Representing Talented Women in Eighteenth-Century Chinese Painting: Thirteen Female Disciples Seeking Instruction at the Lake Pavilion
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
REPRESENTING TALENTED WOMEN IN EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY CHINESE PAINTING: THIRTEEN FEMALE DISCIPLES SEEKING INSTRUCTION AT THE LAKE PAVILION By Copyright 2016 Janet C. Chen Submitted to the graduate degree program in Art History and the Graduate Faculty of the University of Kansas in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. ________________________________ Chairperson Marsha Haufler ________________________________ Amy McNair ________________________________ Sherry Fowler ________________________________ Jungsil Jenny Lee ________________________________ Keith McMahon Date Defended: May 13, 2016 The Dissertation Committee for Janet C. Chen certifies that this is the approved version of the following dissertation: REPRESENTING TALENTED WOMEN IN EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY CHINESE PAINTING: THIRTEEN FEMALE DISCIPLES SEEKING INSTRUCTION AT THE LAKE PAVILION ________________________________ Chairperson Marsha Haufler Date approved: May 13, 2016 ii Abstract As the first comprehensive art-historical study of the Qing poet Yuan Mei (1716–97) and the female intellectuals in his circle, this dissertation examines the depictions of these women in an eighteenth-century handscroll, Thirteen Female Disciples Seeking Instructions at the Lake Pavilion, related paintings, and the accompanying inscriptions. Created when an increasing number of women turned to the scholarly arts, in particular painting and poetry, these paintings documented the more receptive attitude of literati toward talented women and their support in the social and artistic lives of female intellectuals. These pictures show the women cultivating themselves through literati activities and poetic meditation in nature or gardens, common tropes in portraits of male scholars. The predominantly male patrons, painters, and colophon authors all took part in the formation of the women’s public identities as poets and artists; the first two determined the visual representations, and the third, through writings, confirmed and elaborated on the designated identities. The works recorded memorable moments of the lives of these women, and their circulation promoted the scholarly personas of the paintings’ figures beyond their immediate families. The inscriptions also recorded the positive reception of this coterie of intellectuals and were endorsements of their unconventional behavior. Thirteen Female Disciples survives in the form of at least four versions, testifying to the fame and popularity of the painting’s theme and the figures depicted in it. iii Acknowledgements The completion of this dissertation was made possible through the continuous help, support, and encouragement from many individuals. I owe my deepest gratitude to my advisor, Marsha Haufler, an admirable scholar and one of the pioneers in the research of Chinese female painters; her seminal publications remain the bibles of this field. I have benefited from the courses taught by Amy McNair, my role model in teaching, who constantly inspires her students to approach art history with passion. Numerous hearty encouragements from Sherry Fowler have sustained me through the stressful process of dissertation writing, and I am indebted to her assistance in establishing professional connections. From Jungsil Jenny Lee, I learned persistence and diligence, two essential characteristics in completing a dissertation. Keith McMahon introduced me to an abundant body of scholarship on women poets in late imperial China and motivated me to be an enthusiastic researcher and writer. I thank the staff and other faculty members in the Art History department for their assistance in my academic life at the University of Kansas. My gratitude extends to Mark Olson, the curator of the department’s Visual Resources facility, and Vickie Fu Doll, the Chinese librarian. I also thank Claudia Brown and the late James Cahill for sparing their time to contribute to my academic success. I would like to acknowledge the generous support from The Marilyn A. Papp Graduate Scholarship For Study in Chinese Art and Culture, the Dr. Chu-Tsing Li Award for Academic Excellence in Chinese Art History, the Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship from the US Department of Education, the Marilyn Stokstad Award, the Laurence Sickman Scholarship, iv and the Scholarship for Academic Excellence in Asian Art History from the Art History department of the University of Kansas. Finally, I am grateful for the unfailing love and constant prayers from my friends, classmates, and family members; it is to my husband, who has accompanied and supported me over the course of this graduate study, that this dissertation is dedicated. v List of Images 1.1 You Zhao 尤詔 and Wang Gong 汪恭. Thirteen Female Disciples Seeking Instruction at the Lake Pavilion 十三女弟子湖樓請業圖. 1796. Handscroll, ink and colors on silk, 41 x 308.4 cm. Shanghai Museum. Reproduced in Shane McCausland, Telling Images of China: Narrative and Figure Paintings, 15th–20th Century, From the Shanghai Museum (London: Scala, 2010), 144–47. 3.1 Ruan Gao 阮郜 (active 10th century). Female Immortals in the Fairyland 閬苑女仙. Five Dynasties. Handscroll, ink and colors on silk, 42.7 x 177.2 cm. Palace Museum, Beijing. Reproduced in Gugong bowuyuan 故宫博物院, Zhongguo lidai huihua: Gugong bowuyuan canghua ji 中国历代绘画: 故宫博物院藏画集, vol. 1 (Beijing: Renmin meishu chubanshe, 1978), 80–3. 3.2 Xie Huan 謝環 (ca. 1370–ca. 1450). Elegant Gathering in the Apricot Garden 杏園雅集. Ca. 1437. Handscroll, ink and colors on silk, 37 x 401 cm. Zhenjiang Municipal Museum. Reproduced Maxwell K. Hearn, “An Early Ming Example of Multiples: Two Versions of Elegant Gathering in the Apricot Garden,” in Issues of Authenticity in Chinese Painting, ed. Judith G. Smith and Wen C. Fong (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1999), 224–25. 3.3 Lü Ji 呂紀 (died 1504 or 1505) and Lü Wenying 呂文英 (1488–1505). Gathering for Birthday Celebration in the Bamboo Garden 竹園壽集. Ca. 1499. Handscroll, ink and colors on silk, 33.8 x 395.4 cm. Palace Museum, Beijing. Reproduced in Li He, et al., Power and Glory: Court Arts of China's Ming Dynasty (San Francisco: Asian Art Museum, 2008), 219–21. 3.4 Anonymous. Elegant Gathering in the Harmony Garden 隨園雅集. Qing dynasty. Woodblock print. Reprinted in Congshu jicheng xubian 叢書集成續編, vol. 155 (Shanghai: Shanghai shudian, 1994), 51. 3.5 Anonymous. Gathering of Ten Officials [Who Received the Presented-Scholar Degree] in the Jiashen Year 甲申十同年會圖. Ming dynasty. Handscroll, ink and colors on silk, 48.5 x 257 cm. Palace Museum, Beijing. Reproduced in Yang Xin 楊新, Ming Qing xiaoxianghua 明清肖像畫 (Hong Kong: Shangwu yinshuguan, 2008), 6–9. 3.6 Attributed to Ma Yuan 馬遠 (active before 1189–after 1225). Composing Poetry on a Spring Outing. Southern Song dynasty. Handscroll, ink and colors on silk, 29.3 x 302.3 cm Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. Reproduced in William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts and Ho Wai-kam, Eight Dynasties of Chinese Painting: The Collections of the Nelson Gallery-Atkins Museum, Kansas City, and the Cleveland Museum of Art (Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art in cooperation with Indiana University Press, 1980), 67–8. vi 3.7 Wang Zhaoji 王肇基 (b. 1701). Wang Menglou Playing Qin 王夢樓撫琴圖. Qing dynasty. Hanging scroll, ink and colors on silk, 54 x 26.4 cm. Palace Museum, Beijing. Reproduced in Yang Xin 楊新, Ming Qing xiaoxianghua 明清肖像畫 (Hong Kong: Shangwu yinshuguan, 2008), 168–69. 3.8 Anonymous. Prince Hongli Practicing Calligraphy on a Banana Leaf. Ca. 1730. Hanging scroll, ink and colors on silk, diameter 106.5 cm. Palace Museum, Beijing. Reproduced in Evelyn S. Rawski and Jessica Rawson, China: the Three Emperors, 1662– 1795 (London: Royal Academy of Arts, 2005), plate 187. 3.9 Anonymous. Eighteen Scholars 十八學士. Ming dynasty. A set of four hanging scrolls, ink and colors on silk, 174 x 103 cm. National Palace Museum, Taipei. Reproduced in Guoli gugong bowuyuan, Wenren yashi: Mingren shiba xueshitu 文人雅事: 明人十八學 士圖 (Taipei: Guoli gugong bowuyuan, 2012), 13, 19, 15, and 31. 3.10 Yu Zhiding 禹之鼎 (1647–1709). Portrait of Gao Shiqi with Female Servant. 1696. Hanging scroll (paneled), ink and colors on silk, 64.3 x 42.2 cm. Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. Reproduced in William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts and Ho Wai-kam, Eight Dynasties of Chinese Painting, 350. 3.11 Yu Zhiding 禹之鼎 (1647–1709). Playing Flute on A Boat Near the Yuebo Pavilion 月波 吹笛圖. Date. Handscroll, ink and colors on silk, 26.4 x 144 cm. Palace Museum, Beijing. Reproduced in Yang Xin 楊新, Ming Qing xiaoxianghua 明清肖像畫 (Hong Kong: Shangwu yinshuguan, 2008), 122–23. 3.12 Tang Yin 唐寅 (1470–1523). Lady Ban’s Round Fan 班姬團扇. Ming dynasty. Hanging scroll, ink and light colors on paper, 150.4 x 63.6 cm. National Palace Museum, Taipei. Reproduced in Liu Fang-ju 劉芳如 and Chang Hua-chih 張華芝, Qunfangpu: nüxing de xingxiang yu caiyi 群芳譜: 女性的形象與才藝 (Taipei: Guoli gugong bowuyuan, 2003), 64–5. 3.13 Attributed to Zhou Fang 周昉 (active ca. 780–ca.810). Court Ladies Wearing Flowered Headdresses. Tang dynasty. Handscroll, ink and colors on silk, 45.8 x 180 cm. Liaoning Provincial Museum. Reproduced in Yang Xin, et al., Zhongguo huihua sanqiannian 中國 繪畫三千年 (Taipei: Lianjing chuban shiye gongsi, 1999), 80–1. 3.14 Anonymous. A Fairy Beauty at Quiet Rest. 1640. Hanging scroll, ink and colors on paper, 133.4 x 62.2 cm. Palace Museum, Beijing. Reproduced in James Cahill, Pictures for Use and Pleasure: Vernacular Painting in High Qing China (Berkeley: University of California, 2010), 176. 4.1 Anonymous. Female Pursuits of the Four Seasons. Late 1800s. Handscroll, ink and colors on paper. Spencer Museum of Art, University of Kansas. vii 4.2 Anonymous. Unsurpassed Beauties Throughout Generations 千秋絕艷圖. Ming dynasty. Handscroll, ink and colors on silk, 29.5 x 667.5 cm. Palace Museum, Beijing. Reproduced in Guo Xueshi 郭学是 and Zhang Zikang 张子康, Zhongguo lidai shinühua ji 中國歷代仕女畫集 (Tianjin: Tianjin renmin meishu chubanshe), plates 72–90. 4.3 Anonymous. Lady Embroidering.