SHITAO APPENDIX ONE Chronology of Shitao's Life References are given here only for information that is not 6r), as the Shunzhi emperor, accompanied by the appoint- presented elsewhere in this book in fuller form (especially ment of Hong Taiji's younger brother, Dorgon (r 6r 2-50), in Chapters 4-6) and accessible through the index. Here, as regent. as throughout this study, years refer to Chinese lunar years. Most of the places mentioned can be found on r644 Map 3. Where an existing artwork contradicts the dates Fall of Beijing to the Shun regime of Li Zicheng, followed given here for the use of specific signatures and seals, this shortly after by their abandonment of Beijing to Qing will generally mean that I am not convinced of the work's forces. Dorgon proclaimed Qing rule over China in the authenticity (though there will inevitably be cases of over- name of the Shunzhi emperor, who shortly after was sight or ignorance as well). With the existence and loca- brought to Beijing. In south China, resistance to the Man- tion in mainland Chinese libraries of rare publications chus crystallized around different claimants to the Ming and manuscripts by no less than thirty-six of his friends throne, whose regimes are collectively known as the and acquaintances newly established, providing a rich Southern Ming. new vein for biographical research, and with new works by Shitao regularly coming to light, this chronology must r645 be considered provisional) Fall of Nanjing to Qing forces. In Guilin in the ninth r642 month, Zhu Hengjia was attacked and defeated by forces of the Southern Ming Longwu emperor, Zhu Yujian, Shitao was born into the family of the Ming princes of under the command of Qu Shisi, and taken to Fuzhou, Jingjiang, under the name of Zhu Ruoji. His father was where he later died in prison. The attack involved a mas- probably a relative of Zhu Hengjia, the prince of jing- sacre of the Jingjiang princely family, from which the jiang. Although the Jingjiang palace was in the city of small child Shitao was saved by a retainer who smuggled point of breaking (Figure 220). Ultimately, Shitao's rest- 220. "Plum Blossom Branch," Flowers, dated 1707, album of 10 Guilin in the southwestern province of Guangxi, Shitao leaves, ink or ink and color on paper, each leaf 32.7 x 23.5 ern, leaf him to safety, the two subsequently taking refuge within less search for closure contradicts his stated purpose. always identified himself in later life as a native of Quan- 2. © Sotheby's,Inc. the Buddhist sangha. The restlessness itself, the constant displacements, are zhou, some seventy miles to the northeast of Guilin. far more eloquent; for this is not solitary survival in the r650 mythic light of destiny, which could at least find its term, r643 hut the urban survivor's response to an isolation that Death of the founder of the Manchu Qing dynasty, Hong Death of Dorgon and assumption of power by the Shun- persisted into the liminality of dying. Taiji, and ascension of his five-year-old son, Fulin (r638- zhi emperor himself. 323 324 APPENDIX ONE CHRONOLOGY OF SHITAO'S LIFE 325 1661 165I before year's end. Over the next few years they would re- 1672 By this year at latest, Shitao was living with his protector Based in Wuchang. side in several different area temples and monasteries. Based in Xuancheng at Guangjiao Temple. in a temple in the city of Wuchang in Hubei, where they Following the death of the Shunzhi emperor from small- 1667 took the names, respectively, of Yuanji Shitao and Yuan- pox, Lu'an returned south, establishing himself at Qing- 1673 Based in Xuancheng, but also sojourned in Shexian, liang Hetao. Shitao subsequently referred to Hetao as his pu near Songjiang in southern Jiangsu Province. Based in Xuancheng at Guangjiao Temple. His friendship "elder brother," while Herao called Shitao his "younger In Xuancheng, probably in this year, Shitao joined a "po- with the Wu family of Xi' nan in Shexian (many of whom brother." 1662 etry and painting society" organized by leading Xu an- were lay Buddhists), which was to supply him with pa- cheng literati, including Shi Runzhang (1618-83), Gao According to Li Lin's Dadizi zbuan (hereafter DDZZ), Based in Wuchang. trons for the rest of his life, began no later than this year, Yong (b. 1622), Mei Qing (1623-97), Wu Sugong (1626- when Wu Zhenbo was also sojourning in Xuancheng. Shitao only started to read in this year, at the age of ten, Xuanye (1654-1722) ascended to the throne as the Kang- 99), and Mei Geng (1640-<:' 1722). having begun by collecting (illustrated?) books. xi emperor, but due to his youth political power was exer- This year saw the first of a series of annual journeys back He also climbed Mount Huang in Huizhou Prefecture for cised by a regency under the leadership of Oboi. Also in to Jiangsu, where Muchen and Lii'an were both based. 1652-1654 the first time, commemorating the experience in a impor- this year, the last of the claimants to the Ming throne was During this first trip he stayed at one point at the Jinghui tant hanging scroll (see Figure 158). While staying on the Based in Wuchang. Although somewhat ambiguous, the executed in Yunnan, ending the Southern Ming resis- Monastery in Yangzhou, closely associated with Muchen, mountain, he was contacted by the newly appointed pre- account in DDZZ would seem to suggest that he began tance. who was then living in Zhenjiang (on the opposite bank to study calligraphy around this time, after learning to fect, Cao Dingwang (1618-93), who commissioned from of the Yangzi, facing Yangzhou) and was in failing health. him an album of seventy-two views of Mount Huang (see read and before learning to paint. 1663 In Yangzhou, Shitao painted a hanging scroll for a lead- Figure 85). In Shexian (Xin'an), which was the major Probably based in Wuchang. ing salt merchant of Huizhou origin, Min Shizhang. 1655 town of Huizhou Prefecture, Shitao then stayed at Luo- Cao Dingwang left his Shexian post in this year. In the last han Temple within the Taiping Monastery complex as the Based in Wuchang. According to a later inscription, Shi- 1664 days of the year, the Rebellion of the Three Feudatories tao had begun to study painting by the age of fourteen, guest of the prefect. Cao commissioned him to paint a It was most likely sometime in late 1663 or early 1664 broke out, seriously threatening the existence of the Qing when he produced (an album of) fifty-six orchid paint- handscroll depicting The Sixteen Luohans to commemo- that Shitao left Wuchang accompanied by Hetao. Faced, dynasty. ings. His first teacher (of orchids and bamboo) was a for- rate his restoration of the temple, which Shitao completed as Shitao later wrote, with the choice between moving to Death of the painter Kuncan (1612--<:.1673) at Chang- mer Qing magistrate, Chen Yidao (1647 jinshi, d. 1661), after more than a year's work (see Figures ISS, 156). The Chu (i.e., Hunan, where there was a community of Ming gan (also known as Bao'en) Monastery in Nanjing. who would later return to official service. Orher artists merchant families of Huizhou Prefecture, based there and loyalist monks belonging to the Tiantong branch of the with whom he studied informally, possibly during his Wu- elsewhere in China, were to prove to be the mainstay of Linji School) or traveling on to Wu (southern Jiangsu, 1674 chang sojourn (through c. 1663), include the local Wu- Shitao's patronage throughout his life. where Lu'an was based at Qingpu) in the southeast, the Based in Xuancheng at Guangjiao Temple. The rebellion chang artist Pan Xiaochi; the seal carver, calligrapher, and two men chose the latter course. They traveled first to Signatures and seals: He signed The Sixteen Luobans for- reached its height in the summer and fall of this year; in Buddhist layman Liang Hong, from nearby Yunmeng; Mount Lu in Jiangxi, where they sojourned at the Kaixian mally as "grandson" of Muchen Daomin and "son" of the Xuancheng area a peasant rebellion led Shitao to flee and the monk-painter Chaoren Luzi, from Sichuan Prov- Monastery (with which Muchen had previously been con- Lu'an Benyue. into the nearby hills at Mount Bogui. His involvement in Ince. nected) in 1664. An important autobiographical album the restoration of Guangjiao Temple was commemorated 1668 now in the Guangdong Provincial Museum may have in this year's Master Shi Planting Pines (see Plate I, Figure been painted during this sojourn, making it Shirao's earli- Based in Xuancheng, but also sojourned in Shexian at the 53), painted by Shitao himself, probably in collaboration Based in Wuchang. est known surviving work (see Figures 47, 48,173)' Taiping Monastery. with an unidentified portraitist. 1657 Death of the painter Hongren (1610-64). Death of Muchen in the sixth month. 1669 Based in Wuchang. Probably early in this year, he made Signatures and seals: In his signatures to the twelve leaves Based in Xuancheng, but also visited Shexian and Jing- 1675 a journey that took him south via Lake Dongting, where of the Guangdong album, Shitao uses only three names, xian. In this year he climbed Mount Bogui near Xuan- Based in Xuancheng at Guangjiao Temple, but made one he visited the Yueyang Tower, into Hunan Province, via which he would continue to use for the rest of his life: Shi- cheng (STSHQ], no. 12, leaf 7), and in the ninth month journey to the Songjiang area, where Lii'an was based at Changsha to Mount Heng.