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5／Pleasure， Playand Excess

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5／Pleasure， Playand Excess 13 7 5/PLEASURE, PLAYAND EXCESS At s ome point in the middle o f the sixteen th century, the painter Lu Zhi (1496- i576) created for an unidentified client, or at least a client of whom we have the n ame 'Ma ste r Y unq uan : b ut no o the r d eta ils. an album of ten small painti ngs depi cting 'The Pleasures of a Secluded Life' (You ju le shi). The first of these, ' Drea min g O ne is a B utterf ly: has alre ady been illu strated in t he discussion o f vi s ua l an d m at er ia l c ul tu re s o f ro am i ng a nd wa nd er in g i n M ing Ch ina (ill us. 42). The others, in t he order in w hich they are currently mounted. are: ' A Cr ane in a Cag e: 'Co nte mpla tin g P lum Bl oss om: 'P icki ng Medicinal Her bs' (ill us. 113), 'Cr ows in the E vening: 'Paus ing the Sound of the Zither: 'Fisher- m en: 'Re lea sin g D uck s: 'Li sten ing to th e R ain ' a nd 'Tre adi ng on Snow'. One c an l ear n a lo t a bou t a cu lture from i ts pleasures. These decor ous and admi- rabl y restrained indulgences, several of w hich also ca rry historical allusions t o pa rag ons of th e p ast wh o we re par tic ularly a ssociated wi th them, are all h ere car rie d o ut by a sing le solitary male figure ( he is implie d as a viewer b ut n ot pic tur ed in the sc enes of crow s and fisherm en), simply but elegantly d ress ed in the ro bes of th e recluse, r emote and unt rammelled by the cares of the world. He is the gao shi or 'lofty scholar' (illus. 37), also discussed above as t he ideal of elite male subjectivity. the point of viewing of the ten thousand things of the world. He is, i ndeed. an ide aL and his p leasures are ideal pleasu res. The word used for them in Lu Zhi's tit le is le, whi ch echoes through Ming writing and is foun d equally oft en in contex ts that revea l, unsurpris ingly, that pleasure was not an uncomplica ted Good Thi ng for the authors of these texts. It is, for exam- p le, exactly t he same word that the ane cdotalist He Liangjun (15 06-1573), one o f Lu Zh i's co nte mpo raries , used in wr iting about t he former Gr and Secretary Xie Qian (1449-15 31), who pas sed his days in retiremen t from high office play- i ng c ards with his granddau ghters. and playfully gam bling for ca kes and fruit as a form of pleasure (xi du yi wei /e). We are acerbically told. 'He never asked abou t public affa irs. Conside red nowadays, he was a si lly old fool.e Even more extr eme, the Ming Chinese ter m chun le, li terally 'springtime pleasures: refers n ot t o t he enj oym ent of th e ve rna l g ree nery or a picnic in the countrysi de, b ut t o p lea sur es of por nog raph ic ima ger y and se xual indulge nce. 'Springt ime p ictu res : c hun hu a ( the sa me character s are read in Japanese as shunga) were t he p orn ogr aph ic ima ger y t hat was as wi del y c irc ula ted as it was condem ned 1 38 EMPIRE OF GREAT BRIGHT NESS 113/Lu Zhi 04961577). and ba nne d by pu bli c a nd pri vat e m oral ist s a lik e. The wi de range of the term P ic ki n g Me d ic in a l He rb s, 'pl eas ure : an d o f s ome co gna te ter ms l ike 'a mus eme nt' (w an) and 'play' ( xi), unda tad, albu m leaf from the as it dep loye d a cro ss a h uge range o f visual and material cul ture in the M ing, se t Ple osures o f o Secl uded will be the focus of this fifth chapter. Life, ink and colours on silk, S o u r ce s o f m a n y k i n ds c o nf i r m t h e su p po si t io n th a t lo ok in g , an d 2g.3 X 51.4 cm. spe cta tor ship , w ere th ems elv es con ceiv ed as a fo rm of pleasu re, whether l icit or illicit. The lofty scholar of Lu Zhi's sequence of paintings, with his crane in a cage, is pa ralleled by t he early fif teenth-centur y emperor seen here (illus. 114) exa min ing a c age d s ing ing bi rd, wh ich is hel d u p f or his in spection by a boy eunuch. It comes from a series of co urt paintings of imperial pleasures, of a type collectively known as Xing le tu, or 'Pictures of Activities of Pleasure'.3 Series of such 'Pictu res of Activi ties of Plea sure' were an established genre of court art, ma ny m o re s uc h s er ie s b ei ng r ec o rd ed t ex t ua ll y t ha n no w co me dow n t o us . They first of all showed eminent rec luses of the past in rural settings, but were ada pte d t o di spl ay the sp len dou rs of p lea sure at the imperia l court, thus not on ly cre ati ng an ana logy be twe en the re ign ing sov ere ign an d w ort hie s o f th e pas t, but str ess ing th at the pe ace and pr osperit y of the imp erium allowed the u4 /X i on zo n gs P l eos ure s, c rul er to enga ge in sui tab ly dec oro us p ast imes ap propriate to his status. Thus 147 0-8 0. an ony mou s h ang in g a h uge su rviv ing pa int ing (i llu s. 137) at tribute d to Shang X i, now mounte d as scro[l, ink and colours on siik, a han gin g s cro ll but onc e p rob abl y a mo re per mane ntl y v isi ble sc ree n p anel , 67 x 52. 5 cm. Xianzong is the sh ows th e X uan de emp eror (r eg. 14 26- 35) hu nti ng i n t he imp eri al par k i n th e po st h um ou s t am p !e nam e o f Zhu Ji ans He n (1447 -87), wh o co mp an y o f hi s h ou se hol d e unu chs .4 0th ers (i llus . 1 15) sh ow the em per or a s rai gne d f ro m14 65 t01 487 a s spe cta tor . lo oki ng at sea sonal and o ther entertai nments, incl uding the set ting tha Changhua emperor. off of fire works, court ladies and children playing at the street life of 'roaming' 「 “ 翻瞧：鱟 r 彌9、 鱟 嫻 澀 9。__尸啊-嗣彌孵一一 q J EM PI RE OF G RE AT BRI GHTN ESS t i on o f X ia n zo ng ' s and sh opp ing , pr oce ssi ona l f loa ts and the an tics of tumbl ers, all lai d on for s. cn470-80, his pleasur e. These act s of imperial delight in looking are a lso attested in the us handscrotl, ink and te xt ua l s ou rc e s, w he re th ey are oc cas ion s fo r t he ple asu re of loo king wh en n s ilk. in c omp any , a nd of t he emp ero r s har ing hi s pl eas ure s w ith hi s s ubj ects . F or ex am pl e i n 14 1 2, o n th e o cc as io n o f th e New Ye ar. wh en a b anq uet was he ld for of fic ial s. b oth of fic ials and common peop le were allow ed into the Meridian Gat e t o g aze on the 'T urt le Mou nta in: a v ast te mpo rar y s tru cture abl aze with la nt er n s an d f ir ew or ks . O ne s en i or o ff i ci al n am e d Xi a Yu a nji (1 366- 143 0) bro ugh t h is moth er to see th e s igh t s howi ng tha t s uch fe sti val spect atorship wa s no t t ot al l y re st ri cte d b y g end er.
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