
century scholar-official Gu Xieguang, who
surveyed the area between I92o and 1926. Gu's
description of the Cisheng temple states that it was founded in 937, and confirms that its Buddhist wall paintings were removed in
1923 and taken overseas.3 The mid-tenth cen-
tury date is entirely consistent with the style of the bodhisattva, a transitional manner between the late Tang (618-906) and early Northern
Song (960-1127) dynasties. A comparison with the Kansas City fragment, which is larger
FIGURE 2
Anonymous.
Attending
Bodhisattvas Burning
Incense, Five
Dynasties period,
Later Zhou dynasty,
c. 952. Ink and
colors on plaster;
174-3 x 87.5 cm.
The Nelson-Atkins
Museum of Art,
Kansas City.
FIGURE 3
Anonymous.
Bodhisattva, four-
teenth century.
Fragment of a wall
painting; ink and
colors on plaster;
266.7 x 78.7 cm.
Gift of Yamanaka
Sadajiro, 1931.410.
Museum Studies 39
This content downloaded from 62.122.73.250 on Sat, 14 Jun 2014 23:46:28 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
LITTLE EARLY CHINESE PAINTING
FIGURE 4
Anonymous.
Horses and Grooms,
probably Jin dynasty
(1115-I234). Fragment of a
wall painting; ink and
colors on plaster;
60.9 x 80.6 cm. Lucy
Maud Buckingham
Collection, 1924.1337.
than the one in Chicago, reveals distinct simi- larities in the manner of depicting faces, bod-
ies, jewelry, robes, and halos, as well as an iden- tical palette.4 These idealized, rounded
figures can also be related in style to sculp- tures of bodhisattvas dating from the Liao
dynasty (a semisinified northern-steppe dynasty ruling in Manchuria, Mongolia, and northern China between 916 and 1125, con-
temporary with Northern Song).5 These rare, surviving fragments are part
of a minuscule remnant of the thousands of
paintings that were executed in China, from the Tang through Qing dynasties, on the walls of Buddhist temples. Very little of this art sur-
vives today, and the bulk of extant examples can be found in temples in Shanxi province. The Art Institute's tenth-century bodhisattva
represents a vital mural tradition that engaged many of China's leading painters in the Tang, Five Dynasties, and Song periods. A later, fourteenth-century mural fragment in the col-
lection, depicting a standing bodhisattva, illus- trates the continuity of this genre over a period of several centuries (fig. 3).6
Two other fragments of ancient wall paint- ings in the museum's collection are published here for the first time: a rectangular painting depicting two horses and three grooms (fig. 4); and a smaller, irregular fragment depicting
40 Museum Studies
This content downloaded from 62.122.73.250 on Sat, 14 Jun 2014 23:46:28 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
LITTLE EARLY CHINESE PAINTING
FIGURE 5
Anonymous. Three
Court Women,
Northern Song
(960-1127) or Jin
(1115-1234) dynasty.
Fragment of a wall
painting; ink and
colors on plaster;
36.8 x 26.7 cm. Gift
of Mr. and Mrs. James
W. Alsdorf, 1977.555.
FIGURE 6
Anonymous. Puxian,
the Bodhisattva of
Benevolence, Yuan
dynasty, fourteenth
century. Framed
banner; ink and colors
on silk; 59.1 x 31.7 cm.
Gift of Mr. and Mrs.
James W. Alsdorf,
I969.839.
Museum Studies 41
This content downloaded from 62.122.73.250 on Sat, 14 Jun 2014 23:46:28 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
LITTLE EAR LY CHIN ESE PAINTING
three women (fig. 5). The painting of horses and grooms is almost certainly a tomb tile; similar works have been discovered in Liao-
dynasty tombs in Inner Mongolia and Hebei
province in northern China.7 The framing of the scene with a heavy band of dark pigment is characteristic of many such painted tiles.
As Susan Bush has shown, the theme of horses and grooms is closely tied to those of
"military valor and the establishment of dynas- tic rule through horsepower."8 This theme is known from as early as the Six Dynasties period (317-589), and symbolized the effective rule of moral, stable governments.' Paintings of horses and grooms are often found in tombs of the Liao and Jin dynasties, the northern neigh- bors and successive rivals to China's Song dynasty. The museum's painted tomb tile is one of the rare examples of this funerary genre outside of China.
A small mural fragment depicting three women (fig. 5) may once have been part of a narrative scene on the walls of a Buddhist or Daoist temple. Similar figures are often seen in depictions of the Buddha's life or the lives of Daoist immortals, such as those found at the Yanshan and Yonglegong temples in Shanxi. The fragment probably dates to the Northern Song (960-1127) or Jin (1115-1234)
dynasty, and is most likely from a site in northern China. The figures of two women
appear almost complete; they hold staffs with banners or fans attached. The upper part of a third woman is seen below; she holds a sacred scroll on an offering tray. Behind the figures appears a background pattern of clouds, sug- gesting that the scene depicts a large proces- sion of deities and attendants in a Buddhist or Daoist heaven. All three figures look to the
left, implying the presence of a now-missing
42 Museum Studies
This content downloaded from 62.122.73.250 on Sat, 14 Jun 2014 23:46:28 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
LITTLE EARLY CHINESE PAINTING
FIGURES 7-9
Anonymous.
Three Portraits of
Gentlemen,
Yuan dynasty
(1260-i368). Three
album leaves; ink
and colors on silk;
each 29.5 x 24.5 cm.
Gifts of Robert
Allerton, left to right:
1924.2, 3, and I.
deity in this part of the original composition. Pale-gray ink outlines the figures; and green, red, and yellow pigments color their robes. The figures' hair ornaments, earrings, and necklaces are in relief, depicted in thin lines of raised gesso."0
A Buddhist painting that may come from China's western border regions is included here because it is almost certainly fourteenth
century in date, and because it reflects a mix- ture of Chinese and Tibetan styles (fig. 6).11
Painted in ink and colors on silk, the narrow vertical work features Puxian (Samantabhadra), the Bodhisattva of Benevolence. Its current format suggests that the painting was origi- nally a banner. The details of the robes, head, and elephant are articulated with an expres- sive, highly modulated ink line. Within the ink outlines are areas of unshaded color, pre- dominantly red, blue, and green. This style of
depicting Puxian originated in the Tang dynasty (618-906), and surviving Northern Song wood-
block prints of the late tenth century show similar figures on elephant vehicles. The heav-
ily lidded eyes of this figure, however, suggest the direct influence of Tibetan painting, argu- ing for a dating in the fourteenth century, when political and artistic ties between China and Tibet were particularly strong.
Secular portrait painting in China is rep- resented in the collection by a rare group of three portraits (figs. 7-9) from what may have been a much larger album. These paintings on silk were given to the Art Institute in 1924 by Robert Allerton. Painted in ink and colors on
silk, the album leaves present bust portraits of three men of the gentry class. Similarities of feature imply that these men were members of the same family. The style of the sitters' infor- mal dress and headgear further suggests that
Museum Studies 43
This content downloaded from 62.122.73.250 on Sat, 14 Jun 2014 23:46:28 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
LITTLE EARLY CHINESE PAINTING
these anonymous portraits can be dated to the Yuan dynasty (fourteenth century). No
inscriptions or seals appear on the paintings; as a result, the identity of these men remains a
mystery. From their dress and demeanor, how-
ever, one can surmise that they are affluent Chinese scholars or officials who lived during the one hundred years of Mongol occupation (1260-1368). The men's features are rendered with fine, gently modulated lines that success-
fully express their individual characters. The
portrait of the first gentleman (fig. 7), with his
long, recurved eyelids and eyebrows, conveys
an impression of a self-confident intellect, wise in the ways of the world. The second sit- ter (fig. 8), with his double chin and slightly wary expression, suggests a skeptic. An easily missed detail in this painting is the jade Daoist
cap he wears under his translucent horsehair hat. The third figure (fig. 9), with his twirled mustache and direct gaze, presents an image of someone who is both a solid burgher and a
self-styled dandy. These three works appear to have been created by an artist who specialized in portrait painting. The Yuan dynasty was an
important period for theoretical and practical writings on portraiture. The careful attention to details in the faces of these individuals sug- gests that the anonymous artist was aware of such fourteenth-century texts as Wang Yi's
Xiexiang mijtue ("Secrets of Portrait Painting"),
The "farewell" was a frequent theme in poetry and
painting. In this lively painting, a scholar bids his friends
farewell, as he moves his family to a new post.
44 Museum Studies
This content downloaded from 62.122.73.250 on Sat, 14 Jun 2014 23:46:28 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
LITTLE EARLY CHINESE PAINTING
which stress the importance of mastering the rules of physiognomy before becoming a
painter of likenesses.12 Narrative painting, an important genre
in traditional China, is represented in the
museum's collection by a superb early Yuan-
dynasty handscroll entitled Yang Pu Moving His Family (fig. io). In this lively painting, a scholar bids farewell to his friends, as he pre- pares to move his family to a new post. The "farewell" (songbie) was a frequent theme in both poetry and painting and was often the occasion for nostalgic reminiscence. This
handscroll, which is close in style and date to the work of the early Yuan artist Gong Kai
(122I-C. 1307), presents its cast of characters with a sophisticated mix of realism and cari- cature. The presence of what appear to be
authentic collectors' seals of the Yuan artists Gu An (1289-1373) and Ke Jiusi (1290-1343)
helps confirm the early date of the painting. Although Wai-kam Ho has speculated that the subject of the scroll is the Song-dynasty official Yang Pu moving his family, precise identification remains unclear.13 In this paint- ing, the main figure, having waded out into a
stream, turns back toward his friends, the
group of gesticulating scholars on the bank. The scholar's family departs to the left, with his wife riding an ox and nursing a baby. The meticulous realism evident in the figures and
landscape suggests an artist working in the
lineage of the Song painter Li Tang (active in the early twelfth century).
A very different kind of figure painting is seen in the Art Institute's long handscroll enti-
FIGURE 10
Anonymous. Yang Pu
Moving His Family,
Yuan dynasty,
late thirteenth century.
Detail of a handscroll;
ink and light colors on
paper; entire piece:
52.7 x 231.1 cm. Kate
S. Buckingham Fund,
1952.9.
Museum Studies 45
This content downloaded from 62.122.73.250 on Sat, 14 Jun 2014 23:46:28 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
LITTLE EARLY CHINESE PAINTING
FIGURE 11
Zhu Yu (Junbi)
(I293-1365). Street
Scenes in Times of
Peace, Yuan dynasty,
mid-fourteenth century.
Detail of a handscroll;
ink and colors on
paper; 26 x 790 cm.
Kate S. Buckingham
Fund, 1952.8.
tled Street Scenes in Times of Peace, also in ink and colors on paper.14 This extraordinary paint- ing (a detail of which is illustrated in fig. ii) is an extended street scene, and includes a total of
478 figures. The painting bears the signature of the Yuan-dynasty painter Zhu Yu (1293- 1365). Very little is known about Zhu Yu, and
only two paintings have been attributed to
him."5 According to a colophon by the Ming painter Qian Gu (I5o8-after 1574) attached to the Art Institute's handscroll, Zhu was a student of the great Yuan figure painter Wang Zhenpeng (active 1280-1329), and worked
at the imperial court in Beijing between 1312 and 1320.
Street Scenes in Times of Peace depicts an enormous range of activity of the type one
might encounter in any large, fourteenth-
century Chinese city. Included among the varieties of humanity depicted here are fami-
lies, scholars, drunkards, merchants, profes- sionals, and craftsmen of all kinds. The latter
include musicians, carpenters, stone masons,
physiognomists, painters, diviners, silk work-
ers, dancers, and puppeteers. Conceptually the scroll falls between Zhang Zeduan's Going up the River at the Qingming Festival of the
early twelfth century (Palace Museum, Bei-
jing), which presents a comprehensive pan- orama of Song-dynasty city life; and Zhou Chen's Beggars and Street Characters of I516 (Cleveland Museum of Art), which focuses with considerable sympathy on street people and the dregs of society.6
While scholars have debated the date of the Zhu Yu scroll at length, it is significant that the figures are dressed in clothing of the Yuan
dynasty, as pointed out in the colophon by Weng Tonghe (1830-1904). The accuracy with which the clothing styles of the Mongol period are rendered in this work is corroborated by comparison with tomb sculptures and exca- vated examples of clothing of the same time." On the basis of this degree of verisimilitude,
46 Museum Studies
This content downloaded from 62.122.73.250 on Sat, 14 Jun 2014 23:46:28 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
LITTLE EARLY CHINESE PAINTING
FIGURE 12
Anonymous. Woman
with Female Servant in
a Palace Garden, Yuan
or early Ming dynasty,
1350/1400. Fan
painting; ink and
mineral colors on silk;
25 x 26 cm.
S. M. Nickerson
Collection, 947-535.
FIGURE 13
Anonymous. Chang E,
Moon Goddess, Yuan
or early Ming dynasty,
1350/I440. Fan painting;
ink and mineral colors
on silk; 25 x 25 cm.
S. M. Nickerson
Collection, 1947-534.
Museum Studies 47
This content downloaded from 62.122.73.250 on Sat, 14 Jun 2014 23:46:28 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
LITTLE EARLY CHINESE PAINTING
FIGURE 14
Anonymous (signa-
ture of Li Gonglin
[c. Io049-I106]). The Wangchuan Villa,
Jin dynasty, early
thirteenth century.
Detail of a handscroll;
ink on silk; entire
piece: 26.3 x 554 cm.
Kate S. Buckingham
Fund, 1950o.1369.
the painting is here accepted as a Yuan-dynasty work of the mid-fourteenth century. The fig- ures are painted in fluid ink outlines finely accentuated with pale-gray wash. Ocher, green, yellow, blue, and lavender pigments and pale ink color the figures' robes.
The scene from this long scroll illustrated here depicts a group of diviners and artists at work on the street. One man stands and holds a placard aloft bearing the word Xiangmian ("Physiognomist," or specifically "Diviner of
Faces"). In a makeshift booth nearby sits a man dispensing medicines; the sign over his head translates, "Following Prescriptions, Pills and Powders Mixed to Respond to Illness." To the left, another man leans over a table and inscribes a sheet of paper; the sign on his para- sol states, "Astrologer: Fate Examined Accord-
ing to the Five Planets." In the foreground, a
calligrapher sits at a table under another para- sol bearing the sign, "Composer of Poetry and Prose; Inscriber of Hanging Scrolls."
Appropriately several individuals approach him carrying scrolls for him to inscribe.
Finally, in the lower left foreground, a man is shown holding a signboard that reads in part (the original has been somewhat effaced), "Writer of Talismans ... to Expel Noxious Influences and Apparitions." This is clearly the street corner occupied by diviners and artists. Proceeding in this fashion, the entire scroll is a veritable catalogue of traditional urban professions.
Two fan paintings (figs. 12-13), formerly in the collection of the Qing scholar and anti-
quarian Wu Dacheng (1835-I902), represent a refined, miniature style of painting that
emerged at the Southern Song court in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. This elegant manner continued through the Yuan and early Ming dynasties, the period to which these two
paintings can be dated (1350/1400). Figure 12, in ink and mineral colors on silk, features an aris- tocratic woman and her female attendant in a
garden. The season is clearly springtime, as both figures hold sprigs from the tree at the
center, full of pale-white blossoms. A con- voluted Taihu garden rock appears at the right,
48 Museum Studies
This content downloaded from 62.122.73.250 on Sat, 14 Jun 2014 23:46:28 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
LITTLE EARLY CHINESE PAINTING
and, just behind it, a long-leafed plant (possibly a dwarf cycad); the rock is defined in pale tones of gray ink. The woman wears a red blouse, white skirt, and blue scarf, her attendant a
pale-green robe over a red skirt. An ornate bal- ustrade helps identify this setting as a palace garden. The refined composition is a good
example of the continuation of a classical Song- dynasty genre into the late fourteenth century.
The fan illustrated in figure 13, which may be by the same artist as the painting in figure 12,
depicts a popular Daoist deity, the Moon God- dess Chang E. It too is painted in ink and min- eral colors on silk. Chang E stands on a rocky plateau, resting her left hand on the trunk of a
magnificent, twisted pine tree that grows at the edge of a chasm. The pine tree is a power- ful and ancient symbol of longevity in China, and it is fitting that it is so prominent in the
painting. Behind the figure, a full moon rises
among white clouds in a deep-blue sky. The
thick, jagged outlines of the pine trunk, its twisted branches, and rough bark; the meticu- lous stippling in the rocks and earthforms; and the detailed depiction of the figure and
foliage suggest an artist working in the highly descriptive tradition of the court painter Li
Song of the Southern Song dynasty. This fan
may have been commissioned for a woman's
birthday, as Chang E was a Daoist goddess who, being a personification of the yin force, was a patron deity of women. In Chinese
mythology, Chang E was renowned for hav-
FIGURE 15
After Guo Zhongshu
(c. 910-977).
The Wangchuan Villa
(detail), Ming dynasty,
seventeenth century.
Ink rubbing; entire
piece: 31.1 x 897 cm.
Honolulu Academy
of Arts (gift of Brenda
Bishop, 1954).
Museum Studies 49
This content downloaded from 62.122.73.250 on Sat, 14 Jun 2014 23:46:28 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
LITTLE EAR LY CHIN ESE PAINTING
FIGURE 16
Anonymous
(traditionally attrib-
uted to Guo Xi
[c. IOOI-C. 1090]).
Landscape (Water-
Pavilion by Twin
Pines), Yuan dynasty,
early fourteenth
century. Hanging
scroll; ink and light
colors on paper;
100.3 x 35.5 cm.
Kate S. Buckingham
Endowment Fund,
1955.z7.
FIGURE 17
After Gao Kegong
(1248-1310).
Landscape. Yuan
dynasty, fourteenth
century. Hanging
scroll; ink on
paper; 56.5 x 30 cm.
Gift of the Orientals,
I960.745.
ing stolen the elixir of immortality and taken it to her Guanghan Palace on the moon.'"
The Art Institute has far fewer examples of early Chinese landscape painting in its col- lection. Of these the most important is a long handscroll painted in ink on silk, entitled The
Wangchuan Villa (fig. I4).19 This painting is one of many versions descended from an orig- inal that no longer exists. Wang Wei (701-761), the poet-painter who wrote the poems about his country residence on which the painting is
based, was one of the leading poets of the Tang dynasty. A scholar-official of the mid-Tang, he has been revered since the Song dynasty as the founder of the literati (wenren) tradition of
painting in China. Although no work by his hand survives, his most famous composition, a handscroll depicting Wangchuan Villa, his estate outside Chang'an (present-day Xi'an), exists in several later versions. The most famous of these is a rubbing (fig. i5) of an early sev-
enteenth-century stone engraving that was claimed to faithfully transmit a copy of Wang Wei's original made by Guo Zhongshu in the tenth century.20 Indeed most surviving vesions of this subject are based on the "Guo Zhong- shu" composition.
The Art Institute's handscroll has proved difficult to date. In most versions of this sub-
ject, including the rubbing of the seven-
teenth-century stone engraving, the various
buildings and natural features of the estate are labeled with small Chinese characters in the
sky. But the Art Institute's painting contains no labels: the identifying clues are imbedded
in the landscape itself. The painting bears a
signature, hidden among several rocks, of the great Northern Song literatus Li Gonglin (c. 1049-I1106). Although most scholars who have examined this scroll in recent decades
discount its attribution to Li Gonglin, the connection deserves further scrutiny. As early as the mid-sixteenth century, there is refer- ence to a version of the subject by Li, suggest- ing that he did copy the composition.21 Too few of Li Gonglin's original works survive to permit a definitive stylistic comparison, but clear elements of his style are present in the Art Institute's scroll. A unique manner of
depicting willow trees, for example, with heav-
ily outlined trunks and branches, and leaves
descending in a stylized "fish-bone" pattern, can be seen in another work closely associ- ated with his name, the Classic of Filial Piety scroll in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.22 It is thus conceivable that the Art Institute's painting is a slightly later copy of Li
Gonglin's copy of Wang Wei's painting. The section of the painting shown here
focuses on the image that is the subject of a poem by Wang Wei, "Pavilion Facing the Lake" ("Lin hu ting"). In the Ming rubbing based on Guo Zhongshu's version (fig. Iy), the same pavilion appears in much the same
style and is clearly labeled above. Wang Wei's
poem about this site reads:
A light bark greets the honored guest, Far and distant, coming across the lake. On the porch, each with goblets of wine, On all four sides lotuses bloom.23
The mix of landscape styles evident in the Art Institute's scroll has been partly to blame for the difficulties in dating the paint- ing. This eclecticism, characterized by a mix- ture of Northern Song brush techniques with a lyrical composition more typical of the
Southern Song dynasty, suggests that this is a work by a Chinese literati artist active under the Jin dynasty
(Izi5-I234), the Jurchen Tartar
state that occupied northern China following the collapse of the Northern Song dynasty.
50 Museum Studies
This content downloaded from 62.122.73.250 on Sat, 14 Jun 2014 23:46:28 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
LITTLE EARLY CHINESE PAINTING
Museum Studies 51
This content downloaded from 62.122.73.250 on Sat, 14 Jun 2014 23:46:28 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
LITTLE EARLY CHIN ESE PAINTING
The Jin period witnessed a tremendous enthu-
siasm among intellectuals for the literati mas- ters of the Northern Song-their poetry and
calligraphy, as well as their painting.24 In its
spatial arrangement, the Art Institute's scroll recalls such late Northern Song paintings as Hu Shunchen's He Xuanming's Tribute Mis- sion to Jin in the Osaka Municipal Museum of Art, and the Cleveland Museum of Art's Streams and Mountains Without End, which can be dated to the early twelfth century.25 Pos- sibly the Art Institute's handscroll is an impor- tant Jin-dynasty copy of a lost Northern Song painting by Li Gonglin, itself a free interpreta- tion of the original Wang Wei composition.
The monumental Northern Song mode of
landscape composition, which reached its
apex in the eleventh century, is given a four-
teenth-century interpretation in a painting that reflects an important revival of this style during the Yuan dynasty (fig. 16).26 Entitled
Landscape (Water-Pavilion by Twin Pines), this hanging scroll is clearly in the style of the
eleventh-century master Guo Xi (c. oo00-
c. o090o), whose Early Spring of 0o72 (National Palace Museum, Taipei) is the likely source of
inspiration. Water-Pavilion, however, is much smaller in scale than its Northern Song coun-
terpart, and also much sketchier in its han-
FIGURE 18
Wang Meng (c. 1308-
1385), Quiet Life in a
Wooded Glen, Yuan
dynasty, dated to 1361.
Hanging scroll; ink
and light colors on
paper; 177.8 x 64.2 cm.
Kate S. Buckingham
Endowment Fund,
1947-728.
52 Museum Studies
This content downloaded from 62.122.73.250 on Sat, 14 Jun 2014 23:46:28 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
LITTLE EARLY CHINESE PAINTING
dling of brush and ink. The rugged vision of the natural world presented in such works had a
strong appeal that lasted through the Yuan and into the early Ming dynasties. Although this work is anonymous, it can be related in its
composition and brushwork to paintings by the Yuan masters Cao Zhibo (1272-1355),
Tang Di (c. 1286-1354), and Zhu Derun (1294-
1365), all of whom worked in the Northern
Song monumental-landscape idiom.27 A hanging scroll (fig. I7), attributed to the
Yuan literatus Gao Kegong (1248-1310), pre- sents a very different landscape style, one that traces its origins to the Northern Song painters Mi Fu and Mi Youren.28 The two Mis, father and son, created a distinctive approach to
landscape painting, in which they built up the mountains and earthforms using series of
overlapping horizontal dots in graded tonali- ties of ink. The rounded hills and banks of clouds that characterize this deceptively sim-
ple manner were reinterpreted in the Yuan
dynasty by Gao Kegong, a scholar-official who was a contemporary of the great master Zhao Mengfu (1254-1322). Although the Art
Institute's Landscape has been dismissed by most critics as a later copy of Gao's work, the
possibility exists that it is a heavily overpainted original by Gao. Significantly, the composition and style are consistent with several surviving Gao Kegong paintings in the National Palace Museum in Taipei.29
The last work to be treated here is a tall
hanging scroll by Wang Meng (c. 1308-1385), entitled Quiet Life in a Wooded Glen (fig. 18).31
Wang Meng is considered one of the "Four Great Masters" of the Yuan dynasty. A grand- son of Zhao Mengfu, Wang created landscapes that are densely textured and powerfully alive.
Quiet Life in a Wooded Glen, acquired from the painter C. C. Wang in 1947, depicts a refined scholar playing the qin (zither) in a mountain
hermitage. This tall work is dated to 1361, in the
last decade of the Yuan dynasty. In style it is
similar to Wang's Ge Yuan Moving his House- hold in the Palace Museum, Beijing, and close in manner and date to his Lonely Temple in
Autumnal Mountains of 1362, in the National Palace Museum, Taipei.31 The eccentric moun- tain masses and dry, charcoal-like textures of this painting are fully characteristic of Wang's work. The calligraphy of the title and signature is also consistent with that of other genuine works by Wang Meng. The coherence and
strength of the artist's highly expressive land-
scapes had a profound influence on hundreds of painters in the subsequent Ming and Qing dynasties. Quiet Life in a Wooded Glen dem- onstrates the unity of formal representation and calligraphic self-expression that were the dual aims of Chinese literati painters from the Song dynasty onward, and, with the other early Chinese paintings in the collec-
tion, provides an excellent foundation on which to build in the future.
Museum Studies 53
This content downloaded from 62.122.73.250 on Sat, 14 Jun 2014 23:46:28 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
Notes
PAL, "Sculptures from South India in The Art Institute of Chicago," pp. 20-35.
i. See V. Dehejia, Art of the Imperial Cholas (New York, 19go), pp. i-io.
2. Brahmin is the name of the highest caste among the Hindus. A priest in orthodox Hindu worship must he a hrahmin.
3. See M. W Meister, ed., Encyclopaedia of Indian Temple Architecture: South India, Lower Dravidadesa (New Delhi, 1983), pp. 199-213. The chapter on the
temples of the Irrukuvels was written hy K. V. Sourdara Rajan.
4. For an extensive discussion of the concept, see P Pal, "The Image of Grace and Wisdom," in OrientalArt n.s. 28, 3 (1982), pp. 244-55.
5. A. K. Coomaraswamy, The Dance of Siva (Bomhay, 1948).
6. Apart from Coomaraswamy's study (note 5), the two most accessihle works are C. Sivaramamurti, Nataraja in Art, Thought and Literature (New Delhi, 1974); and A. Gaston, Siva in Dance, Myth and Iconography (New Delhi, 1992).
7. As quoted in New Delhi, National Museum, Masterpieces of Early South Indian Bronzes, cat. hy R. Nagaswamy (1983), p. 63. Readers interested in
learning more ahout Chola hronzes should also see R. Nagaswamy, "South Indian Bronzes," in The Great Tradition: Indian Bronze Masterpieces (New Delhi, 1988), pp. 142-79.
8. Bronze, acc. no. F72.-3.2.S; and stone, F75.i7.3.S.
LITTLE, "Early Chinese Paintings in The Art Institute of Chicago," pp. 36-53.
i. Puhlished in New York, C. T Loo Gallery, Chinese Frescoes of the Northern
Song, exh. cat. by C. T. Loo (1949), pl. 3; and The Art Institute of Chicago Annual Report 9ggo-g91 (990), p. 4.
2. Wai-kam Ho, "A Five Dynasties Dated (951-953) Group of Esoteric Buddhist
Paintings from Cisheng Si, Wen Xian, Northern Henan Province," unpuh. is. (at press), pp. 5-6. I am grateful to Joseph Chang for providing me with a draft of this important paper.
3. Ihid., pp. 8-9.
4. For a discussion of this and related fragments in the Nelson-Atkins Museum, see Laurence Sickman, "An Early Chinese Wall-Painting Newly Discovered," Artibus Asiae 15, 1-2 (0952), pp. 137-44.
5. For an example of a Liao-dynasty hodhisattva in marhle (from Baoding Xian, Hehei province), see San Francisco, Asian Art Museum, Chinese, Korean
andJapanese Sculpture in The Avery Brundage Collection, cat. ed. hy Ren6 Yvon Lefehvre d'Argencf (1974), no. 132; for examples in wood, see Huayan Si
(Beijing, 1980), pls. 44-57.
6. Puhlished in Charles E Kelley, "A Chinese Buddhist Fresco," Bulletin of The Art Institute of Chicago 25, II (Nov. 1931), pPP. 1O-i; and The Art Institute of
Chicago, Handhook of the Department of Oriental Art (933), fig. 25. This large painting, a 1931 gift to the museum from the Japanese dealer Yamanaka Sadajir6, is now undergoing a thorough technical examination in preparation for conser- vation of its fragile surface. A mate to this painting is in The Detroit Institute of Arts; see "A Chinese Fresco of Kuan-yin," Bulletin of The Detroit Institute of Arts 9, 7 (Apr. 1928), pp. 81-83.
7. See Zhongguo meishu quanji, huihua bian, vol. 12: Mushi hihua (Shanghai, 1985), pl. 157 (from a Liao tomh in Inner Mongolia dated to io8o, excavated in 1972) and pl. 174 (from a Liao tomh in Hehei province dated to 1116, excavated in 1974). For a Jin-dynasty (1115-1234) tomh in Hehei with wall paintings in a
similar style and also featuring thick, rectangular outlines around the individ- ual scenes, see ihid., pl. 179.
8. See Susan Bush, "Five Paintings of Animal Suhjects or Narrative Themes and Their Relevance to Chin [in] Culture," in Hoyt Tillman and Stephen West,
eds., China UnderJurchen Rule (Albany, N.Y, 1995), fig. 2. The Art Institute's painting is also close in style to a handscroll by Zhao Lin, a twelfth-century Chinese court painter in service to the partly sinified Jin dynasty (1115-1234), which depicts the six favorite steeds of the Tang emperor Taizong (reigned 627-49). The entire scroll is reproduced in Yiyuan duoying 30 (1985), pp. 35-41.
9. See Jerome Silbergeld, "In Praise of Government: Chao Yung's Painting 'Noble Steeds,' and Late Yuan Politics," Artibus Asiae 46, 2 (1985), pp. 159-98.
io. This technical detail also appears in a larger group of Buddhist wall-painting fragments in the Musfe Guimet, Paris. The Musfe Guimet fragments, which are unpublished, are dated to the fourteenth century. The technique of using relief lines in wall paintings, however, probably originated in the Northern Song dynasty. The Art Institute's fragment is similar in style to depictions of women in the wall paintings of the Kaihua Si, a Northern Song-dynasty Buddhist temple in Gaoping Xian (Shanxi province); see Kaihua Si Songdai bihua (Beijing, 1983), pls. 8 and 1ii.
ii. Published in The Arts Club of Chicago, Chinese Art from the Collection of James
W. and Marilynn Alsdorf,
exh. cat. (1970), no. PI.
12. See Herbert Franke, "Two Yuan Treatises on the Technique of Portrait Paint- ing," OrientalArt o.s. 3, i (1950o), pp. 29-30.
13. The scroll has been published in Cleveland Museum of Art, Chinese Art Under the Mongols: The Yuan Dynasty (1279-I368), exh. cat. by Sherman E. Lee and Wai-kam Ho (1968), no. 2o5; and cited in James Cahill et al., An Index to Early Chinese Painters and Paintings: T'ang, Sung, and Yuan (Berkeley, Calif.,I98O), p. 370.
14. Published in Venice, Palazzo Ducale, Mostra d'arte cinese: Settimo cente- nario di Marco Polo, exh. cat. (954), no. 792; Bradley Smith and Wan-go H.C. Weng, China: A History in Art (New York, 1972), pp. 204-07; and cited in Cahill (note 13), p. 273.
15. For biographical information on Zhu Yu, see Yu Jianhua, Zhongguo meishu- jia renmin cidian (Shanghai, 1980), p. 199. The other work is published in TdsJ genmin meiga taikan (Tokyo, 1929), pl. 145.
i6. For Zhang Zeduan's detailed city view, see Yiyuan duoying 39 (1989), pp. 12-16; for Zhou Chen's depiction of the down-and-out street people of Suzhou, see Cleveland Museum of Art, Eight Dynasties of Chinese Painting: The Col- lections of the Nelson Gallery-Atkins Museum, Kansas City, and the Cleveland Museum of Art, exh. cat. (1980), no. 16o; and Washington, D.C., National Gallery of Art, Circa 1492: Art in the Age of Discovery, exh. cat. (1991), no. 296.
17. See Los Angeles County Museum of Art, The Quest for Eternity: Chinese Ceramic Sculptures from the Peoples' Republic of China, exh. cat. (1987), nos. 97-104; and Zhou Xun et al., 500ooo Years of Chinese Costume (Hong Kong, 1988), pp. 130-43.
i8. In its composition, the Art Institute's fan resembles several other fan paint- ings and album leaves that depict this subject; some of these can be found in the Shanghai Museum (see Songren huace [19791, pl. 2); the Liaoning Provincial Museum (see Yiyuan duoying 39 [1989], pl. W3); and the Freer Gallery of Art (see Washington, D.C., Freer Gallery of Art, Chinese Album Leaves in the Freer Gallery of Art, cat. by James Cahill [1961], pl. 23).
I9. Published in Charles Fabens Kelley, "Chinese Paintings," The Art Institute of Chicago Quarterly (Nov. 15, 195I), pp. 68-71; Iritani Yoshitaka, ed., Oi, Bunjinga suihen, vol. i (Tokyo, 1975), pls. 47-5o; and Urbana-Champaign, Ill., Krannert Art Museum, Sacred Mountains in Chinese Art, exh. cat. by Kiyohiko Munakata (199o), no. 93.
20. Urbana-Champaign (note I9), no. 9I.
21. Wen Jia, Qianshantang shuhua ji (1569), in Meishu congshu (Shanghai, 1986 [orig. pub. Shanghai,
i936]), vol. 2, p.
tO11.
g4 Museum Studies
This content downloaded from 62.122.73.250 on Sat, 14 Jun 2014 23:46:28 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
22. See Li Gonglin's illustration to "The Classic of Filial Piety" (Xiao Jing), in New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Li Kung-lin's "Classic of Filial
Piety," cat. by Richard Barnhart et al. (1993), pl. 14.
23. Translated in Pauline Yu, The Poetry of Wang Wei (Bloomington, Ind., 1980), p. 202.
24. On this subject, see Susan Bush, "Literati Culture Under the Chin [Jin]," Oriental Art n.s. 15, 2 (1969), pp. 103-12.
25. See San Francisco, Center of Asian Art and Culture, Osaka Exchange Exhibition: Paintings from the Abe Collection and Other Masterpieces of Chinese Art, exh. cat. (1970), no. 7; and Cleveland (note 16), no. 21.
26. Published in Charles E Kelley, "Chinese Paintings Acquired," The Art Insti- tute of Chicago Quarterly (Apr. 1956), p. 25; and Cleveland (note 13), no. 216.
27. See Xu Bangda, Zhongguo huihuashi tulu (Shanghai, 1984), vol. I, pls. 195-203.
28. Published in Toan-zo shoga-fu (Osaka, 1928); and listed in Cahill (note 13), p. 290.
29. See Taipei, National Palace Museum, Gugong shuhua tulu (1990), vol. 4, pp. 17 and 19.
30. Published in Charles F. Kelley, "A Chinese Landscape of the Yuan
Dynasty," The Art Institute of Chicago Quarterly (Apr.-May 1948), pp. 44-46; Osvald Sir6n, Chinese Paintings: Leading Masters and Principles, vol. 6
(London, I958), pl. io3; The Art Institute of Chicago, Ming-Ch'ing Dynasties, exh. cat. by Jack Sewell (1964), unpag.; and Max Loehr, The Great Painters of China (New York, 1980), pl. 9.
31. Published respectively in Xu Bangda, Zhongguo huihuashi tulu (Shanghai, 1984), vol. I, pl. 234; and Taipei, National Palace Museum, Yuan si da jia, exh. cat. (1975), pl. 404.
SIFFERT, "Surimono in the Clarence Buckingham Japanese Print Collection: An Introduction," pp. 54-73.
The author wishes to thank Mrs. Noriko Horie, Research Associate in The Art Institute of Chicago's Department of Asian Art, for her gracious assistance in reviewing some of the fine points of interpretation in this article.
I. For Harunobu's role in the development of the calendar print, see The Art Institute of Chicago, The Clarence Buckingham Collection ofJapanese Prints, cat. by Margaret O. Gentles (1965), vol. 2, pl. 24, p. 12. See also Philadelphia Museum of Art, Suzuki Harunobu: An Exhibition of His Colour-Prints and Illustrated Books on the Occasion of the Bicentenary of His Death in i770, exh. cat. by Jack Hillier (1970), pp. 10, 13-14.
2. See Joan B. Mirviss, "A Hidden Legacy: The Surimono Collection of Frank
Lloyd Wright," in Phoenix Art Museum and Los Angeles County Museum of Art, The Frank Lloyd Wright Collection of Surimono, exh. cat. by Joan B. Mirviss and John T. Carpenter (1955), pp. 13-14, for a brief description of the
Japanese and Chinese lunar calendar cycles.
3. See Roger Keyes, "Introduction," in Lawrence, University of Kansas, Spencer Museum of Art, Surimono: Privately Published Prints in the Spencer Museum
ofArt, cat. by Roger Keyes (Tokyo, 1984), p. 14, for a general description of the
typical steps in the production of surimono.
4. See London, British Museum, The Passionate Art of Kitigawa Utamaro, exh. cat. by Shigo- Asano and Timothy Clark (I995), text vol. p. 91, pl. vol. p. 35. This image is also published in Bloomington, Indiana University Art Museum, Art of the Surimono, exh. cat. by Theodore Bowie (1979), pp. 30-32.
5- See Keyes (note 3), p. ii, for a discussion of how this type of surimono might
have been opened by the recipient to achieve the maximum impact as the lovely design is gradually revealed.
6. Ibid., no. 22, pp. 66-67.
7. This poem is found in one of the early anthologies of Japanese native verse
compiled on royal command, Shin Kokin wakashu ("New Collection of
Japanese Poems from Ancient and Modern Times"), dated to 1205. See Kodansha
Encyclopedia ofJapan (Tokyo, 1983), vol. 4, pp. 254-55. The author is grateful to Dr. Bernd Jesse, Assistant Curator of Japanese Art at the Art Institute, for point- ing out the ancient anthologies cited here and in note 8 below.
8. The poem from which the kyoka verse in the print was derived comes from Kokin wakashu ("Collection of Japanese Poems from Ancient and Modern
Times"), dated to 905. See Kodansha Encyclopedia of Japan (note 7). See also
Roger Keyes, The Art of Surimono, Privately Published Japanese Woodblock Prints and Books in the Chester Beatty Library, Dublin (London, 1985), vol. I, p. 222, for a more extensive explanation of classical relationships in this work
by Hokusai.
9. See Matthi Forrer, Hokusai, with texts by Edmond de Goncourt (New York, 1988), pp. 238-41, for the background and relationship of the Matching Game and Horse surimono series by Hokusai.
10. See Keyes (note 8), pp. 25-26, for a discussion of the possible role of Shumman and other artists in the actual production of surimono.
ii. Department of Asian Art file, The Art Institute of Chicago.
12. Other letter papers in the collection primarily depict landscape and
kachoga (flower-and-bird pictures).
13. Ukiyo-e artists were familiar with such "do-it-yourself" projects, espe- cially woodblock-printed fan papers, which included instructions for cutting out and affixing the print to a fan frame. See The Art Institute of Chicago, The Actor's Image: Print Makers of the Katsukawa School, essays by Timothy T. Clark and Donald Jenkins, entries by Timothy T. Clark, and catalogue by Osamu Ueda (1994), pp. 208-13, pls. 72-73, for examples of fan-shaped wood- block prints by Katsukawa Shunsh6 (1726-1792), designed to be cut and mounted as fans.
14. See Julia Meech, "Reinventing the Exotic Orient," in Kansas City, Mo., Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Japonisme Comes to America: The Japanese Impact on the Graphic Arts, 1876-1i925, exh. cat. by Julia Meech and Gabriel Weisberg (g199o), pp. Igo-9I, for a brief discussion of the background of early Chicago collectors of Japanese woodblock prints. See also Julia Meech, "Frank Lloyd Wright and The Art Institute of Chicago," Orientations 23, 6 (June 1992), pp. 72-73. For a general overview of the history of the Asian art collec- tion of the Art Institute, see Elinor L. Pearlstein, "The Department of Asian Art," in The Art Institute of Chicago, Asian Art in The Art Institute of Chicago, cat. by Elinor J. Pearlstein, James T Ulak, et al. (1993), pp. 7-9-
15. Helen Gunsaulus was the daughter of Frank Gunsaulus-a friend of many
Chicago print collectors, president of the Armour Institute of Technology, and the man for whom the Art Institute's Gunsaulus Hall is named.
LITTLE, "The Lure of the West: European Elements in the Art of the Floating World," pp. 74-93.
I. For an excellent discussion of the historical background of the Dutch pres- ence in Japan in the seventeenth century, see Donald Keene, The Japanese Discovery of Europe, 1720-i830 (Stanford, Calif., 1969), pp. 1-15.
2. On this subject, see Keene (note I), pp. 61-73-
3. Published in The Art Institute of Chicago, Ukiyo-e Prints and Paintings: The Primitive Period, 1680-1745, exh. cat. by Donald Jenkins (1971), pl. 1I1; Julian Lee, "The Origin and Development of Japanese Landscape Prints"
(Ph.D. diss., University of Washington, 1977), fig. 37; and Ukiyo-e shu-ka: The Art Institute of Chicago (Tokyo, 1980), vol. I, pl. 28. Lee demonstrated the likelihood that Masanobu's contemporary Torii Kiyotada was probably the first artist to create perspective prints (see pp. 63-115).
Museum Studies 95
22. See Li Gonglin's illustration to "The Classic of Filial Piety" (Xiao Jing), in New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Li Kung-lin's "Classic of Filial
Piety," cat. by Richard Barnhart et al. (1993), pl. 14.
23. Translated in Pauline Yu, The Poetry of Wang Wei (Bloomington, Ind., 1980), p. 202.
24. On this subject, see Susan Bush, "Literati Culture Under the Chin [Jin]," Oriental Art n.s. 15, 2 (1969), pp. 103-12.
25. See San Francisco, Center of Asian Art and Culture, Osaka Exchange Exhibition: Paintings from the Abe Collection and Other Masterpieces of Chinese Art, exh. cat. (1970), no. 7; and Cleveland (note 16), no. 21.
26. Published in Charles E Kelley, "Chinese Paintings Acquired," The Art Insti- tute of Chicago Quarterly (Apr. 1956), p. 25; and Cleveland (note 13), no. 216.
27. See Xu Bangda, Zhongguo huihuashi tulu (Shanghai, 1984), vol. I, pls. 195-203.
28. Published in Toan-zo shoga-fu (Osaka, 1928); and listed in Cahill (note 13), p. 290.
29. See Taipei, National Palace Museum, Gugong shuhua tulu (1990), vol. 4, pp. 17 and 19.
30. Published in Charles F. Kelley, "A Chinese Landscape of the Yuan
Dynasty," The Art Institute of Chicago Quarterly (Apr.-May 1948), pp. 44-46; Osvald Sir6n, Chinese Paintings: Leading Masters and Principles, vol. 6
(London, I958), pl. io3; The Art Institute of Chicago, Ming-Ch'ing Dynasties, exh. cat. by Jack Sewell (1964), unpag.; and Max Loehr, The Great Painters of China (New York, 1980), pl. 9.
31. Published respectively in Xu Bangda, Zhongguo huihuashi tulu (Shanghai, 1984), vol. I, pl. 234; and Taipei, National Palace Museum, Yuan si da jia, exh. cat. (1975), pl. 404.
22. See Li Gonglin's illustration to "The Classic of Filial Piety" (Xiao Jing), in New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Li Kung-lin's "Classic of Filial
Piety," cat. by Richard Barnhart et al. (1993), pl. 14.
23. Translated in Pauline Yu, The Poetry of Wang Wei (Bloomington, Ind., 1980), p. 202.
24. On this subject, see Susan Bush, "Literati Culture Under the Chin [Jin]," Oriental Art n.s. 15, 2 (1969), pp. 103-12.
25. See San Francisco, Center of Asian Art and Culture, Osaka Exchange Exhibition: Paintings from the Abe Collection and Other Masterpieces of Chinese Art, exh. cat. (1970), no. 7; and Cleveland (note 16), no. 21.
26. Published in Charles E Kelley, "Chinese Paintings Acquired," The Art Insti- tute of Chicago Quarterly (Apr. 1956), p. 25; and Cleveland (note 13), no. 216.
27. See Xu Bangda, Zhongguo huihuashi tulu (Shanghai, 1984), vol. I, pls. 195-203.
28. Published in Toan-zo shoga-fu (Osaka, 1928); and listed in Cahill (note 13), p. 290.
29. See Taipei, National Palace Museum, Gugong shuhua tulu (1990), vol. 4, pp. 17 and 19.
30. Published in Charles F. Kelley, "A Chinese Landscape of the Yuan
Dynasty," The Art Institute of Chicago Quarterly (Apr.-May 1948), pp. 44-46; Osvald Sir6n, Chinese Paintings: Leading Masters and Principles, vol. 6
(London, I958), pl. io3; The Art Institute of Chicago, Ming-Ch'ing Dynasties, exh. cat. by Jack Sewell (1964), unpag.; and Max Loehr, The Great Painters of China (New York, 1980), pl. 9.
31. Published respectively in Xu Bangda, Zhongguo huihuashi tulu (Shanghai, 1984), vol. I, pl. 234; and Taipei, National Palace Museum, Yuan si da jia, exh. cat. (1975), pl. 404.
22. See Li Gonglin's illustration to "The Classic of Filial Piety" (Xiao Jing), in New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Li Kung-lin's "Classic of Filial
Piety," cat. by Richard Barnhart et al. (1993), pl. 14.
23. Translated in Pauline Yu, The Poetry of Wang Wei (Bloomington, Ind., 1980), p. 202.
24. On this subject, see Susan Bush, "Literati Culture Under the Chin [Jin]," Oriental Art n.s. 15, 2 (1969), pp. 103-12.
25. See San Francisco, Center of Asian Art and Culture, Osaka Exchange Exhibition: Paintings from the Abe Collection and Other Masterpieces of Chinese Art, exh. cat. (1970), no. 7; and Cleveland (note 16), no. 21.
26. Published in Charles E Kelley, "Chinese Paintings Acquired," The Art Insti- tute of Chicago Quarterly (Apr. 1956), p. 25; and Cleveland (note 13), no. 216.
27. See Xu Bangda, Zhongguo huihuashi tulu (Shanghai, 1984), vol. I, pls. 195-203.
28. Published in Toan-zo shoga-fu (Osaka, 1928); and listed in Cahill (note 13), p. 290.
29. See Taipei, National Palace Museum, Gugong shuhua tulu (1990), vol. 4, pp. 17 and 19.
30. Published in Charles F. Kelley, "A Chinese Landscape of the Yuan
Dynasty," The Art Institute of Chicago Quarterly (Apr.-May 1948), pp. 44-46; Osvald Sir6n, Chinese Paintings: Leading Masters and Principles, vol. 6
(London, I958), pl. io3; The Art Institute of Chicago, Ming-Ch'ing Dynasties, exh. cat. by Jack Sewell (1964), unpag.; and Max Loehr, The Great Painters of China (New York, 1980), pl. 9.
31. Published respectively in Xu Bangda, Zhongguo huihuashi tulu (Shanghai, 1984), vol. I, pl. 234; and Taipei, National Palace Museum, Yuan si da jia, exh. cat. (1975), pl. 404.
SIFFERT, "Surimono in the Clarence Buckingham Japanese Print Collection: An Introduction," pp. 54-73.
The author wishes to thank Mrs. Noriko Horie, Research Associate in The Art Institute of Chicago's Department of Asian Art, for her gracious assistance in reviewing some of the fine points of interpretation in this article.
I. For Harunobu's role in the development of the calendar print, see The Art Institute of Chicago, The Clarence Buckingham Collection ofJapanese Prints, cat. by Margaret O. Gentles (1965), vol. 2, pl. 24, p. 12. See also Philadelphia Museum of Art, Suzuki Harunobu: An Exhibition of His Colour-Prints and Illustrated Books on the Occasion of the Bicentenary of His Death in i770, exh. cat. by Jack Hillier (1970), pp. 10, 13-14.
2. See Joan B. Mirviss, "A Hidden Legacy: The Surimono Collection of Frank
Lloyd Wright," in Phoenix Art Museum and Los Angeles County Museum of Art, The Frank Lloyd Wright Collection of Surimono, exh. cat. by Joan B. Mirviss and John T. Carpenter (1955), pp. 13-14, for a brief description of the
Japanese and Chinese lunar calendar cycles.
3. See Roger Keyes, "Introduction," in Lawrence, University of Kansas, Spencer Museum of Art, Surimono: Privately Published Prints in the Spencer Museum
ofArt, cat. by Roger Keyes (Tokyo, 1984), p. 14, for a general description of the
typical steps in the production of surimono.
4. See London, British Museum, The Passionate Art of Kitigawa Utamaro, exh. cat. by Shigo- Asano and Timothy Clark (I995), text vol. p. 91, pl. vol. p. 35. This image is also published in Bloomington, Indiana University Art Museum, Art of the Surimono, exh. cat. by Theodore Bowie (1979), pp. 30-32.
5- See Keyes (note 3), p. ii, for a discussion of how this type of surimono might
have been opened by the recipient to achieve the maximum impact as the lovely design is gradually revealed.
SIFFERT, "Surimono in the Clarence Buckingham Japanese Print Collection: An Introduction," pp. 54-73.
The author wishes to thank Mrs. Noriko Horie, Research Associate in The Art Institute of Chicago's Department of Asian Art, for her gracious assistance in reviewing some of the fine points of interpretation in this article.
I. For Harunobu's role in the development of the calendar print, see The Art Institute of Chicago, The Clarence Buckingham Collection ofJapanese Prints, cat. by Margaret O. Gentles (1965), vol. 2, pl. 24, p. 12. See also Philadelphia Museum of Art, Suzuki Harunobu: An Exhibition of His Colour-Prints and Illustrated Books on the Occasion of the Bicentenary of His Death in i770, exh. cat. by Jack Hillier (1970), pp. 10, 13-14.
2. See Joan B. Mirviss, "A Hidden Legacy: The Surimono Collection of Frank
Lloyd Wright," in Phoenix Art Museum and Los Angeles County Museum of Art, The Frank Lloyd Wright Collection of Surimono, exh. cat. by Joan B. Mirviss and John T. Carpenter (1955), pp. 13-14, for a brief description of the
Japanese and Chinese lunar calendar cycles.
3. See Roger Keyes, "Introduction," in Lawrence, University of Kansas, Spencer Museum of Art, Surimono: Privately Published Prints in the Spencer Museum
ofArt, cat. by Roger Keyes (Tokyo, 1984), p. 14, for a general description of the
typical steps in the production of surimono.
4. See London, British Museum, The Passionate Art of Kitigawa Utamaro, exh. cat. by Shigo- Asano and Timothy Clark (I995), text vol. p. 91, pl. vol. p. 35. This image is also published in Bloomington, Indiana University Art Museum, Art of the Surimono, exh. cat. by Theodore Bowie (1979), pp. 30-32.
5- See Keyes (note 3), p. ii, for a discussion of how this type of surimono might
have been opened by the recipient to achieve the maximum impact as the lovely design is gradually revealed.
SIFFERT, "Surimono in the Clarence Buckingham Japanese Print Collection: An Introduction," pp. 54-73.
The author wishes to thank Mrs. Noriko Horie, Research Associate in The Art Institute of Chicago's Department of Asian Art, for her gracious assistance in reviewing some of the fine points of interpretation in this article.
I. For Harunobu's role in the development of the calendar print, see The Art Institute of Chicago, The Clarence Buckingham Collection ofJapanese Prints, cat. by Margaret O. Gentles (1965), vol. 2, pl. 24, p. 12. See also Philadelphia Museum of Art, Suzuki Harunobu: An Exhibition of His Colour-Prints and Illustrated Books on the Occasion of the Bicentenary of His Death in i770, exh. cat. by Jack Hillier (1970), pp. 10, 13-14.
2. See Joan B. Mirviss, "A Hidden Legacy: The Surimono Collection of Frank
Lloyd Wright," in Phoenix Art Museum and Los Angeles County Museum of Art, The Frank Lloyd Wright Collection of Surimono, exh. cat. by Joan B. Mirviss and John T. Carpenter (1955), pp. 13-14, for a brief description of the
Japanese and Chinese lunar calendar cycles.
3. See Roger Keyes, "Introduction," in Lawrence, University of Kansas, Spencer Museum of Art, Surimono: Privately Published Prints in the Spencer Museum
ofArt, cat. by Roger Keyes (Tokyo, 1984), p. 14, for a general description of the
typical steps in the production of surimono.
4. See London, British Museum, The Passionate Art of Kitigawa Utamaro, exh. cat. by Shigo- Asano and Timothy Clark (I995), text vol. p. 91, pl. vol. p. 35. This image is also published in Bloomington, Indiana University Art Museum, Art of the Surimono, exh. cat. by Theodore Bowie (1979), pp. 30-32.
5- See Keyes (note 3), p. ii, for a discussion of how this type of surimono might
have been opened by the recipient to achieve the maximum impact as the lovely design is gradually revealed.
6. Ibid., no. 22, pp. 66-67.
7. This poem is found in one of the early anthologies of Japanese native verse
compiled on royal command, Shin Kokin wakashu ("New Collection of
Japanese Poems from Ancient and Modern Times"), dated to 1205. See Kodansha
Encyclopedia ofJapan (Tokyo, 1983), vol. 4, pp. 254-55. The author is grateful to Dr. Bernd Jesse, Assistant Curator of Japanese Art at the Art Institute, for point- ing out the ancient anthologies cited here and in note 8 below.
8. The poem from which the kyoka verse in the print was derived comes from Kokin wakashu ("Collection of Japanese Poems from Ancient and Modern
Times"), dated to 905. See Kodansha Encyclopedia of Japan (note 7). See also
Roger Keyes, The Art of Surimono, Privately Published Japanese Woodblock Prints and Books in the Chester Beatty Library, Dublin (London, 1985), vol. I, p. 222, for a more extensive explanation of classical relationships in this work
by Hokusai.
9. See Matthi Forrer, Hokusai, with texts by Edmond de Goncourt (New York, 1988), pp. 238-41, for the background and relationship of the Matching Game and Horse surimono series by Hokusai.
10. See Keyes (note 8), pp. 25-26, for a discussion of the possible role of Shumman and other artists in the actual production of surimono.
ii. Department of Asian Art file, The Art Institute of Chicago.
12. Other letter papers in the collection primarily depict landscape and
kachoga (flower-and-bird pictures).
13. Ukiyo-e artists were familiar with such "do-it-yourself" projects, espe- cially woodblock-printed fan papers, which included instructions for cutting out and affixing the print to a fan frame. See The Art Institute of Chicago, The Actor's Image: Print Makers of the Katsukawa School, essays by Timothy T. Clark and Donald Jenkins, entries by Timothy T. Clark, and catalogue by Osamu Ueda (1994), pp. 208-13, pls. 72-73, for examples of fan-shaped wood- block prints by Katsukawa Shunsh6 (1726-1792), designed to be cut and mounted as fans.
14. See Julia Meech, "Reinventing the Exotic Orient," in Kansas City, Mo., Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Japonisme Comes to America: The Japanese Impact on the Graphic Arts, 1876-1i925, exh. cat. by Julia Meech and Gabriel Weisberg (g199o), pp. Igo-9I, for a brief discussion of the background of early Chicago collectors of Japanese woodblock prints. See also Julia Meech, "Frank Lloyd Wright and The Art Institute of Chicago," Orientations 23, 6 (June 1992), pp. 72-73. For a general overview of the history of the Asian art collec- tion of the Art Institute, see Elinor L. Pearlstein, "The Department of Asian Art," in The Art Institute of Chicago, Asian Art in The Art Institute of Chicago, cat. by Elinor J. Pearlstein, James T Ulak, et al. (1993), pp. 7-9-
15. Helen Gunsaulus was the daughter of Frank Gunsaulus-a friend of many
Chicago print collectors, president of the Armour Institute of Technology, and the man for whom the Art Institute's Gunsaulus Hall is named.
6. Ibid., no. 22, pp. 66-67.
7. This poem is found in one of the early anthologies of Japanese native verse
compiled on royal command, Shin Kokin wakashu ("New Collection of
Japanese Poems from Ancient and Modern Times"), dated to 1205. See Kodansha
Encyclopedia ofJapan (Tokyo, 1983), vol. 4, pp. 254-55. The author is grateful to Dr. Bernd Jesse, Assistant Curator of Japanese Art at the Art Institute, for point- ing out the ancient anthologies cited here and in note 8 below.
8. The poem from which the kyoka verse in the print was derived comes from Kokin wakashu ("Collection of Japanese Poems from Ancient and Modern
Times"), dated to 905. See Kodansha Encyclopedia of Japan (note 7). See also
Roger Keyes, The Art of Surimono, Privately Published Japanese Woodblock Prints and Books in the Chester Beatty Library, Dublin (London, 1985), vol. I, p. 222, for a more extensive explanation of classical relationships in this work
by Hokusai.
9. See Matthi Forrer, Hokusai, with texts by Edmond de Goncourt (New York, 1988), pp. 238-41, for the background and relationship of the Matching Game and Horse surimono series by Hokusai.
10. See Keyes (note 8), pp. 25-26, for a discussion of the possible role of Shumman and other artists in the actual production of surimono.
ii. Department of Asian Art file, The Art Institute of Chicago.
12. Other letter papers in the collection primarily depict landscape and
kachoga (flower-and-bird pictures).
13. Ukiyo-e artists were familiar with such "do-it-yourself" projects, espe- cially woodblock-printed fan papers, which included instructions for cutting out and affixing the print to a fan frame. See The Art Institute of Chicago, The Actor's Image: Print Makers of the Katsukawa School, essays by Timothy T. Clark and Donald Jenkins, entries by Timothy T. Clark, and catalogue by Osamu Ueda (1994), pp. 208-13, pls. 72-73, for examples of fan-shaped wood- block prints by Katsukawa Shunsh6 (1726-1792), designed to be cut and mounted as fans.
14. See Julia Meech, "Reinventing the Exotic Orient," in Kansas City, Mo., Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Japonisme Comes to America: The Japanese Impact on the Graphic Arts, 1876-1i925, exh. cat. by Julia Meech and Gabriel Weisberg (g199o), pp. Igo-9I, for a brief discussion of the background of early Chicago collectors of Japanese woodblock prints. See also Julia Meech, "Frank Lloyd Wright and The Art Institute of Chicago," Orientations 23, 6 (June 1992), pp. 72-73. For a general overview of the history of the Asian art collec- tion of the Art Institute, see Elinor L. Pearlstein, "The Department of Asian Art," in The Art Institute of Chicago, Asian Art in The Art Institute of Chicago, cat. by Elinor J. Pearlstein, James T Ulak, et al. (1993), pp. 7-9-
15. Helen Gunsaulus was the daughter of Frank Gunsaulus-a friend of many
Chicago print collectors, president of the Armour Institute of Technology, and the man for whom the Art Institute's Gunsaulus Hall is named.
6. Ibid., no. 22, pp. 66-67.
7. This poem is found in one of the early anthologies of Japanese native verse
compiled on royal command, Shin Kokin wakashu ("New Collection of
Japanese Poems from Ancient and Modern Times"), dated to 1205. See Kodansha
Encyclopedia ofJapan (Tokyo, 1983), vol. 4, pp. 254-55. The author is grateful to Dr. Bernd Jesse, Assistant Curator of Japanese Art at the Art Institute, for point- ing out the ancient anthologies cited here and in note 8 below.
8. The poem from which the kyoka verse in the print was derived comes from Kokin wakashu ("Collection of Japanese Poems from Ancient and Modern
Times"), dated to 905. See Kodansha Encyclopedia of Japan (note 7). See also
Roger Keyes, The Art of Surimono, Privately Published Japanese Woodblock Prints and Books in the Chester Beatty Library, Dublin (London, 1985), vol. I, p. 222, for a more extensive explanation of classical relationships in this work
by Hokusai.
9. See Matthi Forrer, Hokusai, with texts by Edmond de Goncourt (New York, 1988), pp. 238-41, for the background and relationship of the Matching Game and Horse surimono series by Hokusai.
10. See Keyes (note 8), pp. 25-26, for a discussion of the possible role of Shumman and other artists in the actual production of surimono.
ii. Department of Asian Art file, The Art Institute of Chicago.
12. Other letter papers in the collection primarily depict landscape and
kachoga (flower-and-bird pictures).
13. Ukiyo-e artists were familiar with such "do-it-yourself" projects, espe- cially woodblock-printed fan papers, which included instructions for cutting out and affixing the print to a fan frame. See The Art Institute of Chicago, The Actor's Image: Print Makers of the Katsukawa School, essays by Timothy T. Clark and Donald Jenkins, entries by Timothy T. Clark, and catalogue by Osamu Ueda (1994), pp. 208-13, pls. 72-73, for examples of fan-shaped wood- block prints by Katsukawa Shunsh6 (1726-1792), designed to be cut and mounted as fans.
14. See Julia Meech, "Reinventing the Exotic Orient," in Kansas City, Mo., Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Japonisme Comes to America: The Japanese Impact on the Graphic Arts, 1876-1i925, exh. cat. by Julia Meech and Gabriel Weisberg (g199o), pp. Igo-9I, for a brief discussion of the background of early Chicago collectors of Japanese woodblock prints. See also Julia Meech, "Frank Lloyd Wright and The Art Institute of Chicago," Orientations 23, 6 (June 1992), pp. 72-73. For a general overview of the history of the Asian art collec- tion of the Art Institute, see Elinor L. Pearlstein, "The Department of Asian Art," in The Art Institute of Chicago, Asian Art in The Art Institute of Chicago, cat. by Elinor J. Pearlstein, James T Ulak, et al. (1993), pp. 7-9-
15. Helen Gunsaulus was the daughter of Frank Gunsaulus-a friend of many
Chicago print collectors, president of the Armour Institute of Technology, and the man for whom the Art Institute's Gunsaulus Hall is named.
LITTLE, "The Lure of the West: European Elements in the Art of the Floating World," pp. 74-93.
I. For an excellent discussion of the historical background of the Dutch pres- ence in Japan in the seventeenth century, see Donald Keene, The Japanese Discovery of Europe, 1720-i830 (Stanford, Calif., 1969), pp. 1-15.
2. On this subject, see Keene (note I), pp. 61-73-
3. Published in The Art Institute of Chicago, Ukiyo-e Prints and Paintings: The Primitive Period, 1680-1745, exh. cat. by Donald Jenkins (1971), pl. 1I1; Julian Lee, "The Origin and Development of Japanese Landscape Prints"
(Ph.D. diss., University of Washington, 1977), fig. 37; and Ukiyo-e shu-ka: The Art Institute of Chicago (Tokyo, 1980), vol. I, pl. 28. Lee demonstrated the likelihood that Masanobu's contemporary Torii Kiyotada was probably the first artist to create perspective prints (see pp. 63-115).
Museum Studies 95
LITTLE, "The Lure of the West: European Elements in the Art of the Floating World," pp. 74-93.
I. For an excellent discussion of the historical background of the Dutch pres- ence in Japan in the seventeenth century, see Donald Keene, The Japanese Discovery of Europe, 1720-i830 (Stanford, Calif., 1969), pp. 1-15.
2. On this subject, see Keene (note I), pp. 61-73-
3. Published in The Art Institute of Chicago, Ukiyo-e Prints and Paintings: The Primitive Period, 1680-1745, exh. cat. by Donald Jenkins (1971), pl. 1I1; Julian Lee, "The Origin and Development of Japanese Landscape Prints"
(Ph.D. diss., University of Washington, 1977), fig. 37; and Ukiyo-e shu-ka: The Art Institute of Chicago (Tokyo, 1980), vol. I, pl. 28. Lee demonstrated the likelihood that Masanobu's contemporary Torii Kiyotada was probably the first artist to create perspective prints (see pp. 63-115).
Museum Studies 95
LITTLE, "The Lure of the West: European Elements in the Art of the Floating World," pp. 74-93.
I. For an excellent discussion of the historical background of the Dutch pres- ence in Japan in the seventeenth century, see Donald Keene, The Japanese Discovery of Europe, 1720-i830 (Stanford, Calif., 1969), pp. 1-15.
2. On this subject, see Keene (note I), pp. 61-73-
3. Published in The Art Institute of Chicago, Ukiyo-e Prints and Paintings: The Primitive Period, 1680-1745, exh. cat. by Donald Jenkins (1971), pl. 1I1; Julian Lee, "The Origin and Development of Japanese Landscape Prints"
(Ph.D. diss., University of Washington, 1977), fig. 37; and Ukiyo-e shu-ka: The Art Institute of Chicago (Tokyo, 1980), vol. I, pl. 28. Lee demonstrated the likelihood that Masanobu's contemporary Torii Kiyotada was probably the first artist to create perspective prints (see pp. 63-115).
Museum Studies 95
This content downloaded from 62.122.73.250 on Sat, 14 Jun 2014 23:46:28 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions