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Zhao Mengfu Calligraphy and Painting for Khubilai’S China

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Zhao Mengfu Calligraphy and Painting for Khubilai’S China Zhao Mengfu Calligraphy and Painting for Khubilai’s China Shane McCausland This publication has been supported by subventions from The Publication Fund, Department of Art and Archaeology, Princeton University and the Chester Beatty Library, Dublin. Hong Kong University Press 14/F Hing Wai Centre 7 Tin Wan Praya Road Aberdeen Hong Kong www.hkupress.org © Hong Kong University Press 2011 ISBN 978-988-8028-57-3 All rights reserved. No portion of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Printed and bound by Paramount Printing Co., Ltd. in Hong Kong, China Image on p.ii is from fig. 3.9: Zhao Mengfu, Autumn Colours on the Qiao and Hua Mountains, dated 1296. Handscroll; ink and colour on paper, 28.4 x 93.2 cm. National Palace Museum, Taipei. Contents List of Illustrations ix Acknowledgements xxiii Technical Notes xxv Introduction 1 Chapter 1 A Life Portrait of the Calligrapher 11 Chapter 2 Zhao Mengfu of the Hanlin: Painting Figures of Society 113 Chapter 3 Refining the Politics of Landscape 193 Chapter 4 The Ends of Representation: Old Trees, Bamboos and Rocks 265 Epilogue 333 Appendix I The Official Biography 339 Appendix II Select Chronology 347 Notes 371 Select Bibliography 407 Index 423 List of Illustrations Introduction I.1 ‘The landscape scene’, from the Admonitions of the Court Instructress 4–5 attributed to Gu Kaizhi (c. 344–c. 406; probably a 5th–6th c. copy after). Detail of a handscroll mounted on a panel; ink and colours on silk, 25 x 348.5 cm. The British Museum (OA 1903.4-8.1 CP1); by courtesy of and © The Trustees. I.2 Claude Lorraine (1600–82), Juno Confiding Io to the Care of Argus. Signed: 6 Claudio IV f. Roma 1660. Oil on canvas, 60 x 75 cm. National Gallery of Ireland, Sir Hugh Lane Bequest, 1918 (NGI 763). Chapter 1 1.1 Portrait of Zhao Mengfu, woodblock print from Sancai tuhui (preface dated 16 1609), ‘Renwu’, juan 8, p. 11a. 1.2 Qiu Ying (1494–1552), Zhao Mengfu Writing out the Heart Sutra in 18 Exchange for Tea. Detail of a handscroll; ink and colours on silk. Cleveland Museum of Art (1963.102). 1.3 Wang Gong (active early 19th c.), Copy of a Portrait of Zhao Mengfu; 20 inscription by Wang Wenzhi (1730–1802). Hanging scroll; ink and colours on silk, 63.8 x 30.8cm. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (1986.267.3), Gift of Robert Hatfield Ellsworth, in memory of La Ferne Hatfield Ellsworth, 1986. 1.4 Roadmap of the Wuxing region (2005). The hamlet of Dongheng lies on the 23 western bank of Dongtiaoxi (eastern branch), to the north-west of Beiyangwan. (After Zhejiang sheng gonglu licheng ditu ce, n.p., n.d. [c. 2005], p. 18.) 1.5 Site of Zhao Mengfu and Guan Daosheng’s townhouse in Huzhou 25 (Wuxing). The property is said to have extended far back from the waterfront to the Lianhuazhuang (Lotus Flower Garden), now a public park. The Songxuezhai and other pavilions in the park were constructed in the 1980s. Photographs by the author (December 2005). 1.6 Tomb of Zhao Mengfu and Guan Daosheng at the village of Dongheng 26 near Deqing, between Hangzhou and Huzhou. Photograph by the author (December 2005). x List of Illustrations 1.7 Song emperor Huizong, Finches and Bamboo; and colophon by Zhao 33 Mengfu, dateable to c. 1305–1310. Handscroll; the painting in ink and colours on silk, 27.9 x 45.7 cm; the colophon in ink on paper. Metropolitan Museum of Art (1978.278). 1.8 Zhao Mengfu, transcription of Lanting kao, 1298 and contemporary post- 36–37 script (right); and later colophons (centre and left), the centre one dated 1309. Section of a handscroll; ink on paper, 26 x 219.5 cm. National Palace Museum, Taipei (故書000086N000000000). 1.9 Yan Zhenqing, Record of the Altar of the Goddess Magu (Magu xian tan ji), 38 dated 771. Detail of an ink rubbing. 1.10 Anige’s (1245–1306) White Pagoda Temple (Baitasi) in Beijing. The pagoda 40 was being restored in December 2005. Photograph by the author (2005). 1.11 Traditionally attributed to Wang Xizhi, Filial Woman Cao E Stele (Xiaonü 42–43 Cao E bei), manuscript version; and colophons by Song Gaozong (centre) and Zhao Mengfu (left end). Handscroll; the manuscript in ink on silk; colophons in ink on the backing paper. Liaoning Provincial Museum. 1.12 Attributed to Wang Xizhi, Great Dao (Dadao tie); and colophon by Zhao 44 Mengfu, dated 1287. Handscroll; ink on paper. National Palace Museum, Taipei. 1.13 Ouyang Xun, Pagoda Inscription for Chan Master Yong of Huadu Temple 45 (Huadusi Yong Chanshi taming). Detail of an ink rubbing, ‘Wengshi Suzhai version’. Collection of the library of Otani University, Kyoto. 1.14 Yan Zhenqing, Draft Eulogy for My Nephew (Jizhi wengao). Detail of a 47 handscroll; ink on paper, 28.2 x 75.5 cm. National Palace Museum, Taipei. 1.15 Attributed to Han Huang (8th c.), but probably 13th c., Five Oxen (Wuniu 52–53 tu), and colophons by Zhao Mengfu. Handscroll; the painting: ink and colour on paper, 20.8 x 139.8 cm. Palace Museum, Beijing. 1.16 Tracing copy after Wang Xizhi, Clearing after Sudden Snow (Kuaixue shiqing 52 tie); and colophon by Zhao Mengfu, dated 1318. Folding pages of an album; ink on paper. National Palace Museum, Taipei. 1.17 Attributed to Huaisu, Bitter Sprouts (Kusun tie), and colophon by Mi 54 Youren. Handscroll; ink on silk. Shanghai Museum. 1.18 Jiang Kui, colophon, dated 1203, to the Luoshui rubbing version of the 55 Dingwu family of Lanting Preface rubbings. (After Shudao quanji [hereafter SDQJ] 11: fig. 19.) 56 1.19 Li Yong (678–747), Epitaph of the Yunhui General Li Sixun (Yunhui jiangjun Li Sixun bei), after 739. Detail of an ink rubbing. Calligraphy Museum, Tokyo. List of Illustrations xi 1.20 Ouyang Xun, Confucius Making an Offering in a Dream (Zhongni Mengdian 57 tie), and colophon by Zhao Mengfu. Handscroll; ink on paper. Liaoning Provincial Museum. 1.21 Zhao Mengfu, Autumn Colours on the Qiao and Hua Mountains (Qiao Hua 61 qiuse tu), dated winter 1295–96. Detail of the inscription on a handscroll; ink and colour on paper, 28.4 x 93.2 cm. National Palace Museum, Taipei. 1.22 Qian Xuan, Pear Blossoms. Handscroll; the painting in ink and colours on 62 paper. Metropolitan Museum of Art. 1.23 Orchid Pavilion Preface (Lanting xu), a Tang (?) manuscript copy after 64–65 an original by Wang Xizhi; and colophon by Zhao Mengfu, dated 1295. Variously known as the Shenlong version; Feng Chengsu copy; and ‘third of the eight pillars of the Lanting’. Handscroll; ink on paper. Palace Museum, Beijing. 1.24 Tang (?) ms. copies after Wang Xizhi, with addenda by Zhao Mengfu, 66 Zhanjin tie and Hanshi tie. Two autographs possibly from the Letters of the Seventeenth (Shiqi tie) collection assembled by Tang Taizong. Handscroll; ink on paper. National Palace Museum, Taipei. 1.25 Epitaph for My Nanny (Baomu zhi), a probable 12th-c. forgery of a stele 67 inscription by Wang Xianzhi. Ink rubbing. Freer Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC [F1980.7]. 1.26 Attributed to Wang Xizhi, after Zhong You, Bingshe tie (also known as 68 Mutian bingshe tie). Ink rubbing. (After SDQJ, vol. 4, p. 114.) 1.27 Wang Xizhi, Lanting Preface (Lanting xu), Elder Dugu version from the 69 Dingwu family of ink rubbings. The three surviving fragments from an ink rubbing of the Dingwu engraving traditionally believed to have been made from a manuscript copy of the original Preface by Ouyang Xun. Tokyo National Museum. 1.28 Xue Shaopeng, ‘Yunding Mountain’ from Scroll of Four Poems, dated 1101. 70–71 Detail of a handscroll; ink on paper, 26.1 x 303.5 cm. National Palace Museum, Taipei. 1.29 Mi Fu, Sailing on the Wu River. Detail of a handscroll; ink on paper. 72–73 Metropolitan Museum of Art. 1.30 Lu Jianzhi, Prose-poem on Literature (Wen fu), and colophons by Zhao 74–75 Mengfu and Li Ti. Handscroll; ink on paper. National Palace Museum, Taipei. 1.31 Zhao Mengfu, Red Cliff Odes (Chibi fu), and preface portrait of Su Shi, 77 dated 1301. Details from an album of 22 leaves; ink on paper, each 27.2 x 11.1 cm. National Palace Museum, Taipei. xii List of Illustrations 1.32 Zhao Mengfu, colophon, dated 1304, to Zhou Wenju, Zijian caishen tu (Cao 79 Zhi ‘Grasping the Goddess’ [?]). Palace Museum, Beijing. (After Zhao Mengfu huaji [hereafter ZMF huaji], p. 116.) 1.33 Anon. (Song), Nine Old Men of Huichang [841–846] (Huichang jiu lao), 80–81 and colophon, dated 1306, by Zhao Mengfu. Details of a handscroll; the painting: ink and colour on silk, 28.3 x 246.8 cm. Palace Museum, Beijing. 1.34 Zhao Mengfu, Record of the Restoration of Three Purities Hall at the 82 Monastery of Abstruse Wonder (Xuanmiaoguan chongxiu Sanqingdian ji), dated 1303. Handscroll; ink on paper. (After Sotheby’s New York, Fine Chinese Paintings, June 1985, lot 3.) 1.35 Zhao Mengfu, Stele Obituary for Former Chief Minister Master Zhang 83 (Guzongguan Zhang Gong muzhiming), dated 1308. Handscroll; ink on paper. Palace Museum, Beijing. 1.36 Zhao Mengfu, surviving fragments from the Thirteen Colophons to the 86–89 Orchid Pavilion Preface, written for the Elder Dugu version, dated 1310.
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