The Donkey Rider as Icon: Li Cheng and Early Chinese Landscape Painting Author(s): Peter C. Sturman Source: Artibus Asiae, Vol. 55, No. 1/2 (1995), pp. 43-97 Published by: Artibus Asiae Publishers Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3249762 . Accessed: 05/08/2011 12:40 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact
[email protected]. Artibus Asiae Publishers is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Artibus Asiae. http://www.jstor.org PETER C. STURMAN THE DONKEY RIDER AS ICON: LI CHENG AND EARLY CHINESE LANDSCAPE PAINTING* he countryis broken,mountains and rivers With thesefamous words that lamentthe "T remain."'I 1T catastropheof the An LushanRebellion, the poet Du Fu (712-70) reflectedupon a fundamental principle in China:dynasties may come and go, but landscapeis eternal.It is a principleaffirmed with remarkablepower in the paintingsthat emergedfrom the rubbleof Du Fu'sdynasty some two hundredyears later. I speakof the magnificentscrolls of the tenth and eleventhcenturies belonging to the relativelytightly circumscribedtradition from Jing Hao (activeca. 875-925)to Guo Xi (ca. Ooo-9go)known todayas monumentallandscape painting. The landscapeis presentedas timeless. We lose ourselvesin the believabilityof its images,accept them as less the productof humanminds and handsthan as the recordof a greatertruth.