Renaissance 3/2018 - 1 Dan Xu At the End of the Stream: Copy in 14th to 17th Century China There were no single words in Chinese equivalent to By the 14th century the three formats became the form the English word copy. By contrast, there were four preferred by artists, and remained unchallenged until distinctive types of copy: Mo (摹 ), the exact copy, was the early 1900s, when the European tradition of easel produced according to the original piece or the sketch painting came to provide an alternative.[1] The album of the original piece; Lin (临 ) denotes the imitation of was the last major painting format to develop. It ar- an original, with a certain level of resemblance; Fang rived along with the evolution of leaf-books. The album (仿 ) means the artistic copy of a certain style, vaguely was first used to preserve small paintings, later being connected with the original; and the last one, Zao (造 ), adopted by artists as a new format for original work refers to purely inventive works assigned to a certain and also as teaching resource or notebook for the master’s name. artist himself. Pictorial art in China frst emerged as patterns on In the process of the material change, it’s note- ritual vessels, then was transmitted to wall paintings worthy that Mo, the faithful copy, was involved in three and interior screens; later it was realised on horizontal slightly different ways: 1. to transmit an image from hand scrolls, vertical hanging scrolls and albums. manuscript/powder version to final work; 2. to transmit As in other cultures, the primary task of a painter an image from a damaged/aged work to a new materi- living in ancient times was to produce pictures for al support; 3. to transmit an image from the original keeping records and for decoration, but normally con piece to a new format. The first one was closely re- fned to religious establishments, commemorative oc lated to the production procedure, which was also casions or instructive stories. Very few wall paintings commonly used in European artists’ studios. The from these early times remain today, but the sketches second approach is determined by the fragile nature of of them were preserved. "or instance, the #uddhist Chinese painting. When the original was inaccessible, Volume of Paintings by Zhang %hengwen &act. ''()* copies were considered as precious as the original. ''+,-, compiled in 1180, is believed to be a copy of The tradition of preserving by substituting originals the sketches for the wall painting in a #uddhist tem continued until 1958, when the art expert Feng ple in South China. Zhonglian (1919–) was authorised by the Palace Mu- A very small number of the screen paintings sur- seum to produce an exact copy of the Along the River vived. They have been removed from the panels and during the Qingming Festival of the 12th century. remounted as scrolls. The formats of handscroll, /n addition, learning by copying was a long and uni hanging scroll and album were commonly used to pre- versal tradition. /n calligraphy, e0act copies were pro serve functional paintings since the 8th century. One duced since ancient times &the 3rd to 6th centuries). of the earliest existing examples of handscroll, The %ome works of calligraphy were authorised by the Admonitions of the Court Instructress, attributed to the ruler to be carved onto stele. 1he steles were open 4th-century master Gu Kaizhi (ca. 345–406), has in sources for aspiring students, scholars, dealers and fact two surviving copies. The one preserved in the connoisseurs. Using the rubbings from the steles, stu British Museum is considered to be a faithful copy of dents were able to study the master’s structure and the lost original, compiled in the 5th–8th centuries. The style without seeing the genuine piece. #y the same other monochrome paper scroll copy, in the collection token, copying of painting masterpieces was widely of the Beijing Palace Museum, is a 12th century copy. practised, since the original famous works e0isted in numerous versions through the ages when copies of Dan Xu At the End of the Stream kunsttexte.de 3/2018 - 2 copies, and copies of copies of copies &of copies) they had been schooled in the classics, poetry and functioned as models for succeeding generations.[56 calligraphy up to a relatively advanced age.[5] With 1he original paintings were more difcult to reach maturity, they had two typical career paths: they either than we might imagine. 1he hand scrolls were often painted in their spare time while serving as govern- carefully stored in caskets of fr wood and only un ment officials, or they chose to live as “professional” rolled from time to time for private pleasure or for scholar-painters. They were normally sophisticated in conservation purposes. 1he hanging scrolls were painting and calligraphy as well as poetry and literat- used for display and decoration, but were supposed ure. They were enthusiasts of art connoisseurship and to be changed every three to fve days.[)6 /n the olden criticism. For the scholar painters, to study painting times, without a public e0hibition system, the paint subjects and genres was also to explore the shifting ings were mostly collected and preserved in the im hierarchies constructed in art criticism writings to order perial palace and in the libraries of high-ranking o7 and place them in the world.[6] cials. 1he originals spread out through descriptive The invasion of Mongolians and the fall of Song te0ts, sketch/powder versions, and various copies. dynasty disrupted the court patronage. As the Mongo- 1he study copies were normally titled with Lin, 9After lians established their capital in the North (Beijing) and :;, to distinguish them from forgeries. 1he paintings named their regime “Yuan” in 1279, the majority of bearing titles started with Fang, 9/n the manner of :;, scholar-painters moved to South with the Song emper- they were more likely innovative creations based on or and the remnant of the regime. After the final de- past styles. molishment of the Song state in 1279, the Chinese This article is concerned with the phenomenon of scholars remained distant from the Yuan court partly copy-making in 14th to 17th-century China. The dis- because of patriotism, partly because of Yuan’s policy course is led by a series of essential questions: Who of racial and ethnical discrimination. were the copyists? What was the purpose or motiva- Authority was returned to Chinese rulers in 1368, tion? Who were the end-users? What messages do but the awkward situation of the scholars and artists the copies convey? did not change. The Ming emperors offered reason- The answers to these questions unfold a panorama ably strong patronage during the early 15th century, of the Chinese art history revolving around the em- but such sponsorship declined as the dynasty contin- ployment of pictures. ued and the personal interest of later emperors dimin- ished.[7] Private patrons played a prominent part in Historical background this period, and their impact continued in the sub- sequent dynasty. The break-through moment in the evolution of Chinese Furthermore, Ming emperors valued military men painting was the Northern Song dynasty (10th–12th more highly than the scholars and continued Yuan’s century), especially in the period of the emperor practice of flogging officials in public and ordering the Huizong (1082–1135), an art devotee. There was no death of scholars who they suspected of plotting rebel- other period in Chinese history in which court patron- lions.[8] The officials who relinquished their posts and age played such a vigorous and vital role in the recruit- returned home, together with the scholars who did not ment and training of artists, and in the arbitration of gain degrees, gathered in the wealthy and agreeable taste in art.[4] With the establishment of the Institute of climate Yangzi valley of South China (fig. 00) and be- Painting, which raised the Painting Bureau to a much came the “hermit class”, or gentlemen of leisure. Their higher rank and integrated painting as part of the state life remained calm until the mid-17th century, when examination for selecting officials, the Huizong period another foreign force, the Manchus, invaded and signalled the end of the era when painters were per- eventually established their regime Qing (1644–1912). ceived merely as manual workers. More importantly, a number of painters now came from backgrounds that In the Ming period, the line between scholar painter might be described as “scholarly”, in that as children and “professional” scholar painter was not that clear. Dan Xu At the End of the Stream kunsttexte.de 3/2018 - 3 The scholar painters produced paintings and calligra- ing, in autumn scattered and thin, and in winter dark phies for their own pleasure, as well as a social grace. and gloomy. […] A mountain nearby has one aspect. They gave their works to scholar friends who shared Several miles away it has another aspect, and some the same values and art taste but they also responded tens of miles away yet another. Each distance has its to commercial requests. Copies and repetitions in this particularity.”[9] period existed for various reasons. Just as Titian would reproduce several nude paintings based on the The text resulted from an incredible meticulous obser- same sketch as his patron requested, scholar painters vation. Accordingly, his extant works showed rich ex- repeated their patterns or classical patterns on re- periences of outdoor painting. In his masterpiece Early quest. Wealthy collectors commissioned excellent Spring (fig. 01), he carefully arranged the landscape painters to reproduce their art collection, which was according to the natural rules: overlapping triangular too difficult to preserve in private hands.