-
THE ADMONITIONS of the INSTRUCTRESS to the COURT LADIES SCROLL By KOHARA HIRONOBU
PERCIVAL DAVID FOUNDATION OF CHINESE ART OCCASIONAL PAPERS 1
TRANSLATED & EDITED
BY
SHANE WCAUSLAND Percival David Visiting Scholar
UNIVERSITY OF LONDON PERCIVAL DAVID FOUNDATION OF CHINESE ART School of Oriental and African Studies
2000 "The Admonitions Scroll"
EDITOR-TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE Published by the School of Oriental and African Studies (University of London), Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square, Preparations are currently underway at the Percival David Foundation for an London WClH OXG England international conference about the Admonitions of the Instructress to the Court Ladies (Nushi zhen) scroll attributed to Gu Kaizhi (about 345-406) in Translation and editorial matter Shane M
iii Admonitions So-on• AdmonitionsSo-on· "The "The
the last three decades and from scholarship in this period were added. The INTRODUCTION conclusions, however, remain largely unchanged. A shortcoming of this paper is that it has no illustrations. But it is Students of the history of painting in China will be hard-pressed to imagine hoped that readers will explore it either with a copy of the Japanese original any work of art that competes in spiritual richness or power to captivate the Admonitions of the Instructress to the Court Ladies (NOshi to hand, or in the virtual company of the Admonitions scroll. Readers can mind with the zhen) 1 point a browser to the British Museum's "Compass" portal at picture scroll. It is no exaggeration to call it the primary monument www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk/compass, where many scenes are currently of art in the history of painting in China. Our understanding of the birth of 618 viewable; the entire scroll should be viewable online at this portal by the painting in the pre-Tang period (i.e., before CE) depends entirely on its existence, being, by great fortune, preserved in its visage. The accumulation spring of 2001. An illustrated version of this text will appear in the colloquy of a great body of art historical scholarship on the early master Gu Kaizhi volume, which is to be eo-published after the event by the British Museum (about 345-406) in Japan, Europe and America before WWII, and in China Press and the Percival David Foundation. after it,owes in large measure to the scroll's existence. The Chinese is Romanised in Hanyu pinyin. Transliterations in other It is not easy, however, to attain coherent insight into this object. In systems have been modified accordingly, except in names and book titles. what follows, I begin by addressing questions as to whether the painting is a English translations of the Admonitions text and its colophons are from Basil "true relic" (i.e., original work) or a close, early copy, if it is a copy what is its Gray's 1966 essay, which "follow in the main the (unpublished) text prepared date, and how the attribution to Gu Kaizhi came about. Having introduced by Mr. (Arthur) Waley" (1880-1966) while he was "in the former Sub such issues in my study, however, I endeavour not to fix or close any Department of the Oriental Prints and Drawings of the Museum", before his avenues of enquiry, but to leave them open to further investigation. retirement from the Department in 1929 (1966: 1). An appendix containing The Admonitions scroll entered the British Museum collection in April a preliminary list of seals on the scroll, and a select bibliography have been 1903. In January 1904, after the head of the Museum's Prints and Drawings added for the reader's convenience. Department, Laurence Binyon (1869-1943), authenticated the painting as a I should like to thank Professor Kohara for his gracious co-operation in genuine work of Gu Kaizhi, so began the phase of late-modern research on this project. Gaynor Sekimori was kind enough to discuss parts of the the scroll (Binyon 1904).2 In 1915, Taki Seiichi (1873-1945) opined that it translation, as was my colleague John Carpenter, who also read the was a copy by an unknown Song dynasty (960-1279) painter (Taki 1915). In manuscript and provided welcome criticism and encouragement. Although I 1922, while a meticulous copy of the scroll (moben) was being made by the owe them special thanks for suggesting major improvements to the Japanese painters Kobayashi Kokei (1883-1957) and Maeda Seison (1885- translation, any mis-interpretations remain my own. 1971), Fukui Rikichiro (1886-1972) made a detailed record of the patches and repairs, and arrived at a view that the scroll was a copy by a Tang- Shane McCausland Percival David Visiting Scholar 1 This is the English title currently used at the British Museum. The scroll's Chinese title, Nushi zhen tujuan, literally, "the admonitions of the female historian picture Bloomsbury scroll", is currently being researched by Julia K Murray, a speaker at the 2001 colloquy.-Ed. December 2000 2 Binyon was Deputy Keeper in the Sub-Department of Oriental Prints of Drawings from 1913-32 and Keeper of Prints and Drawings from 1932-33.-Ed. iv Admonitions Scroll"' Admonitions Scroll" ''The •rhe Scholars recognise that there are no irrefutable theories as to the date came up with the master.3 In 1927, Naito Konan dynasty (618-907) and authorship of the and that the repute of the scroll itself far original relic", but a that "for certain, it is not an Admonitions, illuminating explanation outshines anything written about it. I therefore investigated each issue with (Naito 1927). late Six Dynasties (221-589) period" close copy of at least the my own eyes until satisfied. Going back to the original objects and texts as I authenticity and date of a for scholars to disagree about the It is not unusual did, I realised how much of what has been said about the inscriptions, seals as widely as with this but opinions have never differed Chinese painting, and so on, could be safely discarded. I also felt it necessary to examine and the Six Dynasties, to the Tang, has been dated to as early as scroll, which reorder any materials that had not previously been employed. expressed about it were the Song (960-1279). The views and to as late as I believe the scroll to be a copy of an original that is not a source of reference for for although it was consulted as Admonitions always tentative, extant.• Like others who believe it to be a copy, I have been slack about discussed as a subject in its and other issues, it was never painting, fashion differentiating between the original and the British Museum painting that any ground has research in China since 1945 introduced own right. Nor preserves this original. (The version of the scroll in the Palace & index). arguments (see Yu 1962: 229 Admonitions breaking or revisionist Museum, Beijing, will be introduced later.) I treat the British Museum scroll of its long-held fa<;ade studies that have stripped the Two new as a true and faithful copy, until the final stage of analysis, 1966, and the fifteen illustrated commentary of January Admonitions are suzuki Kei's when I will treat the original separately in order to investigate the veracity of reproduction of the scroll in accompanied the first collotype page essay that the attribution to Gu Kaizhi. (then) Keeper of Oriental Antiquities March of the same year by Basil Gray, of the early The text is, to be sure, central to the painting, but it Gray concluded that it was a "true relic" Admonitions at the British Museum. seems rash to assume, as many with preconceived ideas that these that it did not suffer from the by contrast, merely suggested Tang. suzuki, admonitions convey moral precepts have, that the artist who created the was something quite of a copy, that its elegant line usual deficiencies illustrations had the same aim and intention as Zhang Hua (232-300 CE), and that the identity Northern Song (960-1127) lineament, different from the who wrote the text. It is crucial to distinguish between the meaning of the and the Tang- and Song the date of painting, the calligraphy, of the copyist, text and the agenda of the painter who selected and arranged the expressive future research (Suzuki 1966; awaited careful explanation in period seals all forms, for this is precisely how to discern the painter's individuality and Gray 1966). talent, and hence the chronological gap between text and painting. we review the work of two recent studies, began to After reading these I should begin by questioning whether or not this scroll is a Today (i.e., in 1967), half a century Admonitions our eminent forebears in scholarship. that this study has came to light, I am keenly aware after the object again One can tell it i� a copy � beca use of the innumerable unclear passages that framework envisioned by Taki and Naito. 4 . In the position of not surmounted the research I result from copy1st s errors scene Yuandi's hand is such that he raised and the cannot draw �IS sword. The position of1, his left hand is also bizarre. The composition questions that the former had have been much guided by the of the litter 1n scene and the structure of the bed in scene 5 are incomplete. provenance and seal 2, he had, especially concerning the There are numerous moments, such as with the "carved"outlines of the mountains severe criticisms In scene 3, where the meaning and purpose of marks is unclear. The pinching had accepted without that the British Museum curators pos1t1on of the hunters finger in this scene means that he is unable to pull the impressions tngger of h1s crossbow. In scene 4, the right hand of the woman looking into the of gratitude to the sharp-eyed Taki. qualification. I owe a deep debt m1rror IS re e ed the same way around in the mirror. In scene 5, the upper body of the man appearfl ct s to be disconnected from his lower body. In various places a mass of · on at drapery lines stretches tortuously around the figure it supposedly describ�s Two kaisetsusho (Commentary exhibits hunter 3, 7. see Tohoku Teikoku Daigaku chinretsuhin extreme cases are the in scene and the woman in scene TohokuJ University [Sendai, Japan]) .
3 2 Scroll• "'TheAdmonitions Admonitions Scroll" "The time, the Heir Apparent was just fifteen years old, and in only his second we will not we come to ascertain its date, painting. Otherwise, when didactic One year in the position. From the outset, she "intimidated the Heir Apparent by aware of its possible shortcomings. have become been sufficiently her many resentments and jealousies, abuses and deceptions". In the fourth approach an issue of direct analysis, but also should engage in a measure month of 290 CE, when he acceded to the throne as emperor Huidi (r. 290- from other quarters. 306), she naturally became empress, but grew "more cruel with each day". from collector to has been passed down The object in question "Those who opposed her had no means to avoid her"/ and it soon reached hands, it accrued As it passed through their collector for over a millennium. the point where she alone laid down the law. actually constitute stages. These materials complex addenda over complex The most significant events may be pieced together as follows: A year on them, such as has is no build-up of reportage its provenance, but there after becoming Empress, in the third month of 291 CE, she murdered the if progress. However that to now, research does not scarcely been pursued up Grand Preceptor Yang Jun, but failed in an attempt to do away with the thorny issues. In archaeology are particularly may be, provenance and Empress Dowager Yang. In the sixth month, she secretly ordered the Prince the Admonitions the calligraphy of one of 1955, Toyama Gunji ascribed of Chu, Sima Wei, to assassinate the young emperor's eo-regents, the Prince Zhangzong (r. 1190- asty (1115-1234) emperor colophons to the Jin-dyn of Ru'nan, Sima Liang, and the minister Wei Guan. He succeeded, only to be scroll could have versions of the Admonitions 1208), and suggested several executed on her orders the following day. In the second month of 292 CE how variant inscriptions right, and we start asking existed. But if Toyama is the year Zhang Hua composed the "Admonitions" text, she finally succeede s in an almost are related, we find ourselves and versions of the painting in assassinating the Empress Dowager Yang. In the twelfth month of 299� investigate the We should, nonetheless, impossibly complicated situation. CE, assisted by eunuchs loyal to her, she framed the Heir Apparent Yu, and ' by Toyama s hypothesis. had charges of treachery brought against him, which resulted in his being issues raised me here, of the issues that concern The above provides a framework demoted to commoner status. Egged on by Prince of Zhao, Sima Lun, she I should like to begin by exploring but my account does not follow this order. eventually had him murdered in the third month of 300 CE. how the Admonitions scroll originated. As if all this were not enough, she was known to dispatch performing girls out into the streets in search of handsome men. They would be seduced BACKGROUND TEXT: ITS HISTORICAL THE into a carriage where she lay hidden behind matting, and then kidnapped. ADMONITIONS resented for not While detained in her company for several nights on end of entertainment daughter had five vices, was It is said that "Master Jia's the second and feasting, they would be bullied into having sex with her. short and dark".6 Nevertheless, in being a son, and was ugly, invested as a In the fourth month of 300 CE, following the coup d'etat of the Prince honoured when she was of 272 CE, the Jia clan was month At that of Zhao and his conspirators, the empress's dissipated regime, which had Western Jin (265-316) throne. of the Heir Apparent to the concubine become the topic of popular songs like "The Ballad of the Luo" (Luozhong zhi Song nos. 89-91. . . yao), was finally crushed. The Prince used the opportunity to settle an old s (Song) no. 89, p. 259; SDQJ, They I: of11: the last few admon1t1ons. comprises transcriptions . sozs,This so colophon when compared w1t� th� score with the sixty-nine year old Zhang Hua, who he had put to death; the number of variant characters contain a significant An Q1, Moyuan hwguan, itself. Qing sources (DGL; _ inscriptions on the painting Song HUizong (r. 1101-25), gold"-style calligraphy to SQBJ) attributed the "slender modei.-Ed. JS 35, "Biography of Pei Wei" (v. 4: 1041-47). Pei Wei (267-300), son of Pei Xiu Jin Zhangzong's calligraphic Quotes in this paragraph 7 Empress Jia" (v. 4: 963-66). (224-271), was a close friend of Zhang Hua. JS 31, "Biography of Huidi's 6 unless noted. are from the same source, 5
4 "The Admonitions Scroll" I "The Admonitions scroll"
Empress was imprisoned and demoted to commoner status. Zhang Hua's moral law" (Yonezawa · 1952. . 272) . I The basic official biography records that his death "caused grief and pain from the court . concept is similar H an essayist to the later Ban Zhao's (about . 49-about 120 to the country". . CE) Precepts for Women .. ' (N I 8 }le) and, especially, u the Later Han general Huangfu Gui's Adm . Zhang Hua (zi Mouxian) was a prominent courtier who was "versatile Instructress omtJons. of th e (NOshi zhen :Q: BD"".,.) . owever that may and widely experienced, and unusually erudite among his contemporaries", be' it is wo rth noting I H how Zhang Hua's precept, and distinguished "in that he maintained national stability despite serving a Those who arrogate to themselves will not do I deluded emperor and tyrannical empress".9 At any rate, he was opposed to ferocious persons so for long; will swiftly meet their doom. the Empress Jia, who was "by nature tyrannical and cruel". She had the is rather abruptly delivered. I Wh ether or not one takes "these killings of sixteen or seventeen people on her hands, she had had the Heir , admonitions of the female offilcer' as a stance of opposition against the Empress Apparent's wet-nurse beaten to death, and had gruesomely aborted the Jia and he r c an, a phrase such I as the I instructress's "da rrng pregnancies of palace women, whom she then branded as criminals. But . o speak to the court or ladies", Instance, IS. less pointedly · t � personal. Pei Wei (267-300) whatever effects his "Admonitions" essay as an admonition or warning might Zha ng Hua ,s I who was ally also killed by the . ' -hC\Princ Lt. e of Zhao, Slma have had on the empress, exactly what Zhang Hua hoped to achieve by it -.� lun, also left to posterity a �rv><"b��J;fflt7RJI=io M �, and it did precipitate debate open to question. Although Zhang's "writing the 'Admonitions of the empress's over the atrocities. This scheme did no reach Its Instructress to the Court ladies' was understood as slander", he was . conclusion, but the integrity of courtiers t was revealed by this captivating piece sufficiently looked up to "to know that in spite of the empress's malice and remonstrance. of loyal Now , Zhang Hua employed long-established jealousy, she respected him". While it was impossible to speak his mind . moral law as the pretext for hiS remonstrance , but how is th·IS . . .Issue of loyalty informed openly, he could still give shape to his general opinion in subtle words. He is pa1nt1ng? in the surely someone who would have tried every means to curb her depraved
conduct. THE SCROLL: ITS MEANING AND The preface to the "Admonitions" text, which is missing from the ADMONITIONS EXPRESSION
British Museum painting (but features in the Beijing version), describes how Didactic and genre painting between the creation of Heaven and Earth and the establishment of the In the past, the Admonitions scroll has been thought feudal order, a clan-based social system operated. As long as households . of as the classic example of the ancient didactic mode· Indeed , one recalls the other were properly managed, there was peace in the world. Thus, women were doub�s No one the link between the Admontions painting and admonition earnestly and solemnly admonished to be meek and submissive. This had certainly .and it is true that some scenes do "convey mora , the aim of "maintaining the family system inculcated into women through . precepts by means of h.1storrcal tales" . I {Tanaka 1936). Th ese Include the two . . scenes lost from the be nnlng of the �� British Museum painting. In the first of "Biography of Zhang Hua" (v. 4: 1068-77). these see 8 JS 36, BeiJ rn� version, the discussed below), The "Admonitions" text, written in 292 CE, is widely believed to have been a Prince Zhuang of Chu's � _ (r. 696-6 1 BCE) satire on Empress Jia's conduct and character. For a summary of these events, see, addiCtion to hunting is seen to be curbed . also, Roger Greatrex, The Bowu zhi, An Annotated Translation (Stockholm, 1987): by h"IS concub1ne Lady ref Fan , owh used to taste the flesh 11-12. See, also, A Straughalr, "Chang Hua: A Statesman-Poet of the Western Jin of the birds he slaughtered· e In th Dynasty" (Canberra: 1973).-Ed. daughter . . second, the of th e M arquls 35, "Biography ofANU, Pei Wei". of Wel, by refusing to listen to the l·lcent· . 9 JS 1ous mus1c
6 7 Admonitions Scroll" ·The Admonitions Scroll" •The example in the Admonitions scroll is Ban Jieyu's d eclining to ride in the of Qi (r. 681-643 over her husband Duke Huan . ordered by him, prevails Imperial litter in scene 2. As she herself said ' this was "beeause concubmes. BCE). are commonly portrayed at the side of the last emperors of the Three also belong in British Museum scroll itself The first two scenes of the Dynasties". No one will disagree that these first four scenes, which are so throwing herself these depicts Lady Feng Wan this category. The first of comparable to the didactic expression seen the Biograph!'es of Exemplary and a black Han Emperor Yuan (r. 48-33 BCE), between her husband, the omen (Lienil zhuan) and Women's Classic of Filial Piety (Nil x·Jaopng) .. of wild animals. The second shows w had broken loose at a combat Admom ·t· 1ons bear which her paint' mgs, represent this first kind of female figure in the scroll- imperial litter lest she make Jieyu refusing to ride in the Lady Ban "bad th e courtb eauty. (r. 33-7 BCE), appear like one of the the Han Emperor Cheng The second category of female figure comprises beauties that are not husband, who were (i.e., the Xia, Shang and Zhou), last rulers" of the Three Dynasties actual historical figures. Examples are scene 4, the "toilette" scene, which not ministers, at their favourite beauties, and . conventionally depicted with portrays three women, one en ga ge d . combmg another's hair, and a third illustrating the meaning m are at odds with the act of . . their sides. None of these regardmg herself .In a mirror, scene 8 ' in which a woman s1ts alone, reflecting virtues of personal utionary tales in which feminine and content of ancient ca n her conduct, and scene 9, which features the instructress and o pa ace 0 tw I conduct are exemplary. ladies. In th e ast , the figure of the instructress holding the "red tube" are either other seven "admonitions" 1 However, some of the cannot really be compared to the one conjured up by the awesome words of why the stand as such, and it is unclear . or incomprehensible, Y the Han-dynasty Mao commenta ry on th e passage the Classics to which unconvincing a mix of the Admonitions scroll represents .. m admonitions. More accurately, th1s. alludes-the "Meek glr· I" (J'mgnu) ode from the "Odes of Pei" (Peifeng) in as into three that may be usefully divided the didactic and genre modes the Book of Poetry (Shi jing): categories of genre painting. In antiquity, a female courtier was se ec e d from among the palace illustration, but . appear to present didactic women to carry a red tub me�mng thatI t she was charged with the Scenes in the first category ' this kind of duty of) recording the tran g ;esslons of her fellow concubines for their Literary sources indicate that are actually paintings of beauties. own instruction. � BCE-220 CE).10 An u in the Han dynasty (206 painting already existed . nothing better than painting for r e ng the appearance of great deeds] where he says look at pictur�� ��er IS not one who ... would not avert his on painting'): : 'Of those who � "Huazan xu" (Preface to the 'Eulogies eyes from the spectacle of a licentiou� h nd r a jealous wife,[ ] and there is no one 10 e.g., Cao Zhi (192-232), Empress �; : t See, category of bird writing. Of old the illustrious who, seeing a virtuous consort or an e len queen, would not praise and value "Now painting belongs to the was both beautiful in appearance them'. From this we may know that . rmgs are the means by which events are CE; Queen of Han Mingdi, r. 58-75 CE) Once she Ma (died 79 the Emperor held her in great honour. preserved in a state in which the se�=�� m dels (for the VIrtuous) and warnings and well stocked with virtue, and the shrine to the spirit of � � � at paintings, and when they passed and (to the evil)" (tr. Acker 1954: 7 -75)� A xample ,�rom the "Biography of was with him looking tures of his Queens) Ehuang Song in the History of the Lat r Ha ) reads.: The throne had a new (Yu Shun miao), they saw (the pic 'Alas that I Hong" � ��; Shun of Yu out, and said jokingly to the Queen: screen painted with exemplary women T \u wu Emperor (�- 25-57 CE) could Nliying. The Emperor pointed them saw the likeness of Tao Tang not take his eyes off it, so Hong pulled a ��r�g ���ace and said: I have never met queen like these!' Going on again, they ministries cannot find a said: 'Alas that the officials and all the anyone as fond of virtue as they were of co our (a pun for women)'. The emperor (Yao). Pointing at Yao the Empress The Emperor looked at I who knows how to rule as this one did!' by took his point". cannot get a man which may be made evident 1 s� The Chinese Classics, sees) that the things 1 For the original text of the ode ames Legge, v. 4, pt. 1, her and smiled. From this (one Ono Katsunen, Rekidai , � J (tr. Acker 1956: 77-78, n. 3, quoting eh. 5: 68-69, where Legge note�·. o (the commentator) makes the 'red reed' (or painting are many" ji, 2 v., Osaka: Iwanami shoten, 1938), tu e) to have been an instrument use� b literate class of ladies in the harem, who (Kambun eading of Udai minghua from the b � meigaki (This story is found in a surviving quotation acted as secretaries to the mistress rn recorded rules and duties for all the quoting Tang /ei hanr 151). are believed to survive in Inmates; and then he says that the' r ent g the red reed is equivalent to the lost "Eulogies on Paintings". Quotations Another � �s m . preface to yulan Acker 1954: 73-74, n. 2).) acquainting the speaker with the exact o lence she paid to the ancient regulations Chu xue and Taiping (see there is e well Cao Zhi expresses [the idea that YWU,example from LOMHJji, 1 is: "And how 9 8 : Admonitions Scroll" · he Admonitions Scroll" •rhe Admonitions scroll, but other picture-making modes continued to develop, . . by the undignified prec1p It a t mg a third kind of genre painting. in scene 9 is not irked However, the instructress chatting and smiling (figs. Does scene 5, where a coup e Sit. opposite one another within the ladies who approach her, 1 expressions of the court "Admonitions of the screens and canopy of her bedch am ber, really portray the " emperor . seated core meaning of the .. 1 & If this transmits the 2). Book of Poetry), then on a bench beside the b e d . Inti . . mate conversation with ( a lady)" , as understood in the to the Court Ladies" (as m . Instructress described by Gray (1966: 4)? Laurence Slckman's research prod uced the masquerading as an admonition. . form of a beauties painting it is only in the followmg. insight (1956: 63): of beauties? a pre-eminent painting why not call the scroll . So, grew alongside The illustration is literal· a gentlema f anstocratic appearance sits on for beauties paintings ? that the demand the edge of the cano ied and cu alned bed _ a One imagines with _ facmg delicate and However, if we draw analogies rather haughty lady who� is eithe �b � g responded to or distrusted. appreciation of painting. the aesthetic The expression of the gentleman s ro g suggests distrust._ Whatever of painting, we evidently cannot conceive of f Y emerged in other schools lt may be, a sense of tense em o� h� a� een captu�ed and intensified what conditions. Gu to those same historical by the brooding calm of the m � nd a� y-actlon IS concentrated in post-Han demand as responding the Admonitions scroll is the fixed gaze which they exchange.� � � 345-406), to whom the original Kaizhi (about (232-300). a century after Zhang Hua Although Sickman recognised the tension in the air between these t wo, one ascribed, was active about traditionally to have been not expect such a painter cannot imagine them h avmg. the type of conversation described above . H u of this distance, one would Because Moreover, .. . . of Zhang Hua faithfully. J'lng ( 1769-1845) described this scene with the words (X' . dap, JUan 3). to represent the desperation motivated executed in the tqmg by didactic illustrations Th e man and the woman are about to �art .. . The man's collar is open surely have been unfulfilled . he would Women. In and he is standing on his shoe · H e IS a bout to get off the bed in a Biographies of Exemplary of the hurry. centuries-old outline technique has transformative and original it is obvious that something any case, (1051-1107) said in The woman's sleeve hangs down outside, while her right hand holds the and painter Mi Fu the great connoisseur happened. As screen around her bed. This has to be the poSI IOn s h e would have assumed by the ancients, you always Painting (Hua shi ): "In paintings T his History of , now move towards a had she hurried to welcome him, or were he about to leave . Th e an s left If this is so, we should � to have admonitions". .IS had even to the point leg akimbo, while his right foot appears to be in the process of taking off or "admonition" could mean, understanding of what broader obscured. The putting on his shoe (fig. 3) . Th e woman's face has been ret ouc h e d , but I could become completely the moral precept where scenes of the really do not think from th e way the outside of her eye slopes a halt here in these first ' of didactic art grinds to ;��::� development upward, that she is cross-examining an inconstan · We do not get to hear their pillow talk as it were, but we do see them exchangin g sweet ' or . . . . is its refutation"; of the 'red reed nothmgs. One thing is certain, that the moral g ist of the admomt1on the The mere statement of this view tell. The m of the harem! by it, we of course, cannot inscription-"If th e words that you utter are d writes "but what article is denoted biguan. There may be goo , all men for a thousand tube', Legge are now made are called bamboo tubes with which pencils red, among a young lady's leagues around will m a k e response to you"-has been completely ignored tubes, painted or varnished In the 'Little many things of small to a friend or an admirer". . might present . ' possessions, one of which she the times. The Marquis of Wei was here. The painter has given hiS full attention to illuminating the final phrase ode is said to be "directed against op. cit., v. 4, pt. 1, . Preface', the without virtue" (Legge, "even your b edfellow will distrust you". Thu s, . this section, the admonition and the Marchioness 33. The m without principle, reed' as 'red flute', see Waley 1937: 2: For a translation of 'red guan fa ng, "Fragrance of eh. 43). for the scroll, inscribed tong 4: Qianlong emperor's titlepiece this. See also Morohashi 1984: (recorded 36), alludes to the Red Tube" SQBJ 9569.117.-Ed. 11
10 -
Admoniuons Scroll" •The Admonitions Scroll" •The I spent fifty days in the (British) Museum from morning, when it y have is a genre-style and what we actua opened, until evening, when its doors closed. Completely unhurried, I is hidden in the shadows, 11 (Admonitions) bedchamber. set about making an exact copy of the scroll. First of and form of a screened-off rendering of the shape all, I had problems executing that kind of lineament. Since it was did , that "The emperor say of scene 7, as Gra wrong to paint as I personally might have wished, I truly adopted the Similarly, it is hard to : a trtudeI with hands copyist's way of looking at the object. roaches in submiS. SIVe a lady, who a pp is reproving . that "the wife is (1966 · · 5) Nor is it Looking at his copy today, one realises how many times the faces in this d · her sleeves " respectfully concea e In . . that: 1 1926 · 83)' nor is it , · (Umezawa scene were repainted before Maeda the copyist was satisfied (fig. 5). Each husband s cntiCISm· · s" hearing out her the left. a moving slowly to time Maeda repainted a face, he stuck a slip of paper over the previous ladies is portraye d We One of the palace �e walking in a dream... she s em to He's With her eyes half closed, ion of two of Xie attempt, and painted a new face on top, which gives some idea of his anxiety examp� o: the realisat find a be �er nance and structural could hardly u s irit conso and confusion as a copyist. "When I thought it was a superlative painting, artistic oals: ammat i0n 48-49). � ( �u 1 97: 1n the use o f et h br 0 why did end up with such flirtatious expressions?", he would wonder. method g I opposite one and a woman stand The woman's rather mocking expression and the caricature of a man the scene-"A man Hu Jing's handle on the raised as if to repulse vexed by unambiguous female flirtation is the third type of genre figure we to walk off, his hand ther, the man about ano ong text- Admonitions 2, k . Th.IS scene has a find in the scroll. A similar contrast is also found in scene -seems to hit the mar 1 woman" . one alone; if it b� affe IOn c not be for where the extraordinarily expressive faces of the bearers jostling beneath please forever; highest pitch, it No one can ov ��s reached its end in disgust. When� Han Chengdi's carriage highlight his own empty expression as he regards Ban so, it will : s reached fullness must needs objec ; for whate herself to changes its � wife who knew Jieyu. For a painter to suggest, as this one does, the sluttish or slovenly absolute. ��� 'b autiful decline. This law IS � air you seek to please, hated. If b Y a mincing of be beautiful' was soon comes the breakmg appearance of a woman by having her raise her skirts with one hand, surely From th' IS cause truly wise men will abhor you. rules out his having had serious didactic intent. In other words, this third favour's bond. men Will. kind of genre figure is quite different from the other two. seek to please, wise . . by a mincing air you which the tract ..If (1881-1948) -from . But what is painted When Tanaka Toyozo wrote, "I see this as the most subject for I ust ratl o n was chosen as the '11 abhor you" man" in parallel complete example of the shift from 'admonishment' to 'aestheticism' among on the pa 0f the "wise d etermme· d rejection here is not the rt bewitching narrative figure paintings of its kind" (1936), he was probably referring to together: a wom an of man and a woman with the text, but a the first and second categories, history and beauties paintings. But this h surprised and embarrassed . phantly upon a man w o, advancing t num scroll is the very place to see the emergence of a third category, proper beauty . evaluate the hand that in d1sgust. We h s 0 uld advance, s h nn· k s back Admonitions by her ' have been able to "genre painting". The scroll is not some na'lve model for didactic ns more hlghly than I their emotional expressi rendered � ' the idea of "if by painting, but a sophisticated genre painting with some very particular painter canm ly e mphasised 4 · east ' the elucidate (fig. ) At so idiosyncrasies. I f"Wl · se men will abhor you", to please" in place o a mincing air you seek The deployment of the rather cliched precepts of the Admonitions text ridiculous figure. man b ecomes an utterly that the scene by a modern illustrates how enduring old creative principles were, but within these encountere d with this One will recall the problems b er d an October of limitations, the painter accomplished fresh interpretation and meaning. This experience over Septem Japanese painter. Describing his is what this third type of scene represents. Importantly, it provides us with a (1954:71): 1922, Maeda Seison wrote
13
12 Admonitions "The Scroll" Admonitions Scroll" "The The instance, the hunter is painted as Iarge as the other figures in the of the scroll's creation. end for a chronology Admonitions, . . beginning and an mark in a manner th at IS neither naturalistic nor realistic . (i.e., classical) compositions of Exemplary Women-style Be that as it may, it does not hel p to explam. the composition of the Biographies groundbreaking this progressive and consciousness of scene. The hunter is a t . this beginning, and the is c ua y smaller than the mountam, so Zhang the sexes in the painting 11 interaction between marks the end. The Yanyuan's comment that "peop I e are (drawn) larger than mountains" is not painter a painter who flouts period style. This is . and emanates a distinctive exactly germane. The seaI e o f the ammals on the mountam. .IS correct: the unique, manner. His art wonderfully satirical didactic painting in a horse is painted bigger tha th e h are and deer the t'lger IS· bigger. than the the conventions of Admonitions n ' the (original) age" in which IS. in the "spirit of the horse, and the mountain blgger. than the tiger . Re fernng . to the sun and originates this were composed genre paintings like composed. Perhaps moon to each side of the pe a k Gray believed. "the idea f sue h symbolism is painting was freedom under ' 0 were, the pictorial but, even if they primitive" (1966: 15). from early times, a product of its own time. It would . discussion here was appear, however' that his two Interpretations are it conveys the painter's precisely because . . IS. painting is so special incompatible. After long consideration, I am convinced th scene presents a The men and women, treatment of indiscreet . seen in the transformative is transparent illustration of th e text. The sun and m oon are painted to accord genius, out, a practice that upside-down and inside . the textual content with the words "when th e sun has reached its mid-course, lt begms. to sink; for turning It gives form to admonitions themselves. . . the thrust of the when the moon is full it begms to wane"· the mountam· IS painted so as to quite opposed to med fresh ' condoned, but welco not merely .IS Ul era of thought that explain the phrase "to rise t g I ory as hard as to b 'Id a mountain out of a new long-held normative 0 ed and lampooned • that inverted, satiris dust"; and the crossbow ind·lea tes how "to fall into ea amity· IS as easy as the interpretations within the of different periods 1 Elements · of moral learning. rebound of a tense spring" 13 Th e hunter IS. there to man'fI es t " t h e speed of beliefs the painting. seem to co-exist in · described above all the rebound", to illustrate the tw1n . kl' 1ng of an eye m w h.ICh the arrow is chronological bounds loosed. The arrangement s hows everything in the tex t .10 mmute. detail. How composition . . modes of narrative could this have no meanmg . f ul connexion to th e ongmal 1t. so accurately Two painting. A gigantic the history of genre unique spectacle within matches? Scene 3 is a it are the of it is a hunter. Above . appears. To the left Numerous commentators have told us that here, " the man IS shooting mountain suddenly of having some spiritual . gives the impression moon (fig. 6). It a bird", but this is no "hun t' mg scene" nor may "th e ammals and hunter be sun and be identified as the ' . . and Gray even thought "the mountain (could) compared to the glory or ea amity In humanity". In these scenarios, the meaning, on, the hunter, who 1 Whatever the interpretati mountain" (1966: 4). c nfiguration of motifs is purely random. I do not beli eve we can say of the cosmic out of scale with the � his bow, is entirely . . the mountain carrying Wild animals in the mount aln, as Gray did, that "th e wh lte. tiger and phoenix approaches of Famous Painters of the Record . . Zhang Yanyuan, author must be taken in the same symbolic meaning as 10· G u Ka1zh1., s Note on mountain itself. Wei-Jin painting, ji; LDMHJ), noted that in (Udai minghua Painting the Cloud errace Mountain (Hua Yu ntaishan J.i)"· 14 through the Ages s Th ey do not ains"Y Extant painting T< n) larger than mount etimes people are (draw "som and na'ive. In this --=------. landscapes was primitive 13 u. !anh ua pointed out. However, Yu d'd not recogmse the significance of this that scale in the earliest ' confirm � xplanatton.As Y J' See Yu 1962: 169 4 . . Cf. Gray 1966: 15.· th e cosmolog1cal sett·mg h e central mountain should be represented in three registers,"In as Gu Kaizhi himself appearst to lay down in his "Note 1954: 154). and rocks" (tr. Acker J landscapes, trees 12 LDMH 1: "On 15
14 -
"The Admonitions Scroll"
"TheAdmon itions scron· signify that this is a sacred or cosmic mountain replete with ausp1c1ous and much of the original charm signs.15 Anyone can see from Han-dynasty Bo-mountain censers (Boshan lu) is lost. Indeed' th e perfunctory compilation of the and literal scene sets the . and Tang-dynasty mirrors that such mountains have long been populated by laon�ng scroll apart from th e other which the ancien l' four, in t method of . . . wild Plctonal illustr animals. In addition, there is no point in explaining this scene by ation is incomparab understand. ly easier to reference to Gu Kaizhi's text on painting, Note of Painting Cloud Terrace This method whereby each individual . . Pavilion, because that text is later than Gu Kaizhi: it was inserted into the ,, motif mentioned pictured, in a text is is only found in . . 1997). narra t'1ve ustrat1 Lidai minghua ji in the twelfth century (Kohara 1 ons of cl asslc· a to the Ny texts. In additio mph and Admom ·r 1 n 10ns scrolls ' know The Nymph of the Luo River composition attributed to Gu Kaizhi of the owing of three I 0 four renditions literary themes: � 11 provides further evidence of the narrative fo rmula employed in this scene. In 1) "Nine Songs 6 " (Jiuge) rrom short, we know of five extant scrolls. 1 Sections of the versions in the Beijing the Ch . (Songs UCI of the South) : paintings in Osaka Palace Museum and Liaoning Provincial Museum collections (published prior Fujita Art M useu m Osaka and Prov ' • 1aon1ng incial Museum, Shen . to 1967) include illustrations of Cao Zhi's (192-232 CE) masterful description yang l' . 2) ; ·�::: ;;: of the nymph's beauty (figs. 7 & 8). This passage of the ode reads: in" (O es of � the State of Bin) (Binfe ng) from the Shijing Her body soars like a startled swan oetry) . _ _ painting by M a Hezhi " (active 2" half 12th Gracefully, like a dragon in flight, the c. ) ' in Metropolitan Museu m of Art• In splendour brighter than the autumn chrysanthemum, New Yor k · (See Xu 1991.-Ed.) 3) In bloom more flourishing than pine in spring; Latter Red Cliff Ode (Hou Ch'b· . . Dim as the moon mantled in filmy clouds, ) .· paintin I ' � g by Qia o Zhongchang (active 1st half 12th . . •U Restless as the snow whirled by the driving wind. c ), In the Nelson-Atkins Museu Gaze far off from a distance: m, Kansas City . The reader is referred to She sparkles like the sun rising from the morning mists; essays on each of thes e by the Press closer to examine: (Kohara 1981, 1982 present writer • & 1991) , but let us now She flames like the lotus flower topping the green wave. 17 take a ook at ( in the Nelson 3), the painting -Atkins Museu m 1 a n'b uted to Qiao Zhongchang . To express this stunning beauty, each of these scenic elements and animals The passag tt e reproduced in . figure 9 ma rks the 1082 time .In the tenth is meticulously painted about her; not a single one is omitted. The Liaoning of when the month exiled scho ar-o . IC1at Su Shi (1036 -1101) Latter Red I ffi composed the scroll is later than the Beijing one, so its brushwork is much less complex, Cliff Ode ' a ft er a second tour of the c I s at Huangzhou modern Hubei)· (in The text h ere reads: l'ff Clamb ering over roots on Painting the Cloud Terrace Mountain". Here the mountain is imaged between twisted like d� �agle's ��n�, pulled my heaven and water, in which it is reflected. He adds that he would place a phoenix precarious nest and way up to the looked n IntoI above the mountain peak and a white tiger in a valley beside a stream. It can hardly nver god. gave the hidden halls I a long shrill h of the s ayed, � Trees and be accidental that these creatures should be depicted on this mountain, and they "':' the mountains grasses shook and g ;ang, t ���� y must be taken in this symbolic meaning • The Note on Paintin the Cloud Terrace rOJhng the echoed . A wind . water, (and I fe lt a . came up; Mountain is quoted in LDMHJ (HSCS edition, v. 1: 71-2).-Ed. chill f dsa ness, a . 0 shnnk�ng fear).1a 98 99: " g 5 15 See Xian rui bu" (Auspices and omens). All the motifs YWU & in the text are 16 Two in the Beijing Palace Museum, one in the Liaoning Provincial Museum, one in depicted except for the figure of Su (hence my brackets) Shi himself the Taipei Palace Museum, and one in the Freer Gallery, Washington D.C.. (A sixth, · The AdmomtJ . . . ons is the in the British Museum, is the topic of several papers to be given at the June 2001 earliest examp practice wh· h le of this ' was not used after conference.-Ed.) IC the twelfth centu 17 Translation of lines 39-48 from Shih 1976; for another translation, see Waley ry. 1923: 60. 18 Tr. Chaves 2000.· 139, . quotJng Watson 1965: 87-93. 16
17 Admonitions scroll" "Tlle Admonitions Scroll" "Tlle the But let us be more specific about this landscape issue . The na"ive and of the landscapes in complicated problem We attend now to the coarse qualities of the landscapes of mura I s m. two recent! excavated ji we read : In the Lidai minghua . Y Admonitions paintings. Eastern Jin (317-419 CE) tombs m d"1cate that landscape parntmg. was then Nymph and had seen), . that Zhang Yanyuan and Jin dynasty works of the not yet an independent genre, bemg. no more than a constituent. 1n the In (Wei painted, then the aspect . (motifs) are comb of wherever landscape teeth of) a pearl-inlaid explication of the main 1gure or event (figs 11 & 12 ; G ansu 1979, Liaoning peaks resembles (the room to float (a fi crowded the waters have no rhinoceros horn. Sometimes than the mountains. 1984). These landscapes are not primitive ecause the tombs they are in lie are (drawn) larger sometimes people (shown). ship); in to set off the places great distances from metropo ,1tan. centres� , but be cause Eastern Jin trees and rocks are put rows is like Almost always they were planted in . (of the trees) as if . IS. The appearance arms. But to understand landscapes were primitive It evident' therefore ' that th e I an d scape in the fingers of outstretched the that of the spread entirely of seeing clearly Admonitions . . . the ancients consists scroll is not an Eas tern Jm pamtmg. fully the meaning of to the changes that they excelled and not in sticking Max Loehr identified what is unusual 3 things in which 154). about the mountain in scene become common (tr. Acker 1954: have since (1980: 18): qualities of of the primitive, na"ive to be an apt description More important, however is the Stlon. of how faithfully this scroll This would seem rendering is less f r . are areas where the represents the style of a ou th-ce ry orrglnal. The answer must be Nymph scrolls (fig. 10). There ���_ these mountain is still far that, except the motif of the u t · there are no si�nificant traits of the Admonitions _ but the overall form to conflict with the earliness of t t . B t the mountain IS treated in than brilliant, of mountain, _ up, inward-facing segments a manner InCOmparably more soph'�� ; lcate� �than the archaic hills of the It comprises piled �r more complex. (goulexian ). Nymph of the Luo River or for th �� atter, any mountain scenery up in fine, "engraved" lines h cliffs skilfully rendered to the sixth century if n�t t e seve th and slopes and is piled up � � for the shrubbery that outline technique used We also find an up to the As a means to resolve this anomaly, I should like t propose the followmg. the foothills and 0 from the valleys into along the paths leading hypothesis: that th·IS mountain. was .mserted at the tim e the Brrtlsh.. Museum's well as the compositional linear subtlety, as attention to I peaks. This here-are copy of the Admomttons . . was made as a s u b s ute for whatever preceded it. so sharply focussed conceptualisation-all n expertise, and the lofty In other words, it is not a fou rth -century mountain b u t a seventh- or eighth- of the Luo River scrolls. "The symbolic ' seen in the Nymph nowhere to be (Yonezawa) century one. world of the painting" characters within the stage for the main to the It is not unusual in China for co ists to completely modernise part of hardly be compared the Nymph scrolls can PY (i.e., the landscape) in a painting the are supposedly trying to reproduce faithfully. The evidence in Admonitions scroll. The mountains Y landscape of the . emancipated mountain that this. case hes. in what Maeda e1son sa1d. about the cond ltlon.. of the charm of the early period of the o River lack the na"ive 5 in the Nymph . Admonitions scroll after copying it (1957): !f still retains. form i monitions . the expressive be made for the Area where the original silk mediu h d diSint. egrated have been the same point can � it is not just� the landscape: repaired with patches of additional sil . ;hese repairs are crude, and And do the . nor posture and bearing �he t uching up of the paintin on th em� IS also generally inept. What I in emotional expression, ? figures. Neither that the lmagme could have happene is th t ver the many years of wear and t dmonitions. It is true match those in l � � in Nymph scrolls no tear, silk patches were inserted a ouched up again and again, but figures � there appears to be passages of ode, that that the restoration techniques us d ere poo:. My discovery of these illustrate entire .t_ _ Nymph scrolls the sun contains conditions as I copied the scroll was; ;:ot this d1Sp1rrtmg throughout but that in each case . their mountains, and the most problematic and de man dlng area of all was the mou�tain sacred quality about features all have these essential with its hunter and pheasants. But even though they a three-legged crow. Admonitions scroll has priority. of ancient style, the
19
18 -
"The Admonitions Scroll"
"The Admonitions Scroll" Gaozong's tomb. 19 The pheasant flying in the upper left of figure 18 is to "read" in the ain is the hardest describes the mount similar to the one flying over the mountain in the Admonitions (fig. 6). They The lineament that show the same pictorial "tricks" for rendering these birds, the head (fig. 13). is viz., whole scroll . render this mountain . techmque used to at may, the linear plumage, the mottled tails, the form of the shorter lower tail feathers, the Be that as at ounhuang (fig. landscape In cave 103 as that seen .m the extension of the head, and the outstretched wings of a bird in flight. It is as as sophisticated we find piled-up the cave 103 mural right an d centre of if they were painted with the idea of showing how a pheasant flies in mind. 14). To the circles. The line . orm of concentric . contours m t h e f However, this idea has become conventionalised, and there is no doubt they mountams ma d e of ially close to . e m iddle is espec mountain-groups m th rning of two sm all another are works of the same period. patte • ction and · the H.oryu -]·i colle marrors ' one from The evidence introduced above shows the mountain in the Admonitions that seen on two Tang the year the former pred ates 738 ' (figs. 15 & 16) . The to be a Tang painting. Indeed, it can only be explained as a Tang landscape, in the Shoso-in . tes 756, the • . latter preda • • • -)t. The nted it to the Horyu Empress Komyo prese composed of as it was by Max Loehr, when he described the mountain as "incomparably . ar m ountain face . th e Shoso-in. A sama she presented at to 'I Admonitions more sophisticated" than the rest of the scroll. The date of the pictures in year lower eft of the reca lied from the entric circles will be I mountain Princess Yongtai's tomb-709 CE (or 701, if one goes back to the date of her conc 103 landscape is a po rf ' on of the cave ntain. In the upper rows of first burial)-now becomes extremely important, because it gives us the mou . effect achieved with rial recessaon, an Admonitions. that evinces picto employed to confidence to advocate an actual date for our copy of the chain . f this type were mes. Parallel hnes o ward slanting paral e Whereas before one could only say it was Tang (618-907), we can now say it down I I r ntttan. . s. in the Admo edge of th e mountain was painted around this decade, the 700s. create the right small mountains in (figs. 11 & 12)' the Eastern Jn' murals The Admonitions scroll transmits a rich seam of ancient art-forms, but As with the a pictures at Zhou (557-580) Jatak 3) a nd Northern is also the culmination of a series of innovations. Scene 6 is a good example Northern Wet. (386-53 edge of the . · The right a level (fig. 17) are all arranged on This illustration of a family group is based on the last line of the relevant ounhuang . er right to upper left, . the pacture fr om low am rece des into text, "Let your hearts be as locusts and your race shall multiply" (fig. 19). Admonitions mount ing) parallel lines use of thes e (reced .an parallel . The The male protagonist and his wife occupy a fairly large area at the front the lines arranged only begins with . 617) periods, and . stieS. and SUI (581- seen m th e s·x' Dyna at an right. Opposite them sit two attendant women (concubines?) with three is not . of small mountains nging a successaon Tang, when, b y arra am.. young children. In the central upper portion of the picture, painted in the . pendent, large mount represent an md e . rs were a ble to . somewhat smaller, are an old person, a boy and a girl. incline, pamte oped as the one m . not as fully devel Admonitions mountam. as . To Yonezawa's eye, "this [approximated] the Han concept of Even so, the .mg. . hth-century cave pamt to predate the eag (shangxia yuanjin 103, so wouId a ppear phagus of perspective fa , literally, "method of (describing] position cave avan. g on the sarco nee is the line engr second piece o f eva'd e wu and distance"), a representational scheme in which distant things are small A e usurper Empress granddaughter of th Yongtaa. (6 85 -701) , r-old Princess e d the sixteen-yea Empress Wu execu t 684-705) (fig. 1 8). r Princess Yongtai's tomb was discovered in 1960 near Xi'an. The princess was Zetian (r. her grandfathe 19 . .an 709 close to executed along with her husband and numerous relatives for remarking upon her she was rebuned princess in 701, but grandmother's love affairs. She was reburied in 709 after being posthumously rehabilitated by her father Zhongzong (restored 705-709). For a brief description, see, e.g., Loehr 1980: 38-41.-Ed.
21
20 'The Admonitions scroll"
Admonitions Scroll" "The . . e the he only unimpeachable seals on this scroll (pr" IOr to ItS entry. mto the Qing , however, to indicat . It is more likely � 1736-95) y things are large" of Imperial collection in the 1rst d ecade of the Q"lan ong reign,. are and nearb in which the status fi 1 nt figure painting, . value system of ancie those of individuals known from literary records t h ave encountered the survival of the the male head size. In this case, 0 her relative . intimated by his or ely scroll during the Ming a n d ear Y Q1ng. That it was passed down among the a figure is s are proportionat 1 wives and concubine is the largest; his greatest collectors an een bY th e greatest connoISseurs· .IS proof of its fame of the family ed the smallest. o�:_ grandchildren are paint '/:[fr; in their dotage and .m those periods. 21 smaller; relatives greater persons the idea in mind that . obviously rendered with What remain probl ematlc, however ' are the Tang- and Song-period The scene was murals discovered In the Wei-Jin tomb than lesser persons. (618-1279) seals on the . . painting and I"ts scroll mounting. Taki should be larger (north-eastern Korea and Liaodong Admomtlons before 1967) in North Seiichi articulated this concern when he wrote: (in the years picture frame, sterously large for the . figure seems prepo So, are the (Northern Son ) l p . al " Zhenghe" and "Xuanhe" seals China), the main contrast, so ':l n and maids are, by or not? g ud g y acknowledged doubt about them retinue of courtiers genui_ne, Binyon ; m � while his surrounding status of 51, 52, 53 & 54). The but m traditional China ol conno�sseurs' and collectors' seal� ble puppets (figs. impressed on ancient paintin s� a d cal ies small that they resem hgraph have been considered e as indispensable as a stockp le f fi r od . We h ve unconsciously obvious enough to anyon . � � . t � these figures is this archaic discovered, as it were, that we hav� � conf dence each and every painter overcame ��� I m not arguing that the s one of these Song imperial seals It h as become hazardous in the I am Admonition success of his figural of it assured the xtreme to propose any kind �f argument based on them ' and that his resurrection � value system, but groups into a Imperative to avoid them by w h a tever means. in each of the three he fitted the figures perspective. First, s inside a three triangular group With one or two exceptions in Japan ' I am not aware of any scholarly then he aligned the triangular design; would then be · · ., The viewer's gaze scept1c1sm towards them • nor d o I see the groun d s for Takl s rejection of r isosceles triangle. proportionately large and from there corner up to the left, them, but it is a fact that th ey are not all up to the s tan dards of design and from the lower right drawn, at an angle, eciate that this e. We should appr execution one would expec . ne has to wonder wha t mediocre. persons are scene at the very centr into the heart of the forms archaic t 0 sition actually trans responsible for the inept ea rvlng. and lame design of some of these seals, and ng of the compo consummate handli ism, and the of the road for classic one's suspicions are inevitabl aroused when seals tha t should have been signalled both the end concepts of size. It Y ework. impressed close together' aceor d mg. to a logic of eh rono ogical increment, are new pictorial fram beginning of a fresh, 1 not (figs. 2 & 20) . When and where were the fra udulent seals cut and impressed? GGE" SEALS THE "RUISI OON scroll contained a (1573-1620), the in the wanli period Admonitions (1555- Late artist Dong Qichang nt connoisseur and hon by the pre-emine ed. We colop have since disappear 20 erstwhile colophons 1636) But this and other the . ces to tell us about d on literary sour how much we depen all recognise connoisseurship of artefact, but the provenance of an transmission and will agree that problem as well. Most ins a fundamental collectors' seals rema
acter collec ion). zi ji" (Zi-char t Qinghe shuhua fa ng: "Zi Zhan (1577-1643), 20 g Chou 23
22 Admonitions Scroll• 'The
Admonitions Scroll" "The Hongwenguan seal on Wang X ianzhi's Mid Autumn "Ruisi Dongge" is inadmissible as not one sees the hinges on whether or This question ath the evidence. seal as lying bene plation, East Wing) . ce of) Imperial Contem It A similar seal is found on W ang Xranzhi's fathe r ang Xizhi's (321- ([Pala the end of the scroll. w ngrendian" seals at "Shaoxing", and "Gua 379) Parcel of Salt Fish (Guoz h a tte),. preserved .rn an . rnk rubbing (fig. 22). "Xuanhe", should date to very xing" seals, which "Xuanhe" and "Shao Close to this seal are engrave d th e names of Mi Fu' f · is bizarre that the Contemplation s nends Xue Shaopeng e of Imperial ction of the Palac t t . after the constru palace (active late 11 h-early 12 h c. ) and the parnter Xu Chongsr. . Unfortunately, close that Northern Song elic sense) "cancel" dian), do not (in a philat is there is no means of authe n reat· rng thrs. seal . It was recorded (in LDMHJ 3) (Ruisi "Guangrendian" seal f seal), while the Tang the "Ruisi Dongge" as having been "very small", n b ut the " Hongwen zhi Y in" seal in figure 22 seal (i.e., Ruisidian palace seal. the Northern Song over, and hence later than could hardly be described as suc h . obviously "Yu shu" (imperial the gourd-shaped to reason that Another impression of the Hongwenguan seal is fo un d on the funerary Nor does it stand ror Huizong's should be-by Empe accompanied-as it . calligraphy) seal is not text for Princess Ru'nan wntten by the early Tang court calligrapher Yu Shinan (558-638) (fig · 23) · Th e artrstrc. . quality of th"rs sea rs at least as poor inscription. of these "imperial from deducing which 1 . does not stop us as the Admonitions specrmen . .rs, and the may both be dismissed as The above ually, we may Y nd to them individ But before we atte seals" are forgeries. Yuanbian forgeries. by the time Xiang have been impressed ain that they had to have The situation with the "Xuanhe" an d "Shaoxing" seals immediately ascert century. They would the late sixteenth . . acquired the scroll in above the "Hongwen zh·r yrn. , seal at the end of the A dmontttons painting is (1525-90) opening and closing the top of the close together at (fig 2) Th already appeared to crowd also irresolvable . . e legends of these e lfth -century seals have for Xiang Yuanbian tw ng no blank space . of the painting, leavi deteriorated even more th an wrth the seventh-century seal, and they are passages blank lower edges. impressed along the which he necessarily now very faint. with his seals, earliest seal on the both state that the . Loehr and Yonezawa That still leaves the "Ruisi Dongge" seal . The Shtqu baoji and Gray Professors emy for the) (seal of the [Acad "Hongwen zhi yin" . Admonitions scroll is the Loehr both counted five impressions of the "Rursr . Dongge" seal · 23 H owever, faintly the painting (fig. 2; ssed at the end of . . ion of Culture) impre vrsrble in scene 6 is a half-fa d e d rmpr. essron . of this large seal, and, perhaps Disseminat palace that the first a library seal of the "Hongwen zhi yin" is more importantly' it is gen urne. (firg. 3). Another in scene 8, " Be watchful: 1980: 18). an (Academy for med the Hongwengu u, r. 618-626) rena . ' ( Tang emperor (Gaoz took this keep an eager guard over yo ur be h avrour, , under th e Q.ranlong emperors r. Loehr and Yonezawa Culture) in 626 CE. . . " Dissemination of later than 1736-95) eightieth birthd ay seal ( " Bazheng ma onran zhr bao ), is also the Admonitions dated to no indicate that the . Hongwenguan seal to genuine. If the "Ruisi Dongge" sea I was rmpressed even here in the tiniest right? Tang. But were they for the early known, appearing, seal is fairly well "Hongwen zhi yin" The gqiu tie) attributed to the Mid Autumn (Zhon the manuscript 22 hang Yanyuan's entry reads:"Th instance, on 21). But it is z o ai we i (344-386) (fig. r g n t n �r � apher Wang Xianzh f:r� �: ��:�P�: ct a;:C��:s!a�� Eastern Jin calligr made of text �9th� t�e�� ::�;�fd s�=is ���� as ern Tower . Those �sed Mid Autumn is a forgery ���;:� k (E t ) ged today that ooks are very small" (tr. Ac er ) -Ed. commonly acknowled So, the b ��. �����. 2 . (Shier yue tie) manuscript. . raypi ng "Aftertwo oval seals of Qlanlong, there follows the squa re Twelfth Month 2��t�m 1966: 7: from Mi Fu's Song Imperial. seal Ruisi Dongge' which IS repeated five times on later sect1or.s.b ig of the lifted scroii."-Ed. 25
24 - -
AdmoniUons "llle Scroll" Admonitions Scroll" "llle pressed in We may also note that the inscription of scene 5 intrudes into the originally h ave been im n that it should toilette, scene, ·lt stands to reaso previous scene of a lady at her and that the area of painting below it e. is not original. The "flying" train of the maid who is combing hair does not every scen . exception to this rule scene, IS per haps the 5 ' the "bedroom" make compositional sense-owing to the fact that this passage was filled in Scene and touching up re d 'th silk patches when a paint.mg .IS resto by a later hand. The addition of the train most probably occurred when a (fig. 3). Even Wl cally. The shadm. g usua Y read" so illogi . as h ere ' it does not " substantial strip of silk was sliced off in a remounting. The inscription lost as extensively 11 er unprofessional, the ta bl e egs is rath . f the furniture and thereby was then re-copied on the silk that now obtained (fig. 27). the outlines 0 1 The within canopy of the screened · · g visually The s, quite unconvmcm cramped appearance of this section (which at just 10 cm is shorter than and, in place large silk patch d ut evidences a adequately foreshorten average) results precisely from the loss of the original silk on which the bedchamber is � . panels that IS � d o dd ' as are the · y mdee across ·t This canop ' "Ruisi Dongge" seal was likely to have been impressed. with repainting 1 whic h h beenas m is that this roof, board s. The proble The "Ruisi Dongge" seal really does have gravitas. Because resemble plywood early in date of its . d'IC ation of being a canopy ' gives no m d with silk to form is a majestic size, and because the wear-and-tear to its impressions does not wrappe . . 11) which is to say that it the Be111n. g scro , the same passag e in appear to be anything but natural, I do not believe it to be a later forgery. (as with . problems do not end g. 24 ). But the n to the pamtmg ( Many pre-Ming palace seals survive, 24 but none is as beautiful or as noble as much later additio . fi , as are the s are a so rather odd f th e dangling ribbon there. The shapes o I hides the this one. I believe in it, and I believe it is the earliest genuine seal on . paneI s. The panel that d ·rreguI larly SIZed Admonitions folded-back curtains an it) is a scroll. . . . lower body behind appears to JOin hiS man's torso (his torso let us see how it compares with other examples. The seal appears in tcoming. ularly obvious shor scene not a few art catalogues as well as on works of art. 25 Some of those works partic sh ouId look. A how these features There .1s eviden. ce of are now in Beijing and Taipei. Seals very similar to the one in question bed arranged with furniture, sation on a screened a couple .In conver y appear, for instance, at the head of two paintings attributed to Han Huang depicting . I on a fifth-centur . m scene 5 's found tables slml' lar to those (723-787) in the Beijing Palace Museum, Five Oxen (Wuniu tu) (fig. 28)/6 screens and 25). Decorated • Nara (fig. I the Tenn Sanko-kan . Literary Gathering in a Garden Wenyuan tu) Holding a -engraved portral't ·n . m by and ( (fig. 29), and on stone S bed is supported y o f th'i screened s and lotus, the canop Horse (Muma tu), (attributed to) Han Gan {about 715-after 781), in the with flame shape s. Swathes of ome decora tive pattern frame, an d bears polychr a rectangular resembling circular- frame, an d I ong bands Guo Ruoxu (active 1070-75), Tuhua jianwen zhi (Experiences in painting), juan 6, fabnc. h ang fro m the patterned SI engraving is in the 2in4 and around the section "Li Zhu yin zhuan" (Seals of Li the Last Ruler) (HSCS posts. Anoth er, ·milar . hang around the four edition, v. 1: 92) lists pre-Ming palace seals including "Neidian tushu", "Neihe ring chams und the couple in the The arrangement aro tongyin", "Jianye wenfang zhi bao", "Neisi wen yin", "Jixiandian shuyuan yin", and F. e Arts, Bost o n . "Jixianyuan yushu yin". Other pre-Ming palace seals include "Xuanhedian bao", Museum of m piece , except that it Tenn. S an k"o- kan "Jixidian bao", "Kenning zhi dian", "Jianye wenfang zhi yin", "Kuizhangge bao", . IS. th e sa me as in the Boston portrait comparisons "Xuanwenge bao", "Deshoudian bao", "nanli zhi bao", "Huangyu tushu", and ( 26) · What these b'lr d s on top of the bed "Huangyu zhenwan". has just two water fi19. the top of the ongma SI'lk on which Catalogues include Zhou Mi's {1232-98) Yunyan guoyan lu, Gao Shiqi's {1645- stan laI area of the . tell us is that a sub . I restored. 21704)5 Jiangcun xiaoxia lu, Bian Yongyu's (1645-1712) Shigutang shuhua huikao, r . as b een lost and poorly was once pamted h SQBJ, Li Zuoxian's Uinshi 1835) Shuhua jianying, and Wu Rongguang's (1773-1743) bedchamber in scene 5 filled this ssion. would once have Xinchou xiaoxia ji. For the works of art, see Kohara 1967 (pt. 1): 28, n. 6. i Dongge" seal impre Without a d oubt ' a "Ruis 26 The Beijing scroll is a doppe/ganger of the Five Oxen scroll in a private collection in Kurashiki, Japan. The Kurashiki scroll has no "Ruisi Dongge" seal. space.
27
26 'The scron• Admonitions Scroll• "The Admonitions (r. seals are 1068-85) Xining reign period, i.e., in 1075 CE , to the west of the Palace of to tell whether these (fig. 30). It is hard Palace Museum I' · . Taipei However, these old Imperial luminosity (Qinmingd an ) 8 The text reads . the paintings at once. 2 forgeries without seeing all At first, Zhezong (r. 1086-1100) did o dar to hold feasts in the the top tier of Tang and Five � � are all recorded, represent Palace of Imperial Contemplation (Rui SI� dlan ) , lt having been bul'lt by masterworks, which imperial . that part of the Song the late emperor . , Foil OWing. In the oot steps of Shenzong and would seem to prove . . . . Dynasties painters, and Zhezong, Huizong spent his m o . � th s peaceful , of the Palace of Imperial m �· � building but housed in the East Wing gradually it changed from a pla: lmpenal· m contemplation" into a collection was indeed ; ? place for the discussion of matt o� state and for the consumption of e;s ll . Contemplation. paintings are quite delicacies. By the Xuanhe perio ( 1 9-25) it was used exclusively for we find on these three banquetting and entertainment. The "Ruisi Dongge" seals '), Equn tie ('Flock of geese on Wang Xianzhi's . distinct from the specimen rui So, at Huizong's court the Palace o f Impenal Contemplation must have been In this seal, the character a red herring (fig. 31). !I which is evidently of "heart" (xin) a place where state b siness was con ducted and feasts were h eld. It would (as fX), and the form is even wrongly written � . (imperial) is crudely doneY appear that in the Northern ong S penod, buildings l'kI e t h e Hall of Great character si � (contemplation) (no. 61) of the Purity (Taiqinglou) and the Six PaVI IOns, for which there are documentary radical means it is surely 2 1�\ by Xiang Yuanbian's seals, which 'I' 9 Tellingly, it is surrounded Jiajing receipts for paintings and ea •graphy, had no conneXIOn · With · the Palace of and carved around about the 11• on specious learning a forgery based Geese (Equn Imperial Contemplation · Th e SonghUiyao . . deed h as no record of artworks it. The Flock of m which we have just traced period (1522-66) to it a being housed in the Palace of Imperial Contemplat·lOO. "Ruisi Dongge" seal on copy by Mi Fu, and the tie) itself is a freehand seal is There are numerous records about the pa ace buildings in which the different version of this A similar but slightly . I contemptible forgery. 32). Son g lmpenal. art collections were housed · However, none of them record White (Sizhi feibai tie) (fig. Four Sheets of Flying found on Wang Xizhi's Poetry what was housed · the Ruisidian either. Zhou M' (1232-98) records that is found on Su Shi's m I of theseal-script legend Yet another configuration Huizong used the east w. g of the building for man fa unng perfumes and Dongge" seal were once m u Forgeries of the "Ruisi et . Scroll (Shi juan) (fig. 33). spices, but nothing is ment' d . lone about calligraphy a n d pamtmg.. 3o The only , quite the fashion. the evidence I know of is Xue Shaopeng s statement that an · k rubbing. of the which Song emperor owned m now to the questions of . We return referred to Dingwu version of the Orchid Pavl·l·1on Pre. ace (Dmgwu Lan t'mg xu), which his had it carved. Gray � seal, and when he . . original "Ruisi Dongge" of father had acquired and was In h1s family collection • was appropnated. by (Painting, Continued; a collection 1127-67) Huaji Deng Chun's (active Huizong and placed , sJgm. Jcantly, in the east wing of this palace.3' mentions that "the Ruisi from 1074-1167), which .fi records about the period this source says nothing Huizong" (1966: 7), but hall already existed under the DATING INSCRIPTIONS more fruitful source is at Huizong's court. A THE about whether it originated essentials of Songhuiyao jigao (Collected (fangyii) section in the "Districts" Imperial to which, the Palace of , edited draft) , according . Song government �: This date is corroborated in Li Lian (1 488-1566}, B1anpng. .. Yl']. zhi. year of Emperor Shenzong's . i was built in the eighth The Pavilions were·· "Ora gon p1cture" (Longtu> : "H�avenly seal" (Tianzhang}, (Ruisidian) w . X Contemplation "Treasuring c�lture" (Bao en}, "Visiona ry plan ( tanmo}, . "Subtle counsel" (1488-about �Wetyo�J._,and Diffusion of culture" (Fuwen ). See, also, Songhwyao jigao, sections to the si in Xie Shichen's �u shu ' Mlshusheng", and "Mige". T si character is comparable (d. 1686) "Zhan si 3 h s seal-script as Geng Shaozhong's ji", h u . Zhiyatang zachao. 27 i shi" seal, as well " and Gong Erze's 1 o "Xie Sizhong si guren , 3 M1, 3. 1567) period, 1662-1722) "Wo �ang Mingqing (1127-about 1215}' Huizhu ho uu, Juan. Chen Ruao's (active Kangxi seals. I (active Qianlong period, 1736-95) "Siwuxiezhai" 29 28 •
"TlleAdmonitions Scroll"
"TlleAdmoni tions Scroll"
opinion scene (i.e., scene 1), or to the following one (scene 2)". The reason why Ise the Admom·t' IO ns scroll, . roblems surrounding Of all the vanous the inscriptions. got it wrong, and why Taki was inconclusive, is that the inscriptions are P authorsh' 1p an d date of most d'lVI 'd e d over the seems to be k Zhiyong's otherwise written to the right of the illustration. . in them to the sixth-century mon compare the calligraphy Why is this the only scene to be presented in this contrary manner? Some the Eastern Jin and/or Sen'ichiro) . Ot h ers Cl't e 34; Naito Konan, I se The impression of "Ruisi Dongge" seal at the beginning of the scene fills one (fig. Fuset su [1866-1943) ' (fig. 35); Nakamura sutra-writing style third of the height of the actual painting, leaving no room for an inscription to early T ang wang Xianzhi (fig. . ) . I Sfll others cite Yu )lanhua be placed to the right. Immediately after the seal came the lady-in-waiting, Fukui Rikichiro [1886-1972), 1127-62) (fig. 37; or Song Gaozong ( r. Qichang [1555- 1636)) 36; Dong ' . . Tang court making the space to the left of her the only possible position for the IS to the early or say 1t c ose Jiru [1558-1639)) ' I & inscription. Chen (596-658) (figs. 38 and Chu Suiliang Yu Shinan (558-638) In other words, the seal came before the calligraphy. Clearly, when calligraphers _ Xiang Yuanbian and Zhu Basil Gray). I n d eed , ul Pelliot [1878-1945), the inscription came after, it could not have been executed in the seventh 39; Pa _ · more recent Ka1z' h l h 'l mself In the ea ll'lgrap hy of Gu Yizun believed it to be in the century CE by the likes of Zhiyong, Yu Shinan or Chu Suiliang. It absolutely h ll'graphy and painting . our chief concern here, t e ea I research, wh' IC h IS s of the must date to afterthe construction of the Palace of Imperial Contemplation in . mad e stylistic analysi as coeval. ThiS has Admonitions are seen . g 1075 CE. It follows, moreover, that if one has any doubt about the "Ruisi of the pam m . establishing the date f .lmport a nt basis for calligraphy an ties; why Dongge" seal, then on that account the calligraphy must be ascribed to a . fmg to be Six Dynas . IS. believes the pam Indeed, this wh Naito why correspondingly later date. This framework is fixed. to be early Tang; and (Tang 1961) believe it Gray and Tang Lan Another case should serve to prove the priority of the "Ruisi Dongge" Fukui, Y Song date for it' Taki favours a Northern style of seals over the inscriptions. This is scene 7, the "rejection" scene, where the . to nal down the period S manifest failure The reason for this 'I seal was impressed on a lost 3cm high area of the original silk at the top. this array of VIews,· stem from . IS. what has p recipitated the calligraphy' which that the Now, the process of transcribing the text here was no different from in other . ta ken preconception prejudices , from a mls possibly faddiS. h en't' lea point scenes (fig. 4). Had this inscription been written long or even shortly before I and from the following are coeval or nearly so, calligraphy and painting the impression of the "Ruisi Dongge" seal, a section of it the size of the having been overlooked. ·IS n ot missing seal would be missing at the upper edge. The fact that it is not in that its inscription all the other scenes Scene 2 is unlike Ban indicates that the inscription was written some considerable time after part of .lt lies. between Lady of the illustration. Actually, pos1't' 10ne d to the right . was an the seal was trimmed off in remounting. recogn1sm. g that this n-waltmg. . (filg. 40) . Not and her lady-i . 't'mg to be It is my belief that the Admonitions texts were not originally inscribed deemed the lady-m-wal arrangement, Ise Sen'ichiro beside each scene. This is, in part, because the inscriptions of scenes 5 and exceptional lack of connexion with He took the apparent first scene (1 22) . 6 were "irreverently" inscribed where there was no real place for them (fig part of the she was standing in . . of her to indicate that happening on either side 41), and, in part, because none of the calligraphy on the scroll appears to be what was world in which it was . , that th1s. was a To wnte,� as he did that old This formula-having pictorial illustrations without text-is similar introspection. ment) at once, was a . states (stilln. ess and move to occupy b th these to what we find with the Nymph of the Luo River scrolls. (Although they are possible 0 . " . . it has not been follows. . . saw this problem as grievous error. Taki gs to thiS copies, the antiquity of their compositions is not doubt). The text on the woman standing belon the lone figure of a ascertained whether
31
30 • -
I
'The Admonitions Scroll" Admonitions "The Scroll• Liaoning version is so obviously later added, which serves to corroborate this script. A divine object'· genuine" . link (fig. 42). (see appen · dix) The were fact when also there for the scroll bel onge Y a It is also possible to describe how the Admonitions inscriptions are not d to Yan Song . (1480 -1565) In the (1522-66).32 T . Jiajing period hIS narrows the stylistically pre-Song. In making comparisons with other extant works, period in questio . . n to between (traditiOnally 1279-1368) the Yuan and th e J"la . scholars have usually compared the form and composition of individual Jing (1522-66) . scroll . Wh en a copy was made in the of the (Yuan) Zh" heng . characters. But ultimately, it is impossible to speak of the stiff and coarse IZ penod (1341 - inclu 33 67) , Inscri· ptions ded. However, were t h ey were arrang . Admonitions calligraphy in the same breath as the elegant and powerful ed som ew hat the differently to British Museum Admom t Ions.· those on · Just to . brushwork, the lofty character and magnanimity of spirit with which Six state th a t the the first calligraphy dates half of the " to Yuan (I.e., ate 13 . Dynasties, Tang and Song calligraphy is imbued (fig 43). In general stylistic -early 14th c). . There I th IS overly specu are some unreso lative. lved pro blems terms, little meaning is communicated through the brushwork, while the here.
disunited, poorly aligned sequences in each column of characters are jarring COMPARISONS WITH RECORDED to the eye. I have already rehearsed the argument that the calligraphy could SCROLLS ADMONITIONS be no earlier than the Northern Song. But as long as we go on comparing It is hard . to argue convm . cmgly, for lack of . . ro ck -solid eviden the calligraphy of the Admonitions scroll with ancient styles, as our sequence of the ce, but the illustrations see ms to h ave got jumbled after 1ang predecessors wrongly have, our evaluations of its refinement will diverge purchased the " Yuanbian scroll In th e x· Mlng dynasty (1368-1644 midd . ), especially in drastically, and everyone will continue to hold their own opinion. In the light le to late Min _ the , PlCt onal albums and handscrolls reformatte were commonly of this difficulty in ever reaching a consensus, I believe it is time to address d into foldin� g screens to fa cilit ate viewin g. But converted when they were unexplored angles. back into albums a n d handscr olls , little atten t·Ion Although we can never conclusively identify the calligrapher, he has sequencing was paid to the -and some prett Y h orrendous remo unting occurred . It written in something resembling an ancient style. Taki proposed a date as like!Y that the Admonitions is very scroll suffe red this fat e. Unde mounting rgoing recurrent follows: ' the ed ges of the original s"JkI were repeatedly The calligraphy is in Tang dynasty style albeit of a lesser, lowlier resulted in . " trimmed, which the scenes fa irly . . shnn kJng m s1ze. sensibility. I now feel it is justifiable to see this writing as comparable . EVI ·d ent y, exten and retouc h sive patching mg was also nece . 1 to the Song dynasty form of Tang style. With no obvious name to ssary. It IS possib le the "Ruisi ascribe the calligraphy to, I think we are left with a tentative, mediocre had already . Dongge" seal long been m· from scene hand ... ISSmg 5 . n any event, bothering to without re-establish th e I correct sequence of scenes, Xiang This seems to me to be a fair and honest evaluation of the quality of the proceeded to stamp Yuanbian forty-one o his personal seals all . f . over the scroll . calligraphy, to be nothing if not far-sighted. There IS no reason why anyone who v·lewe d the remar scroll should So what is the likeliest date after the Song for the execution of the ked upon to have the d"ISor d ered sequence or th e condi deterio ration inscriptions? We know for a fact that they were present when Xiang tion. The Qing . of its collector A n Q1 (1683- 1742?. ) recor d "Lady . e d the scenes up Yuanbian acquired the scroll from the description he wrote on it: "A Ban Jieyu's refus . . to al to nd e In the Imperial litter " · possession of the Song Imperial Collection by Gu Kaizhi of the Jin dynasty, then showe m minute detail, but d just how p erp exed he was by 1 th e ord er of the painting of the Admonitions of the Preceptress, with text in small square 3::-2 ------scenes by simply Zhang Chou (1577-1643), Qinghe shuhua fang . 32
33 • -
Admonitions Scroll" "The Admonitions Scroll" "The shifted to the Jingyi Pavilion of the (Jianfu) Palace, The inscription 8 . The version ... mention scenes and (Si mei) mder, and oml lng to 7 says: 'The Four Objects of Beauty are brought together (in listing the rema. · tr the Beijing the correct sequence- one room) to express profound admiration' (tr. Gray 1966: 9; see nitions scroll that preserves of the Admo d the time appendix). production,. made aroun was a latter day Palace Museum copy- Admonitions. Tsh Museum the Qianlong emperor triumphantly wrote in his 1746 colophon to the owned th e B n I Qmgbi. . aO (1620-1691) that Uang . should properly Admonitions. . . B e.l)m . g, the reader The four great paintings so beloved of the late Ming collector turmng to the copy m However, before British Museum . bl e antiquity of the Gu Congyi had been reunited in the Qing imperial collection. "Deeply th e utterly mcompara have been awed b and the Y sequence of scenes impressed by the unexpected reunion of these ancient and classical hand, its jumbled Admom.ttons. . On one but hoary antique quality, treasures," as the emperor went on, "(We) have hastily scribbled these few themselves cI ou d ·ts1 of . 11us t ra tons deterioration I I to imagine . we fi d on it help us words, to show that (We) regard this roll as 'a sword reunited with its sea 1 •lm press 1ons m other, the countless the on the wn endorsement of fellow'." other words, the re-cataloguing of the Admonitions scroll in the provenance. M 0 nch. hIS. t ory and Y In the scroll's Admonitions: "the Shiqu baoji lavish praise. for the owed to its removal from the Imperial Library (Yushufang) to the .IS b An Qi's painting echoed .. brushwork Y o f d IV e qi The Studio of Tranquil Delight (Jingyixuan). fresh and lovely, full ... 37 nng. and washl4 is m colou . . As the Qianlong imperial collection became ever more bloated, long ate of lofty antiqU.ity , os1·t 1· on attain the ultim and comp separated pairs or groups of scrolls, and orphaned passages of paintings were uncovered and reunited. Such discoveries were dubbed "the destiny of Shiqu baoji d in . Admonitions scroll recorde brush art", and the objects concerned were transferred and re-housed that additi. on to the a Gunji observed juan 44.35 In Toyam i� same name in accordingly. As a result, the palace seals impressed on them did not . ao)l,·· there 1s another of the 38 juan 36 of Shtqu b scroll. ttOns. are one and the same always tally with the Shiqu baoji catalogue record. . M u seum Admom. these and the Bntls. h ue? fact, . Qianlong imperial catalog t re-entere d m the was the same objec in- So why paintings by Li Gongl 'tions and three h andscroll These "Four Beauties" were apparently above the shang deng or "top category"in use the Admom Journey 37 It is beca . UJU an) , and Dream the Qianlong inventory. The Admonitions scroll has a small orchid painting by the Nine Songs (JIUge t . (Shuchuan tUJU . an) ' Qianlong emperor on the brocade insertpreceding the colophon attributed to Song Shu River . 36 -were cut out for Xiang woyou tu]Ua n) Huizong/Jin Zhangzong. The other three, respectively, have his paintings of plum . Xiang Rivers (Xiao over the Xtao an d blossoms, cut stems of orchid and chrysanthemum, and ink bamboo. Further, at the ment. end of each scroll, respectively, are specially commissioned colophon-paintings by exceptional treat kept in the Pine, Bamboo, Rock and itions) h as a !ways been the Qianlong emperor's courtiers: Zou Yigui's {1686-1772) th e Admon Sh u R'ver1 Spring (Songzhu shiquan tu); Picture of the This picture (i.e., having acquired the ' Ding Guanpeng's (active about 1726-71) y; �ut s bsequ tl in), I had .lt Poetic Intent of Du Fu's "Eight Poems on Autumn Elation" (Du Fu Qiuxing ba shou Imperial Librar � �� �y Li Longmian (Gongl and Xlao-XIang ro l shiyi tu); Zhang Ruoai's (1713-46) Qu Yuan Humming Walking (Qu Yuan yinxing Nine Songs tu); and Dong Bangda's (1699-1769) Picture of Su Shi's& Poetic Intent (Su Shi shiyi 3tu). 2): 19 8 Among the best-known examples is the re-grouping of three mss of calligraphy: 33 in oh�ra 1967 (�t. t See He L�angjun 'Clearing Sudden Snow' (Kuaixue shiqing tie; Discussed K unquestlonably ouched up. [act.lve llJO:3 q :��� the Wang Xizhi After once kept in the 3 This colouring IS (i.e. Gu Congyl 'Mid-Autumn' (Zhongchiu tie; 4 . y, sa w Yanshan's le the Qianqinggong), the Wang Xianzhi once kept in the u h '· ngshuo: .Recentl l th Ladies agam. Wh1 Poyuan tie. of the Instructr s� o ng s Imperial Library), and the Wang Xun These were the three rare � ] monitions � �� mec rtf the silk and colouri �) �� that of Gu Huto ( u a )� s � efore 1569, the date o;� e specimens of calligraphy for which the Hall of the Three Rarities (Sanxitang) was �tbrush� ork was g up s� ou ther for date� to b founded in the Palace of Nourishing the Mind (Yangxindian). They were all given brand new". The touchm � � imperially inscribed titles and impressed with a relievo rectangular seal cut for this preface to his book. • Uangjun's no . 89-91, PP 59-60 . -Ed. d as a Nat.l ona collection reading "Sanxitang jingjian xi" (Imperial Seal for an Essential Mirror in the See SOQJ Song � o N tional Museum) is designate I Hall of the Three Rarities). Further, each of these three calligraphies received a 3536 The Xiao Xiang !1:pamtm g (Toky � Treasure" in Japan. 35 34 -- •
f Admonitions Scroll" 'The Admonitions Scroll" I 'The could enable us to resurrect the layout of the entire British Museum scroll grandest collection of amasSed the largest and The Q'Jan long emperor prior to the disappearance of these scenes. became completely inebriated seen. He and his associates Admonitions Chinese art ever of sagely At the head of the Beijing is the preface to the in such a prolonged era good fortune in living by their immense had alrea d y "Admonitions" text. The first admonition is illustrated in two pictures, one of The Admonitions scroll and cultural efflorescence. man in a hat in discussion with a woman (fig. 44), and another in which a enlightenment but having been . Shiqu baoji chubian (first edition), had an ornate fina e Jn woman is pictured sitting upright before a bench or table and some bronze I nd) edition to a glorious in the xubJan. ( seco re-housed, it reemerged vessels (fig. 45). The second admonition is illustrated with a picture of a overture. woman seated opposite two musicians playing sets of chimes (fig. 46). There is plenty of open space to each side of the paintings and inscriptions. EARLy PAINTINGS TWO COPIES OF The text missing from the first scene in the British Museum scroll, Kaizhi appeared in China "When a black bear attacked the emperor, Lady Feng threw herself in its researc papers Gu A number of unprecedented Palace 2 :� two artefacts in the path", is also found in the Beijing scroll. The text to scene of the British by the rediscovery� . after W Wll , rompted to L1 P Ad mom ·t·ons scroll attributed Museum scroll, depicting Lady Ban refusing to ride in the imperial palanquin, was a copy of the I Museum, Bel)Jng.. ne renzhi .. 0 enevo lent women (LienO is in its proper position in the Beijing scroll, that is, to the right of Lady Ban's scroll called Wise and Gonglin; the other, a 8 zhuan) lary Women (LienO lady-in-waiting. In the bedroom scene, the legs of the table (daubed in black wgraphies of Exemp tu) the senes. from a· · Wen 1955). in the British Museum scroll) are, in the Beijing scroll, depicted in outline, but . & Jin 1958; Tang 1961, KaJZhl. (Ma 1956 1958; attributed to Gu Museum the bedpost has been filled in (fig. 24). them and the British to explore links between want now However, the finer points about the Beijing scroll amount to these I Admonitions. alone, so any other "defects" of the British Museum scroll cannot be not reliably explained by further reference to it. Anomalies including the position ... itions scroll copy f the Admon The Be•J'"9 0 .. h b'Jan ·nventory of the Imperial and posture of Emperor Yuandi's hand holding his sword, the finger-tip Shiqu bao)l c u I This. artwork is recorded in the to the Court pulling the trigger of the cross-bow, the hand seen in the mirror, as well as . . of the Instructress . "Admomttons Library Uuan 32) as being the . . technique (batmtao) on the unintelligible lie of drapery lines are all the kind of simplification that . dbY Li Gonglin" in ink-outline Ladies handscroll pamte ter's . t'Jon s . There is no pain occurs when copies are made. And, merely recognising consistencies, say, . b en ) . It contains 12 Jllustra white paper (su]uan the ensembles . Gonglin merely apes between each of the palanquin and bed is no help in recovering att . butJon t o L'I or signature. The Qianlong n seal scroll does not grab the precise original forms of the British Museum painting. In a comparison of colophon-wn't ers. This views of t e f urt th-century 39 ; : ::: British Museum ve si n, the mountain scenes, for instance, the Beijing mountain has not just an overall similarity to the atten 1on ec e of its � � our . admonitions m1ssmg improbable shape, but the face and the texturing of it is incompetent. The illustrations for the two because it preserv es the but precisely because it dots in the centre mean nothing at all, the horse has disappeared altogether, pam. t' Jng It is significant the beginning of that . from and the tiger, which seems to have lost half its body, is ludicrous (fig. 47). an as imperial colophons �, a . as well i by the emperor and one by r to the "Four BeautieS pa nting th re . atment similar inscriptions. In oth�r words, �y . S , also, Kohara 1985: 18. 3�hese colophons are by: Bao Xilu (1345); Xie Xun (1370); Zhang Mei[he] (1390); Gu CongyJ s eol �c;:ion�:: ee that had once been m �=� and Zhao Qian (1392).
37 36 --
•
•nte Admonitions Scroll• Scroll• "TheAdmonitions sits alone, is an illustration of the text and sh as s· at a ' ou Id not be seen 1m1 ar to the Beijing copy was made .1 seems to mean is that the vernacular image in the JographJes. of Ex emplary Women.) What all this form, or, differed little from its present 8. the British Museum scroll Be�ng. a copy, we tend not to question how the B . .. "' :::::log time when any drastic original scroll did not suffer way, since scenes of the ;'""""'' tho omotloo.l ood lloo qoollty or lt. mo . . us put another made at a date "P""''" the copy must have been in the copying process, or a moment examine the attitudes' movements' postures a n::: d d1spositions. "losses" it indeed by Li ation to the model. Were . was relatively little restor of the figures. It is difficult to see the artist who was eapa ble of a wide range when there Song (1127- Gray would say, a Southern as scholars in China and of expressions, from the rath er uncompelhng. final seene 10. wh1ch . the ladies Gonglin, or scroll in its of the British Museum what we cannot understand giggle and chat' to the comp ex Inner. emotional wor k' �ngs of the figures in 1279) copy, copy. But reference to the Beijing 1 should be intelligible by the "rebuff" and "be d room " scenes, as the same ers who executed the present condition it was a Mr Wei Yu argued that P �� not perform this role. the Beijing scroll does three rather lifeless illustrations at the head of th e BeiJing scroll. Although Southern Song taboos on inscriptions observed the they appear to show what the British M useum scroll had lost, th ey are .In fact Song copy because its since the taboos are emperors (1961). But names of that dynasty's based on illustrations l'lke th ose 1n. a print e d'ltlon · of the Biographies of temple edition of the period (1821-50) print . observed in a Daoguang Exem pla ry Women, strongly suggesting that they were lifted fro m JUSt such a also re-cut after a Song Women that purports to be . Biographies of Exemplary source. The Biographies of Exemplary Women w oodblock Illustrations were observance to Song taboos painting (fig. 48), the version of a Gu Kaizhi necessarily prepared for print'Jng on paper, and feature just one or two a Song date. be taken as evidence of figures in each scene . A ny expression of movement is unnecessary. They cannot of the British Museum not approach the calibre The Beijing copy does suffice as artless illustrations of the text. Th e complex compositions of the above-, so its have been identified shortcomings British Museum scroll are n t to b e found here · It IS· regrettable that no scroll-its artistic the initial whether or not it preserves 0 on the question of direct model for the eiJing scroll can be cited, but prints like the one after significance hangs scenes ... Admonitions. Were these two 8 British Museum passage lost from the the preface, illustrating a tirade between a cou e, are common enough types of the British Museum .P I copied from the lost section in the Beijing scroll really (fig. 32). That said, the conjecture of th e d eslgner as to what background to doubts about this. "sample" f o . e ai � w n ll� without foundation. In other scroll? I have my the first :: �;� : ::; for a moment, we find that ; : � aside the preface dialogue words, th i h d e i useum scroll was perceptive Leaving Lady Feng : : � : of the Marquis of Wei, �:: Fan, the daughter enough to position the inscriptions in a coh eren t and orderly way vis-a-VIS · . four admonitions-Lady of Exemplary order in the Biographies . Ban-feature in this same the pictorial scenery, but lacked the talent to compose new scenes to replace and Lady both illustrate Museum and Beijing paintings Women. Although the British the two lost ones. who develops rich, complex scroll is by an artist . the same series, the former at To JUd ge by the ample space given each illustration , by the length of scenery and movement compositions to describe the paper actually used and by th e way that the lengths of paper are five and diverse figural (the ' and psychological intensity of danger (the bear attacking) times bridged at the JOins. . With . the seal "Hebei tang c un " (w1th. the one moments solitary woman with the exception of the scene). The latter scroll, exception of the "bedroom .. scene, where it has been removed), there . IS no palanquin compositions are hand whose mediocre . . . erect, is by an incompetent evidence that the BeIJing. scroll underwent any extraordin remounting sitting Museum scroll, "be (Scene 8 in the British : neither artistic nor insightful. procedures, such as we have seen with the British Museum se . in which a woman also guard over you behaviour", : watchful: keep an eager
39
38 -- •
Admonitions Scroll" "lhe Admonitions Scroll" •lhe children. It preserves ten "Biographies of the Benevolent and Wise" (Renzhi . mounting of the on etther th e paper or the The only collectors' seals zhuan) from the fifteen in juan 3 of the Biographies of Exemplary Women Qingbiao (1620-92). We of one individual, Liang Beijing scroll are those . text by Liu Xiang (about 79-6 BCE) of the Western Han.43 The work has an Yuan and mg collectors is not a single seal of the must wonder why there antique flavour to it: the women's dress and fashion accessories are, at first of �tts pro�e ance colophons,•o or any sign and connoisseurs who appended � glance, obviously comparable to those in the British Museum painting (figs 49 . Qing. Styhsttcally, . between earI Ming and early & prior to Uang Qmgbtao, Y 50). Things like the endlessly overlapping drapery folds, the long low scroll as a copy that us from regarding the Beijing there is nothing to prevent hems of the dresses and their upward flying trains, the hairstyles and wing l!, because Sun We know he had the wherewitha Liang Qmgbtao. . had dma e. like tiaras all immediately recall the same cultural era as the British Museum Biographies of Exemp ary he acqutre· d the 1 (1592-1676) tells us that painting. However, the gambolling silken outlines (and even the feel of the Chengze . ' ' ion.•• from Llang Qmg biao s collect Women scroll, to which we turn presently, light silk) of the British Museum scroll have been transmogrified into crude , . . recorded . b'tao s tme and in hts c1rcle cognoscenti of Liang Qmg "iron-wire" (tiexian) outlines. The drapery outlines are more formalistic and Which of the f . .tt . '•2· The fact is that it only came to light after his havmg seen th'ts painting simplified, and the daubing strokes used to shade the drapery are extremely the Qianlong imperial collection. clumsy. entered to preserve made to deceive, but also Copies have not always been Wu Hung recently wrote of this painting (1997: 47): seem to to the Beijing scroll would The Colophons attached . The figures in the Wise and Benevolent Women (Lienu renzhi tu) scroll and transmit. . h Admonitions scroll (i.e., the Bntts appear to be acting; their subtle expressions suggest inward h ancten. t copy of the . indicate that t e periO d contemplation. The costumes are carefully drawn; the folds, extant as late as the Zhizheng painting) was the only version emphasised by dark and light inkwash, are convincingly three Museum down h and s 'tI passed from then dimensional. Although we cannot know the extent to which such (1341-67). They also tell us through whose the loss of the stylistic attributes belonged to the original work or were supplemented .. (1522-66) · Although it suffered to the Jta)tng. peno. d . ��: by the Song-dynasty copier, we can recognize the period character of down to postenty · h it was nonetheless handed the painting by the selection of motifs. illustrations at the front, as the Zhizheng peno . in their proper order as far the remaining illustrations But this is not so. The lineament we see here is that used to render drapery in the eighth century. There is no shortage of examples of it: the Sh6toku zhuan) Scroll . Exemplary Women (Lienii Ta ishi (Shengde Taizi sanzun xiang) The B1ograp h''es · · portraits in the Japanese Imperial of AdmomtJOns scroll as a low value of the Beijing In stark contrast to the Collection; the Torig e dachi-onna (Niaomao linu) screen in the Shoso-in; the women scroll Is of far- Biographies of Exemp ary source of information, the 1 . . Five Planets and Twenty-eight Constellations ( Wuxing ershiba she zhenxing to Ll Gon hn noted painting is the copy attributed tu) 714-42) reaching significance. This � attributed to Liang Lingzan (active in Osaka Municipal Museum; Imperial Library mventory in the Qianlong emperor's Portraits of the Emperors (Diwang tu) above, and is recorded and attributed to Yan Liben (about Biographies. of Exemplary . · "A handscroll, (SQBJ ch u b 1an 32) , as follows · 600-674) in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. One could hardly say this stlk,. . tt b ears n . Jin" . Painted in Ink on 0 Women, painted by Gu atz h' ' o f the painting was a copy after anything like these. K 9 women, and 4 some 28 figures-15 men, s1gnatur. e or sea I . It features
ha•, u o zheng • and Xiao Shiying. Xiang, Biographies of Ex emplary Women (Lienu zhuan) (in Sibu congkan no. Including Yuanjlao, Jiang Ct� 43 Liu rl 3 For 40 Li Gengzi xiaox . . w8 p 060). Ea y illustrations of this text are outlined in Wu 1989: 252- . 1a . Shiqi and Sun •• sun Chengze, 11 (1613_85), An Qi, Gao translations, see Safford 1890 and O'Hara 1945; see also Wu 1989.-Ed. Including Song Lao (?-after 1696), Cao Rong 42Chengze. 41 40 •
"TheAdmonitions Scroll"
"The AdmonitiOns Scroll"
The Biographies picture can be dated by the "painting within the I evidence that the Admonitions scroll is not a uniquely transmitted relic of painting" on a screen placed behind Duke Ling of Wei (fig. 49). This antiquity. It confirms for us how the primitivism of pictorial engraving on landscape recalls the period-style of the Daguan (1107-10) period-Mi ( stone was ditched in favour of a new and liberated kind of didactic painting. Youren's (1075-1151) ink-wash landscapes, for instance-, but is not up to ( Extolled for being like a breath of fresh air, it now became the critically the standard of the Yuan-dynasty Mi-style painter Gao Kegong (1248-1310), acclaimed school of genre painting. Within this field of genre painting, the which makes it hard to date even to the Yuan period In light of the crude . ( so-called Gu Kaizhi style was peerless. ink-outlines and expressions of the figures, this copy of the Biographies f cannot be any older than the early Ming (1368-1644). DATE AND AUTHORSHIP It is not just the analogies in haute couture that call our attention to ( the Biographies. More significant is the similarity to the British Museum The main thrust of my research on this scroll has been to establish the date Admonitions of the expressive techniques used to render figural movements of the Admonitions scroll, and the identity of the painter of its original. Two and emotions, which suggest that its painter drew upon a certain familiarity pieces of evidence serve to link this painter with Gu Kaizhi. One is the brief Admonitions. I note just quoted with the In spite of being monochrome rather than in colour, from Mi Fu's History of Painting that mentions an the poses of the figures-with their hands extended, wrists raised, crestfallen Admonitions scroll "seen in Liu f Youfang's collection" after an original by Gu faces, and looks askance-express an array personalities and psychological Kaizhi. The other is the Song imperial catalogue record found in juan 1 of the Xuanhe painting manual (Xuanhe traits. These ably serve the development of the monotonous verbiage from huapu; XHHP) of 1120 CE. the original text, and make the whole more amusing and entertaining (fig. The biographies of and anecdotes about Gu Kaizhi contain no record of 50). (With this level of technical quality lacking in them, the first two scenes I his having painted this subject, nor does Mi Fu mention any signature on the of the Beijing Admonitions remain highly suspect.) We may recognise the horizontal scroll in Liu Youfang's collection. However, Mi's History also personality and talents of the same painter in the British Museum records: Admonitions and the Biographies scrolls, which, in fact, accords well with Mi The Th re Heavenly Ladie (San tiannD) � � in (a fellow collector) Xue Shaope�g � collection IS sa1d to be by Gu Kaizhi, but is really an Fu's evaluation of the paintings (as he knew them) at the beginning of his Tang pa1nt1ng. early Hua shi: 44 Currently in a literatus collection is a Tang copy of the Biographies of The ease with which Mi Fu makes light of the authorship-a flippant attitude Exemplary Women by Gu Kaizhi ... that is virtually identical to Mr Liu's seen throughout Mi's book towards prestigious styles and big names like Admonitions of the Instructress to the Court Ladies. Wang Wei (699-759) and Wu Daozi (active about 710-60)-would seem to Mi Fu's use of the term "virtually identical" tells us of the certain existence, infer that the Admonitions scroll did not yet have the signature of Gu Kaizhi, as late as the Yuanyou period (1086-93), of a "Tang copy" much older than merely the attribution to him. By contrast, in the Tang and pre-Tang the Biographies scroll extant today. sections of the Xuanhe huapu, the authors fail to resolve numerous It appears, then, that the original Biographies of Exemplary Women discrepancies between the works as described in their catalogue and in and Admonitions scrolls were painted by the same person or at about the Zhang Yanyuan's Lidai minghua ji. Indeed, they showed an inability to same time. The Biographies scroll is, therefore, valuable as comparative Th ree Heavenly Beauties (San •• tiannu meiren) said to be b Kaizhi 1 (HSCS ed1t1on, 2, p. 3) y Gu in XHHP v. should be the same painting.-Ed.
42 43 - •
Admonitions Scroll• Admonitions Scroll• "The "The
acknowledge the existence of copies in the catalogue. Many extant works engravings from the tombs of Princess Yongtai (709 CE) and Wei Jiong {708 recorded in it of course are copies, and this makes it a fairly unreliable CE) should enable us to put its date back to the Tang. However, although source. The attribution to Gu Kaizhi that envelops the Admonitions scroll is, lineament is an important factor in the dating of the painting, it is not a therefore, an act of imperial refiguring, an act that we must rethink. f deciding factor. On the basis of lineament alone, it is not possible to go beyond a rough guess that it may date to the Tang. This uncertainty about ( its date within the Tang or pre-Tang era leaves us no wiser as to the date of Signature and lineament Admonitions There is no doubt that the four-character signature "painted by Gu Kaizhi" at f the customs in it, or, indeed, as to the date of the original itself. the end of the Admonitions was not written on the original from which the To establish these dates more precisely we must depart the field of art history to conduct an archaeological investigation of the objects and fashions painting was copied, but added at some stage well after the copy was made. I displayed in the painting But because the crude calligraphy of this signature does not match the fine . painting, is weakly executed, and placed in an eye-catching position at the Furniture and fashion, and Wei-Jin murals centre of the painting, there is no doubt that it is a later-added forgery. The Admonitions scroll once played a substantial role as evidence of Six After I ascertained that there was no signature on the scroll in about 1582, it Dynasties material culture and fashion (Harada 1936). But since becoming became clear that the Gu Kaizhi "signature" we see today was written widely acknowledged as a copy, no revisionist studies of the objects depicted between then and the publication of Zhang Chou's (1577-1643) Qinghe in it have appeared in Japan. Gray's 1966 essay and the primary sources shuhua fa ng (the author's preface is dated 1616) (see Kohara 1967 [pt. 2] : quoted in his footnotes 7 to 15, in particular, are of interest as a summary of 22). All the fake Tang and Song seals were also impressed at this time, European and American scholarship, but the comparative materials Gray while the scroll was in Xiang Yuanbian's possession. The "Shaoxing" linked cited do not amount to corroborating evidence.45 Even as secondary sources seal at the right edge of the signature overlaps the "page" radical (no. Jl!i they are uncertifiable, and their dates are unclear. Gray's exhaustive study 181) of the character Gu ill· Nor did Xiang Yuanbian, when he stamped his of the evidence from Han to Song (i.e., 2nd c. BCE-13th c. CE) led only to the seal "Xiang Zijing jia zhen cang" {Treasured possession of Xiang Yuanbian) to rather vague conclusion that "the evidence suggests a pre-Song date of the left of the signature, make any special attempt to avoid it. Thus, the manufacture".46 However, his final conclusion was that the Admonitions most likely scenario has the four-character signature being carefully inserted after the scroll had entered Xiang's Hall of Heavenly Music {Tianlaige) and had that collector's seals stamped all over it. Gray cited the Han lacquer toilet boxes found at the l..jldl.e.ang tombs in Korea for 45the flower-decorated lacquer toilet boxes (1966: 12); The Thirteen Emperors Admonitions . We have refuted the argument that the is by Gu Kaizhi, attnbuted to Yan Liben in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston for the bed (1966: 12); and have suggested that it is a copy made in or before the Northern Song Sheng Teaching the Classics attributed to Wang Wei in Osaka Municipal Museum Fufor the table (1966: 13); the figures on the Torige dachi-onna screen in the Shoso (960-1127). However, see the exquisitely balanced lineament-likened by in, and copies of paintings by Zhou Fang and Zhang Xuan for the hair-styles (1966: I 13); the stone coffin in the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City "which may be the Yuan critic Xia Wenyan (14'h c.; THBJ) and by An Qi to "spring silk-worms Sui" for the dresses (1966: 13); Han-dynasty Bo Mountain censers (Boshan wall spitting silk"-as somewhat different from the taut Northern Song line that pamtmgs of the Tamamushi Shrine at the Horyu-ji temple, Nara, and the tu),painted leather plectrum-guard of a biwa lute in the south section of the Shoso-in for the (as Suzuki put it) "contains its meaning". Qn this basis, the scroll may be mountain (1966: 15-16). 46 Cf. Gray 1966: 12: "If the Admonitions scroll is scrutinized for evidence of date of back to at least the Northern Song. Comparisons with pictorial traced the composition, we find the following indications of its being pre-Song."-Ed.
45 44 -- ·� �f "The Admonitions Admonitions Scroll" Scroll" "The
scroll was a "true relic of the early Tang", of sixth- to seventh-century date.47 r To help in dating the Admonitions I should like to introduce the To refine his argument, I should like to revisit the following two points: r following items of comparative evidence.•• We begin with the murals in four fourth- and fifth-century tombs. ( 1) The style of the calligraphy which must be presumed to be r contemporary with the painting, also agrees with the [early Tang] (1) Mural of 357 CE in the tomb of Dong Shou at Anyue (Anak), date proposed (1966: 16). f Huanghai Beidao, North Korea (fig. 51). r (2) Jin-dynasty mural at Wangjiacun, Liaoyang (fig. 52). (2) These are not the [dress or hair] fashions of either middle or late (3) Eastern Jin mural, tomb at Yuantaizi, Chaoyang, Liaoning Province Tang, as represented in (a) the pottery tomb figures and (b) donor r (fig. 53). figures on the Dunhuang paintings (1966: 13). J (4) Mural of 408 CE in the tomb at Dexingli, North Korea (fig. 54). I have argued above why (1) is inadmissible. Regarding (2)(a), the "pottery In each of the four murals can be seen a screened-off bed hung with tomb figures", there is no reliable research on the dating of these figures, nor gathered layers of drapes stretched over a frame canopy. The trailing and does a look at extant figurines support his early Tang theory. As for (2)(b), \ uncertainly painted ribbons of the Admonitions scroll are certainly remnants "donor figures on the Dunhuang paintings", it is not clear which ones are of this embroidered square canopy. The apparently useless screens around being referred to, but the fashions in the Admonitions scroll are patently f the daises were originally used as one set, as was the custom of the day. different from High, middle and late Tang donor figures, as well as being I The protagonist sits in the most important "host" position, like the ruler in distinct from those in early Tang paintings.48 The donor figureson Dunhuang scene 1 of the Admonitions scroll (fig. 20). We can understand visually both paintings cannot be used as evidence in the manner he described. t how the drape material is stretched and what the geometric plan of each dais Nevertheless, we should reconsider the theory of a vague early Tang Is, which supports the notion that in outline, these features in the date, because underlying it is the undeniable fact that a Tang copyist would Admonitions painting are not primitive or emergent. A comparison with the have retained as much as possible of the mood of the then recent era of Gu picture of Lady Fan, wife of King Zhuang of Chu (cf. figs. 44 & 45) on a fifth Kaizhi. What Gray's view boils down to, by contrast, is a total reliance on the century lacquer screen in Shanxi Provincial Museum is also apt (fig.55). calligraphic style (which he likened to Chu Suiliang's) because what he really Recognisable traits of fashion include the scumbled red shading within the wanted was for the British Museum Admonitions to be the oldest one drapery lineament, as well as the flying tassels and thick folds of the skirts. possible. The tiaras in the Admonitions scroll, which beat like the wings of a phoenix, comprise small decorations suspended from a number of strands or shafts. They are quite similar to a gold flower- and tree-shaped ornament 47 Cf. Gray 1966: 16: "It has been argued that the actual style of the painting agrees best with the period just before the Tang or very early in that dynasty, that is to the unearthed from a Jin-dynasty tomb at Fangshencun, Beipiao, Liaoning 6th or early 7th centuryA. D .."-Ed. Early Tang: cave east wall; cave north wall. 48 329, High Tang: cave 103, south wall; cave225, 205, south wall; cave 217, north wall. It is hoped the reader will consult the existing detailed scholarship. For (1), Dong Middle Tang: cave 159, east wall. ••Shou's tomb, see Hong 1959, Okazaki 1964 and Gaojuli 1985. For (2), see 1959. Late Tang: cave 85, south wall and ceiling; cave 107, east wall; cave 144, east For (3), see Liaoning 1984. For Princess Yongtai's tomb, see Shaanxi 1964. UFor the wall; cave 192, east wall; cave 17, north wall. tomb at Chentaizi, see Chentaizi 1960.
46 47 Admonttions Scroll" "TheAdmonitions Scroll" "The
Province (fig. 56; Chentaizi 1960). A phoenix-patterned gold belt ornament not permit us to date the original Admonitions scroll to the first half of the was excavated from the same tomb. fourth century. In terms of artistic quality, the gulf between provincial, Scene 2 of the Admonitions shows the ruler riding in a palanquin with primitive murals and something like the Admonitions, which can only be a gauze-like covering. Similar ox-carriages that are not completely enclosed called a gem of metropolitan culture, is impossibly wide. None of these by curtains do exist, but the typical form of the carriage can be seen on Wei northern murals rule out the Admonitions scroll's being as early as or dynasty commemorative stelae.50 A comparable ox-cart is engraved on the contemporary with them, but there is no one piece of evidence that would same stone as, but to the left of figure 25 (fig. 57). And another ox-cart can enable us to juxtapose the two objects and determine them to be of the be seen beside the screened dais (in fig. 26) found on the stone engraving same date. It is also difficult to tell what regional differences between the (with an inscription dated 527 CE) unearthed from Mt Beimang at Luoyang culture on the periphery of China and in the central plains these two kinds of (fig. 58), now in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. The screened dais and evidence reveal, whether and to what extent these differences owe to gaps in ox-cart in the Boston engraving may be said to be coeval. Pennsylvania our chronology for painting history, or, indeed, what their origins are. It is University Museum also has a stone pillar of 524 CE engraved with an ox-cart no good just supposing that provincial objects and fashions depicted in of similar form. murals must be expressively na"ive and unskilled. The transformations in Contrary to what one might expect, therefore, when the objects and ( linear expression and in content that we find in the Admonitions are not only fashions in the Admonitions scroll are compared with the archaeological geographical, but also historical factors. evidence, as above, they correspond fully with no other cultural style but the So, as we turn to examine the authorship of the Admonitions, we find Jin. Of all this evidence, the exquisitely designed tiaras seem to clinch the that its painter's period of activity came shortly after the mural in Dong connexion. Also very relevant is {1), the tomb of a prominent ethnic Han Shou's tomb (357 CE), such that the name of Gu Kaizhi (about 345-406) family annihilated in northern Korea under the Gaojuli regime in 357 CE. The floats up tantalisingly before us. The problem of the artistic separation mortuary inscription of this tomb employs the Eastern Jin reign date "Yonghe between the central plains and the periphery of China is that we have had to 13'h year" (corresponding to 357 CE), 51 so it is not without good reason that consider the development of these two comparatively different types of it is taken to represent the culture of the central plains. Finally, we should artwork, but there is a strong case for arguing that there is a gap of about observe the close correspondence between the women's fashions in the fifty years between the (original) Admonitions painter and Gu Kaizhi. Gu Admonitions and those in the polychrome brick designs of Northern Dynasties Kaizhi was famous in various texts for the speed and fluency of his brush date excavated from a Southern Dynasties tomb at Deng County in Henan line, and for the superb personalities of his figures.52 This evaluation seems Province (fig. 59; Chen 1958). singularly appropriate for what we can imagine of the original from the However, simply recognising close links and similarities between the extant Admonitions, which inevitably lost something in the copying. His material culture in the Admonitions (or its model) and these materials, does l desire to innovate (see his essay in LDMHJ 5) and his concern with facial I expression, in particular, are the very qualities that appear before us in the Admonitions. An invest gation of this whole horse-and-carriage group {Hayashi 1961) confirms sublime figural expressions of the 50the defects i of these structures in both the British Museum and Beijing scrolls, described above fact, the reign. period had changed, and the date sh uld have been "Shengping 51lst Inyear". o 52 LDMHJ 1, 2 5; Song (8'" c.), Jiankang & Xu shilu. 48 49 "TheMmomtions Scroll• "The Admonitions Scroll•
A genuine eccentric, his talent for ribaldry, recounted in Liu Yiqing's (403-44) New Tales fr om Around the World (Shishuo xinyu) and in his own official biography (JS 92: 2404-6), fostered an ideal cultural environment for the daring innovations he would visit upon didactic painting.53 Together, these observations give us every reason to continue to recognise him as the pre-eminent, groundbreaking painter of the period. The attribution to Gu Kaizhi that the supremely talented connoisseur Mi Fu perpetuated was the affirmation of a champion of ancient painting who knew more about the subject than anyone. It cannot have been taken lightly, or based on pure imagination. All in all, therefore, the attribution of the Admonitions scroll to Gu Kaizhi is quite constructive.
CONCLUSION
For me, the British Museum's Admonitions scroll is a Tang dynasty tracing copy of an original scroll (moben) that transmits the customs of Gu Kaizhi's time. I would only say that it is possible to sustain the attribution to Gu Kaizhi, and am inclined to leave detailed conclusions to the researchers of the future. Through the above analysis, it became clear how the Admonitions scroll, once described as containing rather little of its original detail, has been handled so much that it is literally covered all over by wounds. But then again, it was worshipped in the gushing words of the Qianlong emperor as a > "divine omen from antiquity" (qiangu shenwu). This scroll has put up with more than a human lifetime of rolling and unrolling, like the Sphinx enduring the desert sandstorms. It keeps within it the unlimited answers to the questions we hurl at it, as it lies silent in the King Edward VII (r. 1901-10) Wing of the British Museum. Such is the allure of the extraordinary and beautiful Admonitions scroll.
Shishuo xinyu 5. See, also, Yao Zui (active 557-589), Xuhuapin, xu (Evaluation of 53Paintings, Continued; Preface); Zhang Huaiguan (8111 c.), Shu gu (Calligraphy I dealer); and LDMHJ 1.
50 51 "TheAdmonitions Scroll" Admonitions Scroll" "The
APPENDIX: Seal transcriptions54 "Xuanhe" §ID (relief, linked squares)-Xuanhe (1119-25 CE) palace seal "Yu shu" !iiili!J [Imperial calligraphy] (relief, gourd-shape)-Song Huizong (r. 1101-25) On the front pr otective wrapper (ge shuil of ye llow brocade: "Zijing fu yin" (relief, square)-Xiang Yuanbian 5.1 "Zhenghe" �ID (relief, rectangle)-Zhenghe (1111-17 CE) palace seal "Xiang Yuanbian yin" WjJt)tffi (relief, square) 1 1 "Tianlaige" �Bill (relief, rectangle)-Xiang Yuanbian (1525-90) . "Shen pin" i$� [Divine category] (relief, linked squares)-Song Huizong ? 3.3 "Xiang Yuanbian yin" (intaglio, square) "Molin mi wan" �l�tsm [Private plaything of the Ink Forest (Hall)] (relief, 3.4 "Yuan yang hu chang"WjJt)tffi XU�7.il� (intaglio, square) square)-Xiang Yuanbian 1.3 "Xiang Shuzi" Ij!j�:f (intaglio, square) "Zhang Bin zhi yin" �ijt2ffi [sealZhang of Bin) (relief, square)-Zhang Bin "Xiang Zijing jia zhen cang" .ii1HJ?-��m(relie f, rectangle) 8'1!iH!!� 1.4 "Gong bao shi jia" (intaglio, square) Scene 1 (middle passage): Wi���:l!ta 3.6 "Xiang Molin jianshang zhang" (intaglio, square) "Ruisi Dongge" ���Hal [(Palace of) Imperial Contemplation, East Wing] 4.2 "Ju lu" �1.1 [Fungus hut] (intaglio, rectangle) (relief, square)-Northern Song palace seal 4.3 "Tian chou geng nou" IBI.?HJH� [Ploughing and hoeing paddy fields and ! "Molin Xiang shi Zijing" �llmEi3J?- [Molin, Master Xiang, Zijing] (intaglio, arable land] (intaglio, square) rectangle)-Xiang Yuanbian 3.2 "Zuili" �� [a place in Zhejiang] (relief, round) "Xianzhitang yin" �i&�ED [seal of the Hall of Worthy Ambition] (intaglio, 5.2 "Zhang Zezhi" ��2 (relief, square)-Zhang Xiaosi (active about 1602) square)-Song imperial seal 2.2 "D� Zaixin" �tt¥ (relief, square)-D.Zhongguang (1623-92) I "Nanhua waishi" Wj�9f.� (intaglio, rectangle) 2.1 "Bin chen" fH2 (relief and intaglio, square) 1.2 "Liang Qingbiao" (relief, square)-Liang Qingbiao (1620-91) �il!i� Bridging border: "Jing xin bao shui xue" }'Jll��l.l<� (relief, square, with double border) "Xuanhe" (relief, rectangular)-Xuanhe ( 1119-25 CE) palace seal 4.1 "An shi Yizhou shuhua zhi zhang" �fHl�SII:2� [Seal of calligraphies ( and paintings of Mr An Yizhou] (intaglio, rectangle)-An Qi 2.3 "Boyatang baowan yin" j!�nlg:�.mED [Seal on a precious plaything of the "Ruisi�; Dongge"-Northern Song palace seal Hall of Breadth and Elegance] (intaglio, rectangle) "Xiang Yuanbian yin" (intaglio, square)-Xiang Yuanbian 3.1 not identified "Molin mi wan" (relief, square) "Xiang shi Zijing" Wif:t:fl?- (intaglio, square) Bridging the border: Inscription: "Juan zi qishi hao" ���181t [scroll zi, number 70]-inventory Scene 3: ..,.._- number "Ruisi Dongge"-Northern Song palace seal 1: seal with a three (?)-character legend between confronted "dragons" "Taohuayuan li ren jia" �7EJ!J!�LA.� [Abode at Peach Blossom Spring] (relief, (relief, ovaI) rectangle) 2: "San huai zhu ren" [Master of the Three Locust Trees] (relief, square) �!!U_B) Scene 4: "Si wu xie [zhai?)" l!JIU!lO (relief, square)-Gong Erze (active 1736-95) ? 1 "Ruisi Dongge"-Northern Song palace seal "Bin yin" hl!ED (relief, square)-Zhang Bin (active 1436-49) "Xiang Molin fu miji zhi yin" m�tl�ftm.2ED (relief, rectangle)-Xiang 3: "Xiang shi Zijing" mEi3J?- [Master Xiang Zijing] (intaglio, square)-Xiang Yuanbian Yuanbian I Scene 5: Scene 1 (opening passage): "Xiang Molin Zijing fu zhencang shuhua zhang" Wifl�;f;:firt��iiilW� "Qian gua" [the qian trigram] (relief, round)-Shaoxing imperial seal ? (intaglio, square)-Xiang Yuanbian elil- t After Kohara 1966 (pt. 1): 27-28, n. 1. Most of the seals listed here pre-date the Scene 6: 54 Admonitions scroll's entry into the Qing Imperial collection. (Some Q anlong and "Ruisi Dongge"-Northern Song palace seal later seals are included for clarity). The numbers provided before some iof the seals "Molintang" �tt.g: (intaglio, square)-Xiang Yuanbian indicate their positions within the given section of the scroll: e.g., indicates the. "Ju ni zhi chou" )§�211 (intaglio, square) seal in the fifth column counting from ght to left and5.1, from top to bottom 1 first , r Seals that bridge adjoining lengths of paper, silik and/or brocade are numbered from ( top to bottom. Scene 7:
52 53 Admonitions Scroll" "The Admonitions Scroll" "The
"Ruisi Dongge"-Northern Song palace seal 3.1 "Xiang shi Zijing" (intaglio, square) "Zijing zhencang" -3-��� [Treasure from Zijing's collection] (relief, 2.2 "Lu Jingyan yin" f@ � j!i ED (intaglio, square)-Lu Jingyan square)-Xiang Yuanbian 3.2 "Zhang Zezhi" (relief, square)-Zhang Xiaosi "You he bu ke" 'ij"@1' qJ (intaglio, square) Bridging border (of the bluish and grey brocades): Scene 8: 1: "Qun yu zhong mi" 6¥:lief:l� (relief, square)-Jin Zhangzong (r. 1190- "Ruisi Dongge"-Northern Song palace seal 1208) "Xiang Yuanbian yin" (relief, square)-Xiang Yuanbian Two border seals � � WA "Molin shanren" (intaglio, square) 4: "Chang" � (relief, square)-Jia Sidao (1213-75)
Scene 9: On central divide (buff brocade with phoenix in cloud pattern): � 9H!� "Mol in waishi" � (intaglio, square)-Xiang Yuanbian 1.1 "Neifu tushu zhi yin" � Jffl ill i!J 2ED [Palace library seal] (relief, square) Jin Zhangzong (r. 1190-1208) Scene 9 (end): 1.3 "Qiuhuo tushu" tk � 11 � (relief, square)-Jia Sidao "Ruisi Dongge"-Northern Song palace seal 2.1 "Jiangshang Dan shi tushu yin" �Et ED (relief, rectangle)-Dan "Guangrendian" ifi C � [Palace of Widespread Humanity] (relief, rectangle) Zhongguang rr _t a 11 government seal 1.3 "Jiaolin Yuli shi tushu" 1{\� 3iTI Et ill fl (relief, square)-Liang Qingbiao "Hongwen zhi yin" 5b )( 2 ED [Seal of (the Office for) the Dissemination of 1.2 "An Yizhou jia zhencang" '?i� � � � � (relief, rectangle)-An Qi Culture] (relief, square)-Tang government seal "Xuanhe" (relief, rectangle)-Xuanhe (1119-25 CE) palace seal Bridging border (of the buff and yellow brocades): "Shaoxing" JBQ (relief, linked squares)-Shaoxing (1131-62 CE) palace seal 1: "? ? ? ?" (relief, square) "Shen pin" [Divine category] (relief, linked seals)-Song Huizong 2: "De mi" � � (relief, gourd-shape) "Ji ao" � (relief, gourd-shape) 9i 3: "Zi sun yong bao" -3- � 7.R l!j1 (intaglio, square) "Xiang Yuanbian yin" (relief, square) 6: "Gong bao shi jia" 151li1!!!� (intaglio, square) "Molin mi wan" (relief, square) 5: "Shen you xin shang" i111lli!ll�rlii (relief, square) "Xiang Zijing jia zhen cang" � -3- � � � � (relief, rectangle) 4: "Bin chen" (relief & intaglio, square) "Lu Jingguo yin" !'@ jlll m ED (relief, square)-Lu Jingguo 7: "? ? ??" (intaglio, square) "Zhang Bin zhi yin" (relief, square)-Zhang Bin On central divide (yellow brocade): Bridging border (all half seals): 1: "Shiqi zhi yin" :t �2 ED (relief, square)-Gao Shiqi ( 1645-1704) 1: "? ??shang" 2: Orchid painting and one seal (relief, round)-Qianlong emperor (r. 1736- 2: "Xiang Zijing jia zhen cang" (relief, rectangle)-Xiang Yuanbian 95) 4: "Molin shanren" (intaglio, square) Inscription (tr. Gray 1966: 8): 5: "Xiang Shuzi" (intaglio, square); � !illU1H�fmiil+§ 3?: "Bin yin" (relief, square)-Zhang Bin 2�.\EI!i�gla!liil- 2 ��n� IIUUli ��§[q] On central divide (bluish brocade following blank beige strip): liH�fiffi!lii 2.1 "Shaoxing" (relief, linked squares)-Shaoxing (1131-62 CE) palace seal "One summer's day in a moment of leisure chanced to examine Gu Kaizhi's 1.1 "Tianlaige" [Hall of Heavenly Music] (relief, rectangle)-Xiang Yuanbian picture of the Preceptress. AccordinglyI I drew a spray of epidendrum, 2.4 "Xiang Yuanbian shi shending zhenji" � 7t ""fEt m»: IQ� [Genuine traces with no other intent but to illustrate the idea of beauty in chaste authenticated by Master Xiang Yuanbian] (intaglio, square) retirement. Written by the Emperor in the Laiqing Pavilion." 2.3 "Pingsheng zhenshang" zp 1; � � [True appreciation of a lifetime] (relief, 3: two seals (both relief, square)-all of Qianlong emperor square) "Leng yan jing she" m IH�25 (intaglio, square) Bridging border (of yellow brocade and brown silk): 2.5 "Zuili Xiang shi shijia baowan" ���Et m [Treasured plaything of I!! �� 1: border seal (intaglio, square) the Xiang family of Zuili] (relief, recta ngle) 2: border seal (intaglio, rectangular) 3.3 "Xiang Molin jianshang zhang" � !H;f;:la'i � l [Connoisseurship seal of 3: "Mol in shanren" (intaglio, square)-Xiang Yuanbian Xiang Molin] (intaglio, square) 4: "Zi sun shi chang" -3- � (!! I§ (intaglio, square)
54 ss r
Admonitions Scroll" Admonitions Scroll" "The "The
Dong Qichang says in his inscription upon Li Longmian's (i.e., Li On brown silk: Gonglin, about 1041-1106) picture of the Rivers Xiao and Xiang: 'Mr Transcription of text to scenes 7-9 (variant text)-attributed, variously, to Secretary Gu (i.e., [Gu Congyi], about 1520-about 1580) was the Song Huizong, Song Gaozong and Jin Zhangzong owner of four famous rolls, and in enumerating them he mentions this Seal of Zhang Yujun (active 1368-98) one first.' How rightly! This picture has always been kept in the Imperial Library, but subsequently, having acquired the Shu River, Bridging border (of brown silk and grey brocade with phoenix pattern): Nine Songs and Xiao-Xiang rolls by Li Longmian, I had it shifted to the 1: "Yu shang" [Imperial appreciation] (relief, rectangle) Jingyi Pavilion of the [Jianfu] Palace, so that together they might 2: "Ye qi yu yin" (relief, rectangle) correspond exactly to the famous group mentioned in Dong's note. ;a��� 3: seal (relief, rectangle) The inscription says: 'The Four Objects of Beauty are brought together (in one room) to express profound admiration.' Deeply impressed by On grey brocade: the unexpected reunion of these ancient and classical treasures, I have 1.1"Liang Qingbiao yin" (intaglio, square)-Liang Qingbiao hastily scribbled these words, to show that I regard this roll as 'a 1 .2"Jiaolin" (relief, square) sword reunited to its fellow'. Written by the Emperor in the Jingyi 1.3 "Bazheng maonian zhi bao" i"\� iiff 2� (relief, square)-Qianlong Pavilion, five days before the summer solstice of the year bingyin emperor (r. 1736-95) (1746) in the reign of Qianlong." Three seals of Qing Gaozong: "Qian", "Long", "Yushu" ("Written by the Bridging border (of grey brocade and a slip of paper (?]): Qianlong emperor"). 1: "Yan lu" (relief, square) &lB Bridging the border: On slip of pape r: A half-seal; the other half at the beginning of the following. Colophon (seal script) (tr. Gray 1966: 8): SR&R'9tnil Mounted separately, a painting by Zou Yigui (1686-1772), Pine, Bamboo, ��H�21JI�I§"9:��li!l�ilm and Spring (Songzhu shiquan tu), �!l.ti$W.A.l¥l7t1'���� Rock inscribed: "Chen Zou Yigui "A possession of the Song Imperial Collection by Gu Kaizhi of the Jin dynasty, gong hua" (Respectfully painted by your servant Zou Yigui), with two painting of the Admonitions of the Preceptress, with text in small small seals. square script. A divine object; genuine. Now the highly prized Two Qianlong imperial seals. possession of Xiang Yuanbian of the Ming dynasty, called also Molin Shanren." 1: "Xiang Yuanbian yin" (relief, square) 2: "Molin mi wan" (relief) 3: "Xiang Molin jianshang yin" (intaglio, square)
Bridging the border: 1: "Yunxia[zhai?]" �8(J.&)(relief, rectangle) 2. "Neifu shuhua zhi bao" p;j R9E � 2 � (intaglio, square)
Colophon of Qing Gaozong (Qianlong) (tr. Gray 1966: 8-9): "Gu Kaizhi of the Jin dynasty was skilful at painting in colour. He said himself that the power to express a man's soul in a portrait depended entirely on 'a certain thing'; and he knew that without entering deeply into samadhi this power could not be attained. This scroll, illustrating the t Admonitions of the Preceptress, has been handed down for more than a thousand years. Yet the radiance of genius shines forth from it; every expression and attitude is full of life;-an art not to measured by the compasses and plumb-lines of later men. l
56 57 Admonitions Scroll" Admonitions Scroll'" •The "The
LIST OF FIGURES Anonymous (Song period), copy of Gu Kaizhi's Nymph of the Luo River 10 Unless otherwise noted, all figures are of the Admonitions scroll in the British (Luoshen fu ). Detail of a handscroll; ink & colour on silk. Freer Gallery of Museum: handscroll mounted on two panels (title, wrappers and colophons; Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C.. 1 painting); ink and colours on silk, h. 19.5cm. 1 "Moon, Queen Mother of the West, three-legged bird, and nine-tailed fox", mural on �est wall of antechamber in tomb no. 5, Dingjiazha, Jiuquan shi, Gansu Provmce. Eastern Jin dynasty (317-419 CE). (Wenwu 1979 6: pi. 2). 1 Scene 9, detai l: the instructress. "Thus has the Instructress, charged with . the duty of admonition, thought good to speak to the ladies of the palace "Hunter nd mountains", copy after mural in tomb at Yuantaizi, Chaoyang 1 � . harem." x1an,� L1aonmg Provmce. Eastern Jin dynasty (317-419 CE). (After Wenwu 1984.6: pi. 5.1). 2 Scene 9, det ail: two court ladies approach the instructress. Scene 5: the bedroom scene. "If the words that you utter are good, all Scene 3, the landscape and hunter. From Maeda Seison's (1885-1971) 13 Admonitions men3 for a thousand leagues around you will make response to you. But if copy of the scroll, made in autumn 1922. Collection of Tohoku you depart from this principle, even your bedfellow will distrust you." University, Japan. Landscape in the illustration of the tale of the illusory city from the Lotus Scene 7: the rejection scene. "No one can please forever; affection cannot 14 4be for one alone; if it be so, it will end in disgust. When love has reached its Sutra. Mural in Dunhuang cave 103. High Tang dynasty. 5 highest pitch, it changes its object; for whatever has reached fullness must 1 Landscape scenery on a mirror. Tang dynasty, early-mid 8th century. needs decline. This law is absolute. The 'beautiful wife who knew herself to Tokyo Nat1onal Museum. Presented to the Horyu-ji by Empress Komyo in be beautiful' was soon hated. If by a mincing air you seek to please, wise 738 CE. men will abhor you. From this cause truly comes the breaking of favour's 6 1 Landscape scenery on a mirror. Tang dynasty, mid century. Shoso-in bond." B"' collection. Presented to the Shoso-in by Empress Komyo in 756 CE. Scene 7: the rejection scene, from Maeda Seison's (1885-1971) copy of the 17 5 Rows of mountains in Jataka (lives of the historical Buddha) pictures. Admonitions scroll. Made in autumn 1922. Collection of Tohoku University, Mural in Dunhuang cave 428. Northern Zhou dynasty (557-580). Japan. 6 Detail of a palace lady, line engraving on stone sarcophagus tomb of Scene 3: the landscape and hunter. "In nature there is (nothing) that is 18 Princess Yongtai (685-701) at Qian xian, Shaanxi Province. Tan dynasty exalted which is not soon brought low. Among living things there is nothing ' 709 CE. � which having attained its apogee does not thenceforth decline. When the 19 sun has reached its mid-course, it begins to sink; when the moon is full it Scene 6, the family group. "To utter a word, how light a thing that seems! begins to wane. To rise to glory is as hard as to build a mountain out of Y�t from a word, both honour and shame proceed. Do not think that you are dust; to fall into calamity is as easy as the rebound of a tense spring." hidden; for the divine mirror reflects even that which cannot be seen. Do not think that you have been noiseless; God's ear needs no sound. Do not boast Anonymous {Song period), copy of Gu Kaizhi's Nymph of the Luo River 7 of your glory; for Heaven's law hates what is full. Do not put your trust in (Luoshen fu ). Detail of a handscroll; ink & colour on silk. Palace Museum, honours and high birth; for he that is highest falls. Make the 'Little Stars' Beijing. your pattern : do not let 'your fancies roam afar'. Let your hearts be as Nymph of the Luo River 8 Anonymous (Song period), copy of Gu Kaizhi's locusts and your race shall multiply." (Luoshen fu ). Detail of a handscroll; ink & colour on silk, h. 26.3 cm. Scene 1, Lady Feng Wan places herself between the emperor and a black Liaoning Provincial Museum, Shenyang. 20 bear. The inscription for this scene has long been lost. Seals that should 9 Qiao Zhongchang (active first half 12th c.), Latter Red Cliff Ode (Hou Chibi �ave been impressed close together, according to a logic of chronological fu ). Detail of a handscroll; ink on paper, h. 29.5 cm. Nelson-Atkins Museum mcrement, are not. of Art, Kansas City. "Clambering over roots twisted like dragons, I pulled my The "Hongwenguan" (Academy for the Dissemination of Culture) seal, way up to the eagle's precarious nest and looked down into the hidden halls 2 detail1 from Wang Xianzhi (344-386; ms. copy after), Mid Autumn (Zhongqiu of the river god. I gave a long, shrill whoop. Trees and grasses shook and tie). (After SDQJ 4: 96). swayed, the mountains rang, the valley echoed. A wind came up; roiling the water, and I felt a chill of sadness, a shrinking fear." 22 The "Hongwenguan" (Academy for the Dissemination of Culture) seal, detail from Wang Xizhi (321-379), Parcel of Salt Fish (Guozha tie). Ink rubbing. (After SDQJ 4: fig . 44).
59 58 .-
"The Admonitions Scroll" •The Admonitions Scroll·
23 The "Hongwenguan" (Academy for the Dissemination of Culture) seal, Song Gaozong (r. 1127-62), Preface to Emperor Huizong's L terary detail from Yu Shinan (558-638), Tomb Inscription for Prin cess Ru'nan i 37Collection (Huizong wenji xu). Detail. Private Collection, Japan. (Ru'nan gongzhu muzhi), dated 636 CE. Handscroll; ink on paper, 26.3 x SDQJ 39.5 cm. Shanghai Museum. (After 7: 81). 38 Yu Shinan (558-638), Stela for the Confucius Temple (Kongzi miaotang bei). SDQJ Admonitions Detail of an ink rubbing, 28.3 cm. (After 7: 70). 24 The bedroom scene. From the copy of the scroll. Palace Museum, Beijing. Stela for Master Meng (Meng Fashi bei). 39 Chu Suiliang (596-658), Detail of Northern Wei dynasty an ink rubbing. (After SDQJ 8: 6). 25 Genre scene with musicians. Stone engraving. (386-533). Tenri Sanko-kan, Nara.
40 Scene 2, detail of Lady Ban, inscription, maid and "Ruisi Dongge" seal. 2 Genre scene. Stone engraving (rubbing of ?), excavated at Beimangshan, 6 "Lady Ban, by her refusal lost the pleasure of riding in the imperial litter. Xiaochang, Luoyang. Dated 527 CE. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Was it that she did not care to? No! but she was anxious to avoid even hidden and remote consequences." 27 Scene 4, the toilette scene. "Men and women know how to adorn their faces, but there is none who knows how to adorn his or her character. Yet if Scenes 3 & 4, detail of the transitional space between scenes. the character be not adorned, there is a danger that the rules of conduct 41 maybe transgressed." Nymph of the Luo River 42 Anonymous (Song period), copy of Gu Kaizhi's (Luoshen fu ). Detail of a handscroll; ink & colour on silk, h. 26.3 cm. The "Ruisi Dongge" seal (in the lower left corner), detail from Han Huang 28 Liaoning Provincial Museum, Shenyang. The narrative text is an obvious Five Oxen (Wuniu tu). & (723-787; attributed to), Detail of a handscroll; ink later addition to the scroll. colour on paper, 20.8 x 139.8 cm. Palace Museum, Beijing. 43 Scene 6, detail of the inscription from the family group. "To utter a word, The "Ruisi Dongge" seal (in the upper left corner), detail from Han Huang 29 how light a thing that seems! Yet from a word, both honour and shame Literary Gathering in a Garden (Wenyuan tu). (723-787; attributed to), proceed. Do not think that you are hidden; for the divine mirror reflects Detail of a handscroll. Palace Museum, Beijing. even that which cannot be seen. Do not think that you have been noiseless; God's ear needs no sound. Do not boast of your glory; for Heaven's law The "Ruisi Dongge" seal (in the upper left corner), on Han Gan (about 715- hates what is full. Do not put your trust in honours and high birth; for he 30after 781; attributed to), Holding a Horse (Muma tu). Album leaf National . that is highest falls. Make the 'Little Stars' your pattern : do not let 'your Palace Museum, Taipei. fancies roam afar'. Let your hearts be as locusts and your race shall multiply." The "Ruisi Dongge" seal, detail from Wang Xianzhi (344-386; copy after), Equn31 tie ('Flock of geese '). SDQJ Detail of a handscroll. (After 4: 94-95). 44 Detail of the preface and first part of first scene: Lady Fan prevails over (her husband) King Zhuang (r. 696-681 BCE) by refusing to taste the flesh of 32 The "Ruisi Dongge" seal from Wang Xizhi (321-379), Four Sheets of Flying newly slaughtered birds. From the copy of the Admonitions scroll. Palace White Scrpti (Sizhi feibai tie). Detail of an ink rubbing. Museum, Beijing. 33 The "Ruisi Dongge" seal from Su Shi (1037-1101), Du Fu 's 'Poem on the Alder Tree' (Du Fu Kaimu shi juan). Detail of a handscroll. 45 Second part of first scene: Lady Fan refusing to taste the flesh of birds newly slaughtered by her husband King Zhuang (r. 696-681 BCE). From the 34 Zhiyong (active late 6th-early 7th c. CE), Th ousand Character Classic copy of the Admonitions scroll. Palace Museum, Beijing. (Qianziwen). Late 6th c. CE. Detail of an album (?); ink on paper, 24.5 x 10.9 cm. Ogawa Collection, Kyoto. (AfterSDQ J 5: 60-83). Second scene: the daughter of the Marquis of Wei awes her husband Duke 46Huan of Qi (r. 681-643 BCE) by refusing to listen to his licentious music. 35 Anonymous (Eastern Jin, 317-419), detail of a sutra transcription. (After From the copy of the Admonitions scroll. Palace Museum, Beijing. Dong Jin zhujing jiyao). 47 The mountain and hunter scene. Detail from the copy of the Admonitions Wang Xianzhi (344-386; copy after), Th e Twenty-ninth (Nianjiu ri tie ). scroll. Palace Museum, Beijing. 36(After SDQJ 4: 102).
48 The daughter of the Marquis of Wei and her husband Duke Huan of Qi (r. 681-643 BCE). From Biographies of Exemplary Women (Lienu zhuan), a
60 61 "The Admonitions Scroll" -,.,e.ADmonitions Scroll·
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY Daoguang period (1821-50) re-cut of a Song dynasty (960-1279) woodblock print edition. The last stroke of the character Huan in the cartouche in the upper right corner is missing in observance of the Song dynasty taboo on this Acker 1954: William R.B. Acker (1907-), Some T'ang and Pre -T'�ng Texts on character. Chinese Painting. Leiden: E. J. Brill. Hyperion repnnt e.9!t1on 197�. An Qi (An Yizhou 1683-1742?), Moyuan hUJguan �9Bjilll!. 6 ;uan. Duchess (the unworthy Nanzi?) serving her husband, Duke Ling of Wei (r. 49 �r&1742 China : s.n.,{jl2jj 19--?. ; 533-492 BCE). From Biographies of Exemplary Women (Lienu zhuan). . Detail of a handscroll; ink on silk. Palace Museum, Beijing. Bian Yongyu "t7X� (1645-1712), Shigutang shuhua huikao 5tc5¥:!1HlUis- Scene 3, the story of Cao Xi and his wife. From Biographies of Ex emplary Shanghai: Shanghai guji, 1991. 50 Binyon 1904: Laurence Binyon ( 1869-1943), " A Ch1nese. . Pamtmg. of the Women (Lienu zhuan). Detail of a handscroll; ink on silk. Palace Museum, . Fourth Century", in The Burlmgton. Magazme (1904) 1. Beijing. . Binyon 1912: Admonitions of the Instructress in the Pa�ace. A ��mtmg. by Ku K'ai-chih in the Department of Prints of Drawmgs, Bnttsh Museum, 51 Copy of a mural depicting the deceased. Tomb of Dong Shou, Anyue (Anak) tomb no. 3, Huanghai Beidao, North Korea. Dated 357 CE. (See Reproduced in Coloured Woodcut. Text b� Laurence B1�yon; Hong 1959, Okazaki 1954, and Gaojuli 1985). woodblock engraving by S. Sugisaki; colour pnnt1ng. by Y. Urush1bara. London: British Museum.
52 Line drawing of a mural depicting the deceased feasting. Tomb at Wangjiacun, Liaoyang, north-east China. Jin dynasty (265-419 CE). (See Li Cao Zhi �� (192-232), "Huazan xu" �M§; (Preface to the 'Eulogies on 1959). Painting'). Partially extant in quotation. Cao Zhi, "Luoshen fu" (Nymph of the Luo Rtver. Ode) . Chaves 2000: Jonathan�iJIII:iii Chaves, The Chinese Poet as Pamter.. New York: 53 Copy of a mural depicting the deceased. Tomb at Yuantaizi, Chaoyang, Liaoning Province. Eastern Jin dynasty (317-419 CE). (After Wenwu 1984.6: China Institute. . pi. 5.2.) Chen 1958: Chen Dawei, "Henan Deng xian faxian Beichao qi se�a1 huthua. xiangzhuan mu" (A tomb containing polychr me-p mted ptctures on Mural depicting the deceased. Tomb of the Prefect of Youzhou (Youzhou � � 54 brick discovered in Deng County, Henan Provmce), 1n Wenwu cankao shisanjun taishou), Dexingli, North Korea. Dated 408 CE. ciliao 1958.6: 55-56.
55 Lady Fan, wife of King Zhuang of Chu (r. 696-681 BCE). Lacquer painted Chen Jiru llflill� (1558-1639), Nigu lu !/Be�- . screen from tomb of Sima Jinglong and his wife, Datong, Shanxi. Northern Chentaizi 1960: "Liaoning Beipiao Fangshencun Chenta1z1. mu" (Tomb at Wei dynasty, before 484 CE. Shanxi Provincial Museum. Chentaizi, Fangshen Village, Beipiao, Liaoning), in Kaogu 1960.1. Chu ci 1Eif (Songs of Chu; attributed to Qu Yuan [about 343-about 277 Flower- and tree-shaped gold ornaments Unearthed from Jin tomb no. 2, et al.): 56 . BCE], "Jiu ge" 1tfl (Ninesongs) . Fangshencun, Beipiao, Liaoning Province. Jin dynasty (265-419 CE). (See Chengtaizi 1960). DGL: wu Sheng (active early 181h c.), f?agu�n lu J;:W� (Great vista of �!:I: Ox-drawn carriage, musicians, and genre scene. Stone engraving. colophons; prefaces dated 1712). Wu]tn: L1sh1 shengytlou, 1920. 57 Deng Chun (active 1127-67), Hua ji lRlill (Painting, contmued). HSCS Northern Wei dynasty (386-533 CE). Tenri Sanko-kan, Nara. (See, also, fig. �� 25). edition. Dong Qichang (1555-1636), Huachanshi suibi l!Hlil��� ( Jott· mgs romf Ox-drawn carriage. Detail of a stone engraving, unearthed at Mt Beimang, iiUl:l§ 58 the Painting Chan Room). Xiaochang, Luoyang. Dated 527 CE. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. (See, Dong Qichang (1555-1636), Rongtai bieji. also, fig. 26). Fukui Kichichiro (sic?), supervisor, monochrome collotype reproduction of the Four women. Polychrome-painted brick from northern China, excavated 59 Admonitions scroll. Sendai University, 1925. from a Southern Dynasties tomb at Xuezhuang, Deng County, Henan • Fukui Rikichiro M\ji::f!Jarul (1886-1972), Fukui Rikichiro bijutsushi ro_nshu Province. (See Chen 1958). M\j:j:;flJarul�OO§I:liia!l (Anthology of essays on art by FukUI Rtktchtro). 3 v. Tokyo: Chuo koron bijutsu shuppan, 1998-2000.
62 63 ..
Scroll· "The "The Admonitions Admonitions Scroll•
Gansu 1979: Gansu Provincial Museum, "Jiuquan Jiayuguan Jin mu de fajue" JS: Fang Xuanling UJi)iifV (578-648), et al., comps., Jin shu (Jin dynastic (Excavation of the Jin tombs between Jiuquan and Jiayuguan), in history). Beijing: Zhonghua, 1974. g� Wenwu 1979.6: 1-17. Gao Shiqi ( 1645-1704), Jiangcun shuhua xiaoxia lu )I fllt!Hi��fll. China, Kim Wondong liZ liiL Hanguk pyokhwa kobun �lHlH.HI 0lj!: (Ancient tomb 1693. murals of Korea).7!; Seoul: Ilchisa, 1980. Gaojuli 1985: "Gaojuli wenhua zhan" ii'ljQ)i!)(jt;� (Exhibition of Gaojuli Kohara 1967: Kohara Hironobu of5!�{$, "Joshi shin zukan" ��iltll§ {The civilization), exhibition catalogue. N.p.: s.n .. Admonitions of the Instructress to the Court Ladies picture scroll), in Giles, Herbert, "An Emperor on Ku K'ai-chih", in Adversaria Sinica 2.1 Kokka 908 (Nov 1967): 17-31 (part one); 909 (Dec 1967): 13-27 (1915): 45-52. {part two).§)� Gray 1966: Basil Gray {1904-), Admonitions of the Instructress to the Ladies Kohara 1981: Kohara Hironobu, "The Nine Songs attributed to Li Gonglin", in in the Palace. London: Trustees of the British Museum. Published Chugoku kaigashi ronshD: Suzuki Kei sensei kanreki-kinen (Essays on together with a colour collotype reproduction of the Admonitions scroll. Chinese Painting in Honour of Professor Suzuki Kei's Sixtieth Birthday). Colour photography by Tsujimoto Yonesaburo, et al., for Benrido. Tokyo: Yoshikawa kobunkan, 1981. Kyoto: Asahi shimbunsha. Kohara 1982: Kohara Hironobu, "The Second Trip to the Red by Qiao Gu Kaizhi J'i�2 (about 345-406), "Hua Yuntaishan ji" fl��W� (Note on Zhongchang", in Shoron 20. Cliff the painting of Cloud Terrace Mountain). Quoted in LDMHJ, juan 5. Yu Kohara 1985: Kohara Hironobu, "KenryO kotei no gagaku ni tsuite" Anlan, ed., HSCS edition (Shanghai: Shanghai renmin meishu, 1962): ����CT)If�(.::·'J�'l {On the Qianlong emperor's study of painting), 71-2. in Kokka 1079. Guo Ruoxu �E� (active 1070-after 1080), Tuhua jianwen zhi ��lmii!i Kohara 1991: Kohara Hironobu, "Narrative Illustration in the Handscroll (Experiences in painting). HSCS edition. Format", in Alfreda Murck & Wen C. Fong, eds., Words and Images: Chinese Poetry, Calligraphy Painting (New York: Metropolitan Harada 1936: Harada Yoshito (1885-1974), Kan Rikucho no Museum of Art): 247-266. & fukushoku )jj\�CT))JHI!i (FashionJ!REE�A in the Han and Six Dynasties). Kohara 1997: Kohara Hironobu, "Ga Undai-san ki" t!f�ltW� (Note on the Tokyo: Toyo bunko, 1937. painting of Cloud Terrace Mountain), in Yamato bunka ;tf(])(� 97 Hayashi 1961: Hayashi Minaotf;B�� (1924-), "Ko-Kan jidai no basha" (1997): 7-29.
�iiW.iftCT)�!B , (Horse-drawn carriages in the Later Han period, part II), in KokogakuT zasshi '!io!f>¥11� (Archaeology Magazine) 49.4. Legge, James (1815-97), The Chinese Classics. 5 v. Hong Kong: The He Liangjun @�� (1506-73), Siyouzhai congshuo author; London: Trubner, 1861-72. HHS : Fan Ye l81!!li (398-445), Hou Han shu �iit!t(!!lliH�flllt (Later�. Han dynastic LDMHJ : Zhang Yanyuan ��� (847-874), Lidai minghua ji �tt8m�. HSCS history). Beijing: Zhonghua, 1965. edition. Also, Shanghai: Shanghai renmin meishu, 1964. Hong 1959: Hong Qingyu, "Guanyu Dong Shou mu de faxian he yanjiu" (On Li Lian (1488-1566)�:11 . Bianjing yiji zhi )'J< �liWti\D (Gazeteer of relics of the discovery of and research on the tomb of Dong Shou), in Kaogu Bianjing). 6 v. Henan: Gu'an shuju, 1922. 1959.1. Li Lian, Hua pin (Paintings graded). HSCS : Yu Anlan, ed., Huashi congshu -�� (Collectanea of painting Li 1959: Li Qingfa, "Liaoyang shang Wangjiacun Jindai bihua qingli jianbao" history). 5 v. Shanghai: Shanghai renmin meishu, 1962. (Brief clarifications on the Jin murals at Wangjia Village in upper Hu Jing ljjijl (1769-1845), Xiqing daji e§�WJ� (Records of Xiqing). 4 juan . Liaoyang), in Wenwu 1959.7: 60-62. Beiping: Caixunge, 1934. Liaoning 1984: Liaoning Provincial Museum Cultural Relics Team, Chaoyang Huang Bosi Ji!:/8� (1079-1118), Dongguan yulun �WI!iii�. About 1110 CE. District Museum Cultural Relics Team, and Chaoyang County Cultural Reprint of 1584 edition; Taipei: National Central Library, 1984. Bureau, "Chaoyang Yuantaizi Dong Jin bihua mu" (Eastern Jin murals in the tomb at Yuantaizi, Chaoyang), in Wenwu 1984.6: 29-45. Ise 1929: Ise Sen'ichiro W��-00, Shina no kaiga szjJBCT) �l!l(Painting in Liu Xiang §IJ[OJ (about 79-6 BCE), Biographies of Exemplary Women 91J �m China). Kyoto: Naigai shuppan kabushiki kaisha. (Lienu zhuan). SBCK no. 060. Ise Sen'ichiro, Ko Gaishi yori Kei Ko ni itaru Shina sansui gashi. Series Toho Liu Yiqing §lJ llWi (403-444 CE), comp., Shishuo xinyu. Shanghai: Shanghai Bunka Gakuin Kyoto Kenkyu hOkoku; dai 5-satsu. Kyoto-shi: Toho guji, 1982. Bunka Gakuin Kyoto Kenkyujo: Hatsubaijo Ibundo, 1934. Liu Yiqing, Shih-shuo Hsin -yu: A New Account of Tales of the World. Tr. Richard B. Mather. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1976. Jin 1958: Jin Weinuo, "Gu Kaizhi de yishu chengjiu" (Gu Kaizhi's artistic Loehr 1980: Max Loehr, The Great Painters of China. New York: Harper & achievement), in Wenwu cankao ciliao 1958.6: 19-24. Row.
64 65 ..
"The Admonitions Scroll" Admonitions Scroll" "The
Shi jing wt!l! (Classic poetry; Book of Songs): "Pei feng" JI1\S'! (Odes of Pei); Ma 1956: Ma Cai, "Gu Kaizhi de yishu chengjiu" (Gu Kaizhi's artistic "Bin feng" f!l8.!!! Odes of Bin). achievement), in Xin jianshe 1956.10. Shih 1976: Hsio-yen Shih, "Poetry Illustration and the Works of Ku K'ai- M a 1958: M a Cai, Gu Kaizhi yanjiu (Research on Gu Kaizhi). Shanghai: chih", in J. a so , ed., The Translation of Art: Essays on Chinese Shanghai renmin meishu. Painting and Poetry. Hong Kong. Maeda 1954: Maeda Seison (1885-1971), "The copy of the Sickman 1971: laurence Sickman & Alexander Soper, The Art Architecture Admonitions scroll", Geijutsuj§ijffif!if!l Shinchd (Shincho-sha) of China. First edition 1956; 1971 reprint, Harmondsworth:& Penguin. December 1954. �tMJij1JJ Songhuiyao jigao ;;;;���m (Collected essentials of Song [960-1279] Maeda 1957: Maeda Seison, Geijutsu Shincho, December 1957. (?) government, edited draft). Xu Song (1781-1848), comp.. 8 v. Mi Fu *ffi (1051-1107), Hua shi !1£2 (The history of painting). Reprint of Taipei: Xinwenfeng, 1976. Ming edition by Mao Jin, Taipei: Shangwu, 1973. See also Meishu SQBJ : Zhang Zhao (1691-1745), liang Shizheng {1697-1763), et al., Shiqu congshu edition. baoji (Precious case of the stone gully). Shanghai: Shanghai Morohashi 1984: Morohashi Tetsuji �IUl�, Dai Kan-Wa jiten 7<:i!HU�!ill guji, E�3i:& 1991. Siku yishu congshu edition. Originally published: {large Chinese-Japanese dictionary). 13 v. Tokyo, 1984. Wenyuange siku quanshu, zi bu. SQBJ chubian: Shiqu baoji (chubian) .W� (first edition). 1745. 2 v. Taipei: Naito 1927: Naito Konan �i!'l;o 66 67 ... "The Admonitions Scroll" "TheAdmonitions Scroll" Waley 1923: Arthur Waley (1880-1966), An Introduction to the Study of Chinese Paintings. London: Ernest Benn. Zhang Chou (1577·1643), Qinghe shuhua fa ng �)ijiH!UiJ. Preface The Book of Songs. Waley 1937: Arthur Waley, London: George Alien and dated 1616.�H [China]: Chibei caotang, 1888. Taipei: Xuehai, 1975. Unwin. Zhang Hua �$ (232-300 CE), NOshi zhen ��� (Admonitions of the Huizhu houlu Wang Mingqing :EOOii!! (1127-about 1215), li�IH��. Instructress to the CourtLadies). 292 CE. Su Tung-p'o: Selections from a Sung Dynasty Watson 1965: Burton Watson, Zhang Huaiguan (8th c.), Shu duan lllli. in Zhang Yanyuan (847-874; Poet. & New York London. see LDMHJ),�tiJI comp., Fashu yao/u $fUi��. Shanghai: Shanghai Wei 1961: Wei Yu, "Gugong bowuyuan jinian gudai shi da huajia zhanlan shuhua, 1986. jianmu" (Checklist of an exhibition commemorating ten old masters at Zhang Huaiguan, Shu gu IIIo (Calligraphy dealer), in ibid .. Wenwu the Palace Museum), in 1961.6: 38-41. Zhou Mi J2jl� (1232-98), Zhiyatang zachao ®�lt§l'�j'J), in Biji xubian 31. NOshi zhen tujuan" Wen 1955: Wen Zhaotong, "Shitan Gu Kaizhi de (An Taipei: Guangwen, 1969. Admonitions Zhongguo huihua yishu inquiry into Gu Kaizhi's scroll), in Zi 1961: Zi Zheng, "Gu Kaizhi de NOshi zhen tu he tade chuanshen meixue" (The art of painting in China). Shanghai: Shanghai chuban. (Gu Kaizhi's Admonitions scroll and his aesthetics of spirit), in et al , Wu 1997: Wu Hung, "The Origins of Chinese Painting", in Yang Xin, . Guangming bao, 9 May 1961. Three Thousand Years of Chinese Painting: ri 15-86. New Haven: Yale Zhu Yizun *i!� (1629-1709), Pushuting shuhua ba IH!i�i!Hil� (Colophons University Press; Beijing: Foreign Languages Press. to paintings and calligraphies from the Pushu Pavilion). Taipei: Mingwen, 1991. XHHP: Xuanhe huapu §Hil�� (Xuanhe [1119-25 CE] painting manual). ' Zhu Yizun, Pushuting ji &H!l�� (Collected works from the Pushu Pavilion). HSCS 1120 CE. edition. 1705. Shanghai: Shangwu, 1935. Basic Sinological Series edition. Xiang Yuanbian (1525-90), Tianlaige guanhua ji �Qr.ill!!m� (Viewing records of !j1jjt)the }Hall of Heavenly Music). Xie He (active 479-501 CE), Gu huapin lu 0·�� (Old record of the classification!1!� of painters), in Acker 1954: 1-32. Xu 1991: Xu Bangda, "The Mao shi Scrolls: Authenticity and Other Issues", in & Words and Images: Chinese f Alfreda Murck Wen C. Fong, eds., Poetry, Calligraphy Painting (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art): 267-288. & Jiankang shilu m!IEH�. Xu Song 8'fl!& (8th c.), 8 v. Beijing: Zhonghua, 1984. Yao Zui !§tfi(ac tive 557-589), Xu huapin la.lil (Classification of painters, ! continued), in Acker 1954: 33-58. Ye Dehui ml!tf (1864-1927), Guanhua baiyong llUH8� (One hundred poems with notes and comments on famous Chinese paintings). f China: Yeshi Guangutang, 1918. Yonezawa 1952: Yonezawa Yoshiho *llism, explanatory texts to Sekai bijutsu zenshO, ChOgoku t!!WIHfi�§• q:J§l1 illustrations, in l: (Anthology of world art, China 1). N.p.: Heibonsha.1 Yonezawa 1961: Yonezawa Yoshiho, "Ko Gaishi no 'Ga Undai-san ki"' fil�2o:>.�BWFG (Gu Kaizhi's "Record of Painting Cloud Terrace i Mountain"), in Tokyo daigaku Toyo bunka kenkyO-jo kiyo bessatsu �����J¥)(1�fJI5\!m£�5.liJHII (Bulletin of the East Asian Cultures Research Institute of Tokyo University, Supplement), Chugoku t kaigashi kenkyO sansuiga ron lP!ileiiHeGl�W7.l< � (Research on the History of Painting in China, Essays on Landscape). � Yu 1962: Yu Jianhua, et al., Gu Kaizhi yanjiu ciliao (Research material on Gu Kaizhi). Beijing: Renmin meishu. YWU: Ouyang Xun ��� (557-641), Yiwen /eiju f!)(I!W} (Literary anthology, assembled by category). 2 v. Shanghai: Zhonghua, 1965. t 68 69