ch'an portraits in a landscape

Ch'an Portraits in a LandscapeAuthor(s): Helmut BrinkerSource: Archives of Asian Art, Vol. 27 (1973/1974), pp. 8-29Published by: University of Hawai'i Press for the Asia SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20111051 .

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Ch an Portraits In A Landscape Helmut Brinker

Museum Rietberg and University of Z?rich

The art of Chinese portraiture has seldom been esteemed as highly as some other

categories of figure painting and certainly never as highly as landscape painting. Portraiture only rarely attracted the interest of great artists in ancient times, and

portraits of veritable artistic value have survived in relatively small number; hence this

genre has been neglected in art historical writings both of Western and Eastern scholars.

Not until after the Han dynasty did the conception of portraiture in a true sense

appear in China, i.e., the representation of a specific person, living or dead, real or ideal,

through a vivid realization of his individual physical appearance or his moral traits essen

tially as revealed in his face, through the "transmission of his spirit", cb'uan-sben* as one

of the pertinent Chinese terms for "portraiture" may be translated.1 I do not intend

here to go into the questions of the conceptual development of portraiture, into the prob lems of likeness and image, of representation and imitation, of resemblance to or idealiza

tion of the model.2 In China as in any other culture that attempted to come to terms

with conveying the complex image of an individual, attitudes toward life-like imitation

and artistic mastery of expressive portrayal changed at different periods just as did the

judgments of the inherent qualities in portraiture. Therefore, portraiture must be con

sidered in relation to prevailing social, political and cultural conditions as well as in re

sponse to the personal, biographical aspects of the sitter.

I should like to limit my discussion to one type of religious portraiture in which Ch'an priests are depicted in a landscape setting. The remote

ancestors of this type may be found in secular

portrait painting coming into existence as early as the fourth century through the inventive

spirit of Ku K'ai-chihb (c. 344-406), whose gen eral concern and reasoned reflections on portrait ure have been often quoted. It was during the

Six Dynasties period that trends towards intel

lectualism and individualism extensively devel

oped in Chinese social and cultural life: chying t'ar?*?the "Pure Conversation" was elevated to

one of the foremost ideals. Wang Hsi-chihd (307 365 ) lead the art of writing to an unprecedented

peak. Calligraphy was no longer the business of

anonymous artisans; it now became the occupa tion of the social elite which saw the noble character of the educated, cultivated gentleman reflected in calligraphy. Wang Hsi-chih is also

supposed to have painted the first self-portrait.3 With the new aesthetic concepts of the literati

class both art criticism and intensive interest in

collecting evolved. A vast corpus of Buddhist

scriptures was translated with great success. Au

tobiographies became fashionable. T'ao Ch'ien

(Y?an-ming,e 372-427), a younger contemporary of Ku K'ai-chih, expounded and propagated in his prose and poetry the ideals of the individual istic recluse and of romantic admiration of na

ture. In his Wu-liu hsien-sheng ch'uan* {Chin shu,s 94, 19b-20a.) T'ao follows the tradition of

autobiographical essays that tries to justify var

ious forms of erimitism.4 He may be portrayed in the excellent late Northern Sung painting in

the National Palace Museum, Taipei, which

shows a relaxed gentleman-scholar seated on a

leopard skin under a willow tree.5 The self-con

tained attitude of the poet with a large wine

bowl and a blank handscroll in front of him is further emphasized by his careless way of dress

ing and his extremely narrowed eyes suggesting a state of intoxication or introverted pensiveness.

Recluses, or hermits, are usually referred to as

yin-ih in Chinese historical writings and in litera ture. The withdrawal from active public life in a metropolitan society and the renunciation of

service in a high governmental position has been a fundamental postulate of Confucian ethics for

devoted scholars under certain political, social or

personal conditions. "To bar one's gates and earn

one's own living without reliance on the emolu

8



Fig. 1. Artist unknown. Portrait of ]ung Ch'i-ch'i in an early fifth century tomb at Hsi-shan-ch'iao,

Nanking. Impressed-brick wall decoration (detail).

ment of office, to display a lack of regard for the social status which could be attained only by entering officialdom, and to devote one's life to

self-cultivation, scholarship or artistic pursuits made one a recluse. By the mores of Confucian

society, this was a step which set one apart, which justified the special appelation".6

This concept of escapism certainly guided the motivation of the Chin dynasty scholar and musician Hsieh K'un, or Hsieh Yu-y?,1 in esti

mating himself as a person "who belongs to the hills and dales, rather than as a model official in courts" (Chin shu, 49, 11a; his biography ibid., 10b-12a.).7 Based, no doubt, upon this remark,

Ku K'ai-chih not only decided to portray his friend Hsieh K'un seated in a cavern, but also

claimed, as the Chin shu (92, 22a) reports, that this gentleman should always be placed among the hills and valleys of his mind.8 From this Ku

K'ai-chih deservedly won the admiration of all those who considered him the father of "true"

portraiture because of his keen perception of the model's feelings and character, that is, his ability to go beyond the limits of mere imitation of a person's outer appearance in his depiction of a

sitter.

Perhaps the famous representation of the "Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove" in an early fifth century brick tomb discovered by accident in 1960 near the Hsi-shan bridge3 in the Nanking

vicinity may give us a glimpse of such early portraits in a landscape setting.9 In my opinion

mi,iiii? iwii m i.as??am,m iiuit?.'.i^ms^i^mmm^Kf^WimSB^mBK?BMHMK??K???^??KKi

Fig. 2. Chao M?ng-fu (1254-1322): Hsieh K'un in his Mind Land

scape (Yu-y? ch'iu-ho fu). Handscroll (detail), ink and color on silk. Anonymous loan, The Art Museum, Princeton University.

there can be little doubt that the artist responsi ble for the original design made a serious and rather successful effort to draw ideal portraits of the Seven Sages and the additional figure of Jung

Ch'i-ch'i,k (Fig. 1), a legendary contemporary of Confucius. The anonymous master's interest in

painting portraits of each member of this famous

group and not just giving a representation of a

celebrated literary theme is shown in the individ ual characterization of the faces, their surpris ing expressiveness, the telling gestures and poses, and the variety in the treatment of the drapery

?all of which must have been even more im

pressive in the original drawing and were partly lost and blurred through the technical process of transferring the design from one material into another. The general relationship of the figure style of the Nanking tomb and that customarily associated with Ku K'ai-chih has been observed

by several authors and needs no further discussion here. But it might be worth noting that Ku al

ready was familiar with this subject, as indicated in his Lun-hua,1 and that during the T'ang period two portraits by him, one of Jung Ch'i-ch'i and the other of Yuan Hsien,m a member of the Seven

Sages' meeting, were still extant.10

Ku K'ai-chih's likeness of his friend Hsieh K'un in a landscape or at least his conception of

the portrait type here under discussion must have

gained immense fame over the centuries. It was the celebrated Chao M?ng-fu (1254-1322)n who seems to have turned to this particular subject twice. One version has been lost. It is said to have carried an inscription by Chao himself. The other

Yu-y? chyiu-ho tyu??"Picture of [Hsieh] Yu-y? Among Hills and Valleys" is a short handscroll, formerly in the collection of C. C. Wang, New

York, and now on loan to the Art Museum of Princeton University (Fig. 2).11 It is a deliberate

9



archaistic essay in the blue and green manner.

Chao's choice of both style and subject obviously indicates his exceptionally strong sympathy with

Ku K'ai-chih and even more with Hsieh K'un

who felt uncomfortable in the confines of the

court, just as Chao himself did after the Mongol conquest and his decision to serve the foreign

government. He greatly suffered from his inner

conflict; after all, it would have been much

easier for him to retire like many of his older

friends to the hills and valleys of the Chiang-nan region. Passive resistance to the Mongols and

loyalty to the fallen Sung dynasty were widely spread among scholars of the south. A poem on

a painting depicting T'ao Ch'ien's return to his

recluse home after resigning his official position sheds some light on Chao M?ng-fu's uneasy state

of mind:

"Each person lives his life in his world accord

ing to his own times;

Whether to come forth and serve, or to retire

in withdrawal, is not a fortuitous decision.

Consider T'ao Yiian-ming's poem cOn Return

ing ; The excellence of his course is not easily

explained.

Subsequent ages have much admired him,

Closely imitating him, sometimes well and sometimes crudely.

And in the end, themselves unable to with

draw,

They remain, irresolute, in this dusty world.

But this man T'ao truly possessed tao.

His name hangs aloft like the sun and moon.

He followed his lofty way, noble as the green

pines. He was like a chrysanthemum, touched by the

frost and still bright. How readily he gave up his official position. And bore poverty, dozing contentedly by his

north window.

Rolling up this painting, I sigh repeatedly; How long since the world has known the likes

of this Worthy!"12

Chao's attitude towards the problem of serving or retiring is a very tolerant one; he does not

speak dogmatically about it. In essence he sug

gests in his poem that ultimately everybody has to make his own decision, according to the times

and circumstances. In this matter many of his

contemporaries did not agree with him, and

critics of subsequent centuries castigated him

for lack of loyalty. Other writers granted that

he had moved beyond the simple stage of loyalty to a far more complex and demanding concept of life in courageous confrontation with his

troubled age. "The swamp pheasant in a cage could not be high in spirit, the snowy gulls over the waves love each other even in dreams".13 This

couplet from one of Chao M?ng-fu's poems

clearly reflects his mood and thoughts. Not with out ironical undertones he called his famous re

treat Ou-po-t'ingv?"Gull-Wave Pavilion". Ni

TsanQ (1301-1374) certainly sensed the ambigu

ity of this name when he wrote in his colophon on Chao's handscroll with the Hsieh K'un por trait: "This was Hsieh Yu-y?, the man who

should have been depicted in the hills and preci pices. But at the 'Gull-Wave Pavilion', as the

moon was fading away, the windows that opened to the night were empty."14 Ni Tsan then con

tinues to complain about the unintelligibility of

the "crazy idea of Ku K'ai-chih" concerning the

"mind landscape".

Nevertheless, the type of portrait that depicts a sitter surrounded by nature (Aussenraum

portr?t) had its strongest revival just during this era, i.e., the nine decades of the Yuan dynasty from 1279 to 1368, and it seems to have been

only in Yuan times that artists working for

adepts and institutions of the Ch'an school

adopted this type and thus opened up a new

idiom of Buddhist portraiture, free from the limits of traditional, orthodox forms.

The creation of a new mode of portraying Ch'an monks during the Yuan period must have

been stimulated by both secular portraits of

scholar-recluses and ideal portraits of the Six

Ch'an Patriarchs illustrating the transmission of

the Law from Bodhidharma to Hui-n?ng.r The

most pertinent example of such a series of por traits in patriarchal succession is contained in the

National Palace Museum's famous "Long Roll

of Buddhist Images" (Fan-hsiang)s attributed

by a monk called Miao-kuang* to the otherwise

unknown Chang Sh?ng-w?nu who executed the

painting in the mid-seventies of the twelfth cen

tury at the order of the Li-chenv Emperor Hsiao

tsung (Tuan Chih-hsing)w of the Later Ta-lix

kingdom in what is now the southern province of Yunnan.15 Besides the emperor, his retinue,

and numerous figures of the traditional Buddhist

pantheon, we find ideal portraits of the "Six Patriarchs of the Bodhidharma School" in this

fascinating handscroll (Fig. 3 ). The Ch'an mas

10



Fig. 3. Attributed to Chang Sh?ng-iv?n (second half 12th century): F or trait of the First Ch'an Patriarch Bodhidharma (detail of a handscroll ivith Buddhist

images), ink, colors and gold on paper. National Palace Museum, Taipei.

ters are seated in different abbot's chairs sur

rounded by trees, rocks, water, elegant birds and other animals, and they are accompanied by their

respective disciples.10 Due to the Ch'an sect's pre occupation with a non-scriptural transmission of doctrine and with the establishment of legitimate lineages of Ch'an patriarchs, such imaginary por traits of successive masters seem to have been the earliest form of Ch'an portraiture, if not the oldest Ch'an theme in painting altogether. It

may be called "Ordinationsbild".17 In Japanese the term busso-tokei-zuy has been coined for this

iconographical type of simultaneous representa tions of the Six Patriarchs and their followers.

An earlier reflection of this theme can be found in a thirteenth century Japanese drawing from the prolific workshop at Kozanjiz near

Kyoto.18 The anonymous priest-painter copied the six scenes directly from a Chinese woodblock illustration printed in the year 1054, as indicated

by the short inscription in the lower left corner.

Fig. 4. Artist unknown. Portrait of the Fifth Ch'an Patriarch Ta-man Hung-j?n (detail of a hanging scroll illustrating the transmission of the Ch'an doctrine from Bodhidharma to Hui

n?ng), ink on paper. Kazanji, Kyoto.

Again, the fifth patriarch Ta-man Hung-jenaa (601-674) is seated on a flat rock while giving instructions to his designated successor (Fig. 4). It appears to be quite logical that independent

full-figure portraits of the first Ch'an patriarch in China should have grown out of these genea

logical representations, the busso-tokei-zu. The

earliest example of a separate complete Bodhi dharma portrait in existence is owned by the

Kogakuji,ab Yamanashi Prefecture (Fig. 5). It bears an inscription by the eminent Chinese

Kenchojiac prelate Lan-ch'i Tao-lungad (1231 1278). "It occupies a position of isolated gran

deur in the evolution of Zen painting: the artist is unknown, and there is no documentary or art

historical evidence to indicate its iconographical or compositional sources. Yet, it is clear that it

represents the flowering of an accomplished ar

tistic tradition of a very high order, one which, in all likelihood, had its roots in China. Stylis tically, it shows points of close correspondences

with the school of realistic chinso&e representa tions that flourished in Southern China during the thirteenth century, but there are several im

portant differences that strongly indicate that the work was produced in Japan".19 Only a few

decades later, in the early fourteenth century, an ink-monochrome Bodhidharma portrait was

executed in Japan and inscribed by the renowned Chinese Zen teacher I-shan I-ningaf ( 1247-1317)

(Fig. 6). This version in the Tokyo National Museum, undoubtedly done with thorough un

derstanding of Chinese prototypes, shows even

closer affinities to comparable sections of earlier

11



Fig. 5. Artist unknown. "Red-Robed" Bodhidharma, (executed

before 1278). Colophon by Lan-ch'i Tao-lung (1231-1278). Hanging scroll, ink and colors on silk. K?gakuji, Y amanas hi

Prefecture.

busso-tokei-zu than the "Red-Robed" Bodhi

dharma at K?gakuji. At the same time, it estab

lishes a close relationship to portraits of Ch'an

priests in a landscape produced almost contem

poraneously in Yuan China.

One of the outstanding works of this kind is the ideal portrait of the T'ang priest P'an Tao

linag (741-824), better known by his sobriquet Niao-k'o Ch'an-shihah?"Ch'an Master of the

Bird's Nest", which alludes to his favorite place of meditation on Mount Chingai (Fig. 7). This reminds one immediately of the influential Jap anese Kegon reformer My?-e Shoninaj (1173

1232), who loved to meditate in a comfortable

crotch of one of the big trees in the confines of

his monastery, the K?zanji. One of his pupils,

perhaps the monk named E-nichib? Jonin,ak por

trayed the master in this unusual setting.20 The

Niao-k'o portrait in the Museum of Fine Arts,

Boston, shows the Ch'an monk seated in medita

tion on the limb of a pine tree. His countenance, characterized by wide-open, staring eyes and a

Fig. 6. Artist unknown. Bodhidharma Seated Under a Pine Tree, executed between 1299 and 1317. Colo

phon by I-shan I-ning (1247-1317). Hanging scroll, ink on silk. Tokyo National Museum.

luxuriant beard, resembles that of Bodhidharma.

Other iconographical details, such as the earrings and the garment which covers the head and ex

poses the hairy chest, are strongly reminiscent of

portraits of the first Ch'an patriarch in China.

The anonymous master of the Niao-k'o Ch'an

shih portrait obviously modelled his work on the type of Bodhidharma picture that has been lost in China, but is represented by Japanese paint

ings of the late thirteenth and early fourteenth

centuries. The traditional attribution of the un

signed Boston picture to Yen Huial (active second half of the thirteenth century) seems difficult to accept,21 though in its bold, heavy brushwork it vaguely resembles the well-known

pair of hanging scrolls in the Tokyo National Museum representing Han-shan and Shih-te.22am

Their attribution to Yen Hui, however, has been

also questioned many times, and, by comparison,

they do not approach "the truly mysterious power of the design of the monk's garment in

monumental shapes, like boulders and a water

12



fall, entirely transcending the concrete subject".23

Later Niao-k'o portraits, one by the priest painter K'un-ts'anan executed in 166224 and an

other one by the Japanese artist Nonomura Sotatsuao (1576-1643) in the Cleveland Museum of Art,25 look like playful caricatures of the sub

ject, lacking the deep seriousness and grandeur of the powerful Boston painting.

Another work of this type and one as high in artistic quality as the picture in Boston is the

portrait of the T'ien-mu-shanap abbot Chung f?ng Ming-p?naq (1263-1323) owned by the Jish?-in,ar a subtemple of the Shokokujias in

Kyoto (Fig. 8). Ming-p?n was a rather eccentric Ch'an master, nonetheless deeply devoted to a

life of meditation in accord with the religious ideals of his school. A popular legend tells us that the young novice in an act of religious fervour burned one of his fingers in order to make an

offering to the Buddha. This episode is strongly reminiscent of Hui-k'o,at the second patriarch-to be, who severed his arm to demonstrate his sin

cerity in seeking religious instructions of Bodhi dharma. Early in his career, when he was only 32 years old, Ming-p?n had to take over the abbot's chair on Mount T'ien-mu, because his teacher Kao-f?ng Y?an-miao,au who died in

1295, had designated him as his successor. Ming p?n, however, felt that he was not born to han dle the burden of administrative responsibilities and official duties inevitably involved with such a high-ranking job. He had strong objections to

being installed in the hieratic establishment of his church, and was impatient with the endless visits of large numbers of students, lay-associates and secular dignitaries from near and far. He not only ignored several invitations to the court but also honors which were to be bestowed upon him by the emperors J?n-tsungav (reigned 1312

1321) and Ying-tsungaw (reigned 1321-1324). At one point, Chung-f?ng Ming-p?n lost his pa tience. He left the monastery and took a house boat to escape the ordinary unessential affairs of his monastic organization. Leading an inde

pendent life of meditative seclusion he roamed about the lakes and rivers in the vicinity of

Hang-chou. Ming-p?n was a Buddhist recluse in the true sense of the term, and his attitudes

naturally had a strong appeal to his non-Buddhist friends.

The most distinguished among them, without doubt, was Chao M?ng-fu, a hermit at heart

himself, who sympathized with his friend's inner conflict arising from his commitment to his

Fig. 7. Artist unknown. Portrait of Niao-k'o Ch'an

shih Seated in Meditation in a Pine Tree. Late

13th-early 14th century. Hanging scroll, ink, colors and gold on silk. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston ( Weld-Fenollosa Collection).

church and his deceased master Kao-f?ng on the one hand and, on the other, from his wish to realize a Ch'an way of life according to his own personal ideals. Chao M?ng-fu's continued

friendship and respect for Chung-f?ng Ming p?n, his religious advisor, is vouched for by a number of letters kept in various collections.26 The very personal messages concern private af fairs of Chao's family, the death of his wife and his daughter, and such matters as his progress in Buddhist thought, his activities in transcribing religious scriptures and a prayer for Ming-p?n's salvation. Another member of this coterie was the noted poet and calligrapher F?ng Tzu-ch?nax

(1257-died after 1327) who, like Chao M?ng fu, served in the Mongol administration and

maintained considerable contacts with Japanese Zen monks, mainly those pilgrims who had come to study under his friend Chung-f?ng Ming-p?n.

The most conspicuous case is that of Muin Genkaiay (died 1357). F?ng Tzu-ch?n dedicated

13



Fig. 9. Detail of Fig. 8. Fig. 8

Fig. 10-a. Kuang-yen inscription

on the por trait of Chung-f?ng Ming-p?n, Jisho-in.

Fig. 10. Detail of Fig. 8.

Fig. 8. Artist unknown. Portrait of Chung-f?ng Ming-p?n Seated in Meditation Under a Pine Tree. First quarter of the 14th

century. Colophon by an unknown follower named Kuang-yen. Hanging scroll, ink and light colors on silk. Jisho-in, Kyoto.

14



several poems to him, undoubtedly at the Japa nese visitor's request, three of which have sur

vived in the Tokyo National Museum.27 When

Genkai returned in 1326 from his sojourn on

the continent he had, in his luggage in all likeli hood, the portrait of his Zen teacher Chung-f?ng

Ming-p?n, now in the possession of the Sembut

suji,az Kyoto.28 This work once belonged to the

Genju-an,ba a subtemple of the great Nanzenji,bb which was headed in the 21st generation by Muin Genkai. He or one of his Japanese con

fr?res may have been also responsible for bring

ing back the Jisho-in portrait of Ming-p?n de

picting the Ch'an recluse surrounded by the

"Three Pure Ones", rocks, bamboo and an old

pine tree.

Since the rendering of the individual features

of the orthodox Sembutsuji chin so and those of

the rather unconventional Jisho-in portrait is

very similar (Figs. 10-11), the corpulent abbot seems to be represented at about the same age,

probably in the last years of his life. Ming-p?n appears here with a shaven head, while I-an,bc an

otherwise unknown monk-painter, depicted him

in his earlier version for Enkei Soy?bd (1285 1344) with long, disheveled hair (Fig. 12). This famous painting in the Kogenjibe was finished at

about the time of Enkei's departure from China

in 1315.a9

The Jisho-in portrait bears neither signature nor seals and the inscription in the upper right corner by an unidentified follower of Chung

f?ng Ming-p?n, named Kuang-yen,bf gives no

clue to the time or circumstances of its execu

tion.

"Here the old Huan-w?ng loved pine trees and

bamboo.

He received and maintained [the tradition of] the Shao-lin [-szu].

To continue roughly his true school [tradition], no matter how far-reaching, his heirs must

bear responsibility on their shoulders.

[But] who knows [Ming-] p?n Chung-f?ng of

[Mount] T'ien-mu?

His follower Kuang-yen reverently [wrote] this

eulogy".1111

Thus we have to rely entirely upon a stylistic

analysis of the painting.

To begin with, in all of his portraits Chung f?ng Ming-p?n wears his robe casually opened down to the belly, a detail always encountered

in portraits of Bodhidharma (Fig. 9). The dense and accurate treatment of the drapery in the

Jisho-in version is less intensive in the Sembut

suji chins? and also in I-an's work preserved at

the K?genji. In all three portraits, however, ele

gant, fluid lines of even thickness throughout their length are employed to render the fall of the robe. This type of line, usually?though not

quite correctly?referred to as "iron-wire" line

in later Chinese art theory, is typical of Yuan

portraiture and, by comparison, it becomes evi

dent that Sung portraitists normally preferred more rhythmic, attenuated brushstrokes, lines

like "orchid leaves" or "broken reeds".30 The

Fig. 11. Artist unknown. Portrait of Chung-f?ng Ming-p?n Seated in an Abbot's Chair, (executed before 1323). Colophon by the sitter. Hanging scroll (detail), ink and colors on silk. S em bu

ts//ji, Kyoto.

Fig. 12. I-an (early 14th century): Portrait of Chung-f?ng Ming-p?n Seated in an Abbot's Chair

(executed before 1313). Colophon by the sitter

for the Japanese Zen monk Enkei Soyu (1285 1344). Hanging scroll (detail), ink and colors on silk. K?genji, Hy?go Prefecture.

15




Fig. 14. Chao 'M?ng-fu (1254-1322) [?]: The Nine

Songs, dated in accordance with 1305. Album

(detail), ink on paper. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

anonymous painter of the Jish?-in portrait fre

quently uses whole bundles of thin, incisive lines in parallel arrangement, like "silken threads" un

ravelling, so that the simple monk's garb becomes an intricate pattern (Fig. 13). Closer examina

tion reveals that this pattern has been carefully sketched in in very light ink. But it was not al

ways covered with heavier darker ink in the final execution. In certain areas, where the artist

slightly altered the original design, both lines re main visible, side by side or partially overlapping, because a water-thinned transparent pigment has been used for the light brown robe. The white undergarment and the ornamented carpet cov

ering the boulder, which Ming-p?n chose as his seat for meditation, are painted with opaque colors.

In the Jisho-in picture, the T'ien-mu-shan abbot sits erectly in a dignified but not stiff pos ture. His robust figure measures a little less than half the total height of the hanging scroll. Ming p?n is shown in a full three-quarter profile to

wards left which almost approaches a frontal view. His closely cropped "chestnut head" shows no such deviations from an underlying sketch as

the robe. The contours and details of the face are

carefully and sensitively drawn. They capture the seriousness, mellowness and superior intelli

gence of the aged Ch'an master in a most im

pressive manner.

Fig. 15.

Fig. 15. Chao M?ng-fu (1254-1322): Portrait of Su Shih, dated in accordance with 1301. Frontispiece to a transcription of Su's ffRed Cliff" prose-poem, ink on paper. National Palace Museum, Taipei.

16



From the bare, rocky terrain in the foreground rises an old pine tree at the right side of the pic ture accompanied by two bamboo stalks. The

gnarled trunk bends over towards the left spread

ing its twisting branches with their feathered needles like a protecting canopy over the medi

tating priest. To me, there seems to be a con

siderable discrepancy of artistic feeling and

temperament in the treatment of the broad

shouldered, heavy figure of the Ch'an master and

that of the landscape elements. Even if one takes

the basic technical differences of figure painting and landscape painting into account, one would

expect a greater consistency in style if the work

actually had been done by a single artist. While the neatly organized pattern of thin, even lines

of the figure drawing displays the brush of a cautious and restrained painter who closely fol

lows the prescribed outlines of the design and

thus stresses his concern for accuracy, the vital

rhythm in the rendering of the rocks, grasses, the pine tree and bamboo discloses a funda

mentally different artistic conception of much

greater freedom and imaginative power. In my

opinion, the "Three Pure Ones" in this work are

an outstanding performance of a master, highly talented, predominantly interested and mainly trained in painting bamboo, old trees and rocks,

while another artist, skilled in figure painting, contributed the portrait of the Ch'an master.

Such a collaborative work or ho-tso,hg especially in the field of portraiture, would not be an iso lated case in Yuan times. We know, for example, of a portrait of a certain Yang Chu-hsibh stroll

ing through a landscape, that was done as a col

laboration of Ni Tsan (1301-1374) and the portrait specialist Wang I, or Wang Ssu-shanbi

(ca. 1333-died after 1363) (Fig. 23). The in

scription in the upper left corner states: "Small

portrait of the distinguished gentleman Yang Chu-hsi, drawn by Wang I of Yen-ling. Ni Tsan of Kou-wu has added the pine tree and the rocks.

Kuei-mao, 2nd month". The date corresponds with the year 1363. Yet, another portrait by

Wang I was supplemented with a landscape set

ting by Ni Tsan, as recorded in the Ni Yiin-lin

hsien-sh?ng shih-chi.hi 31

Wang's deep concern

with portraiture is further attested by his Hsieh hsiang mi-chiiehhk?"Secrets of Portrait Paint

ing". Thanks to T'ao Tsung-ibl this essay has been preserved and was incorporated in the Cho

k?ng luhm (2, ch. 11.) published in 1366.32

It may be interesting to notice that Wang I

and Li K'anbn (1245-1320) in his illustrated treatise on the technique of bamboo painting

Chu-pyu [hsiang-luY?33 frequently use the same

technical terms, which apparently were in vogue among Yuan artists. Conceivably the painter of the landscape elements in the Jisho-in portrait of

Chung-f?ng Ming-p?n was Li K'an himself, or else a member of his immediate circle. The inter action of the pine tree's twisting branches with

clusters of delicate, long needles, the fragile movement of emaciated skeleton-like twigs and

crooked, fractured stumps (Fig. 18) readily call to mind Li K'an's famous "Twin Pines" in the

National Palace Museum (Figs. 16-17). Both paintings share the fascinating contrast of pulsat ing energy and mellowed beauty. Technically, the rhythmic distribution of ink dots along the contours of the branches and trunks as well as

the use of diluted silvery ink to render the hoary bark is virtually identical. Towards the ground,

where the pine trees slowly begin to stretch their

roots, an effective contrast of light gray and darker ink on the old trees appears to be particu larly remarkable because of its intimate resem

blance in both paintings (Figs. 19-20). Further analogies may be observed in the treatment of the

ragged ground. There is an unhurried quality to

the brush that outlines the rounded clods of earth and gives a strong sense of volume to them

through the application of shaded washes. In my opinion, the stylistic affinities between Li K'an's "Twin Pines" and the pine and rocks in the Chung-f?ng Ming-p?n portrait owned by the Jisho-in are of such an intimate and pervasive sort down to the minutest details that the possi

bility of their being from the same hand cannot be lightly dismissed.

Li K'an has been most admired for his painting of bamboo, and one of his masterpieces in this

genre, "Rocks and Bamboo", belongs to the Im

perial Household Collection of Japan.34 The large hanging scroll, painted for a certain Po

Chi-t'anbp at the end of his life, is dated in cor

respondence with 1320. Though done with a dif ferent approach and different intentions, one

may detect several characteristics of the brush

similar to the bamboo of the Jish?-in portrait (Figs. 21-22). There is a seeming carelessness

to the brushwork in the unkempt organization of the slender leaves. The spacing of the clusters

along the supple and yet erect stalks is similar in both paintings. So is the subtle gradation of

17



Fig. 16

Fig. 16. Li K'an (1245-1320): Twin Pines. Hanging scroll, ink on silk. National Palace Museum, Taipei.





Fig. 17

Fig. 18

Fig. 19 Fig. 20

18



ink values. Another remarkable analogy is the

technique used for the joints of the stems. The

upper part always takes on a convex curve like

the shape of the "sickle-moon", as Li K'an him

self described it in his treatise.35 This stylistic peculiarity can be also encountered in his bamboo

painting owned by the Nelson-Atkins Gallery, Kansas City.36

Chao M?ng-fu's poem at the end of the Kan sas City handscroll dated 1308 and some other

colophons he provided for Li K'an's works bear

witness to his appreciation of Li's art and his

rather intimate relationship with him.37 Both

served at the same time as high officials under

the Mongols and took mutual interest in each

other's painting. Could it be that these two great masters of the early Yuan period collaborated in

the Jisho-in portrait of Chung-f?ng Ming-p?n? Chao had close ties to the abbot of Mount T'ien mu and Li K'an is said to have worked for a

while in the administration of Chia-hsing pro vince, the area around Hang-chou, where Ming

p?n was living. However, little reliable material

and visual evidence of Chao M?ng-fu's figure

style has survived. We know that he painted a

portrait of the long-haired Ch'an monk in the

orthodox chins? manner in 1309, which has been preserved only through a copy by the Ch'ing painter Fan Kung-shoubQ ( 1741-1794) .38 Here, even in a copy, one can see the same incisive pro

ficiency in the description of the drapery with lines of even thickness, often concentrated in

dense parallels. This, in all likelihood, was not the

only portrait that Chao did of and for his priestly friend. Hence, I am inclined to conclude that the esteemed Yuan artist made a contribution of some sort to the Jisho-in portrait, even though the actual execution may have been done by one

of his skilful students or family members under his supervision or after a sketch by his own hand.

I have already mentioned the slight deviations of the final drawing from the underlying sketch in pale ink (Fig. 13). These unconcealed traces

of the technical process in preparing such figure paintings can be observed in several other works associated with the name of Chao M?ng-fu. Pre

liminary lines in the drapery appear in the

simple, unassuming ideal portrait of Su Shihbl (1036-1101), which is dated in accordance with 1301 (the bicentennial of Su's death) and forms the frontispiece to a transcription of Su's famous

"Red Cliff" prose-poem in the National Palace Museum (Fig. 15). They appear far more promi

nently throughout the entire album of "The

Nine Songs" recently acquired by the Metropoli tan Museum of Art, New York, from the collec

tion of C. C. Wang39 (Fig. 14). The date given in the inscription at the end corresponds with the

year 1305. Ultimately based upon Li Kung-lin'sbs

(ca. 1049-1106) version of the subject, just as the lovely version of 1360 by Chang Wubt (ac tive 1335-1365) in the Cleveland Museum of

Art,40 the Metropolitan album shows similarities to the Jisho-in portrait not only in the technical

process of execution but in the fine, even line

drawing. The dense parallelism is expressive of

essentially the same attitude and preoccupation with a detailed rendering of the drapery. This

apparently represents one facet of Chao M?ng fu's figure painting, different, however, from

the restrained taste and elegance of his Su Shih portrait with its stunning economy of the brush.

If one is to accept the collaboration of two

artists, to begin with, and secondly, the active

participation of Chao M?ng-fu and Li K'an, or

members of their circle, in the Jisho-in portrait, there remains one vital problem to be discussed.

Since Chung-f?ng Ming-p?n survived both painters by a few years, the painting must have

been done during his lifetime. However, accord

ing to the orthodox rules of Ch'an portraiture the sitter should look towards east, i.e., the right, in a portrait done during his lifetime, as evi

denced by the two Ming-p?n portraits in the

K?genji and Sembutsuji. Both bear inscriptions by the Ch'an teacher's own hand running from

right to left. On a posthumous portrait the model is supposed to face towards the left. In this case, the eulogy, usually done by a disciple or follower of the master, should be written from left to

right contrary to the regular mode of Chinese

writing. This largely valid rule was obviously extended to other categories of Ch'an Buddhist

figure painting as early as the late Sung period. No doubt, these conventions of painting and

calligraphy were well known to the accomplished T'ien-mu-shan abbot and his contemporaries. So we need not be surprised to find that Ming-p?n began his inscription on the fine Shussan Shakahn

picture in the Hatakeyama Kinenkan,bv Tokyo, on the left side of the scroll in correspondence

with S?kyamuni's facing direction.41 At the same

time, it was the respected Ch'an priest Chu-hsien Fan-hsienbw (1292-1349) who raised his voice

against these established rules. His rather polemic comment on this matter has been transmitted in

19



Fig. 21. Li K'an (1245-1320): Rocks and Bamboo, dated in accordance with 1320. Hanging scroll

(detail), ink on silk. Imperial Household Collec

tion, Tokyo.

the T'ien-cbu-chi,hx which was incorporated in

his collected writings, the Chu-hsien Ho-shang yii-luhy (ch. 3 B).42 In his epilogue to "The

Proper Facing Direction in Portraiture" he says

among others: "Everybody, who paints a por trait (ting-hsiang or chinso) of a master of our

school, should let [the sitter] face towards West

[i.e.y to the left]. Some people claim, if it is done during the lifetime [of the sitter] he must look towards East [i.e.y to the right]. One should not

listen to these words".

This, of course, raises the question: was the

Jisho-in portrait actually painted after 1323, the year of Chung-f?ng Ming-p?n's death, or was it

done before that date as an exception to the con

ventional mode of Ch'an portraiture, perhaps even by Chao M?ng-fu and Li K'an or artists

closely associated with them? I think the latter

might be true. After all, historical and biographi cal facts do not exclude this daring possibility from the beginning. This highly unconventional

Ming-p?n portrait was probably not intended to

be presented to a disciple confirming his advanced

stage of spiritual perception and his legitimate place in the master's line of succession. It was

perhaps done to demonstrate the Ch'an master's

love for nature. Ming-p?n preferred to lead the

life of a religious recluse among bamboo, rocks and old trees, unbothered by the organized hier

archy of his school. The painting may have been done for the abbot's or the painters' own amuse

ment, just as Chao M?ng-fu depicted "Hsieh

Yu-y? in His Mind Landscape" for no one else


but himself. The eulogy by the unidentified fol lower Kuang-yen confirms the old master's love for pines and bamboo. The seven lines are

squeezed in the upper right corner of the picture; they were certainly not planned in the original composition. In running with the facing direc tion of the model from right to left they do not

comply with the established tradition of Ch'an portrait painting.

Probably of the same period as the Jisho-in painting is the posthumous portrait of the influ

ential Ch'an master Sung-y?an Ch'ung-yobz (1132-1202) whose name is given in the upper left corner (Fig. 24). The 23rd Ling-yin-szuca abbot and founder of a special branch of Ch'an Buddhism, which later gained great prominence in Japan, instructed many students in his mona

stery on the Pei-shan near Hang-chou, among them such eminent priests as Wu-chun Shih fancb (1177-1249) and Ch'ih-ch?eh Tao-ch'ungcc (1170-1251). He is shown in this ink-mono

chrome portrait of the Tenneijicd in Fukuchi yama00 seated on a fringed round mat, which is

spread over a large rock. Near an overhanging cliff on the left rises a tall pine protecting the

meditating abbot. Though physically relaxed, Sung-y?an looks with concentration into the

distance (Fig. 25). Characterized by a beard and mustache and short unkempt hair, his round face emanates something of the priest's forceful in

tellect and resoluteness. The monk's robe is de lineated with solid technical skill and knowledge of the current trends in Yuan figure painting of this sort.

20



F/?. 23. Wang I (ca. 1333-died after 1363) and Ni Tsan (1301-1374): Portrait of Yang Chu-hsi in a Landscape, dated in accordance with 1363. Handscroll, ink on paper. Palace Museum, Peking.

Fig. 24. Chao Yung (1289-died after 1352) [?]: Portrait of Sung-y?an Ch'ung-yo Seated in a

Landscape, dated in accordance with 1322.

Hanging scroll, ink on silk. Tenneiji, Fuku

chiyama.


21



If the signature above the rocks on the left

(Fig. 28) is credible, the Sung-y?an portrait was

done in 1322 by no one else but Chao M?ng-fu's eldest son, Chao Yung, or, as he signed here, Chao

Chung-mucf (1289-died after 1352). The seal is

indecipherable. At first, one might be puzzled to find Chao Yung as painter of a religious sub

ject because he is mainly known for his land scapes in the style of Tung Y?ancg and for his

horse paintings. But if one remembers his par ents' association with Ming-p?n and other Ch'an

intellectuals, the portrait of a Ch'an monk is more

readily understandable. After all, Chao Yung is

said to have also done a half-length portrait of

Chung-f?ng Ming-p?n's venerated teacher, Kao

f?ng Y?an-miao (1238-1295). The painting, preserved in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, bears a long inscription with biographical infor

mation on the long-haired Yuan priest by Chao

M?ng-fu's son.43 Like his father he served in sev

eral positions of the Mongol administration. Per

haps thanks to the influence of his family and his office he may have had access to various collec

tions, so that he was able to base his own portraits of famous Ch'an masters of preceding genera tions on earlier portrait versions. The counte nance of Sung-y?an Ch'ung-yo, however, seems

to be vaguely reminiscent of that of Ming-p?n. One is almost tempted to think that the painter may in fact have been inspired by, and perhaps modelled his painting on, the eccentric unkempt

Ming-p?n.

Landscape and figure are undoubtedly done by the same hand. The sloping foreground, the rock

platform and the steep cliff are rendered by light gray contours and dry, somewhat rough washes

effectively textured by wavy intertwined brush

strokes and irregularly distributed moss dots

painted in heavy black ink (Fig. 26). This tech nique appears to be not alien to Chao Yung. He

chose a similar treatment for the landscape in

Tung Y?an's style "Hermit Fishermen of the

Streams and Mountains" in the collection of Mr.

and Mrs. A. Dean Perry, Cleveland.44 If one

would be ready to accept the "Chao Chung-mu" signature as being authentic, the Sung-y?an por trait would be one of the artist's earliest dated

works. This, however, seems to be open to some

doubt for several reasons: to my knowledge, Chao either used to sign with his tzu or style "Chung

mu", or with his better known formal name

"Chao Yung" (Fig. 27), or sometimes even with

both, but not with a combination of his surname


Fig. 27. Signature of Chao Yung on the

half-length portrait of Kao-f?ng Y?an miao in the Museum

of Fine Arts, Boston.


22



and style, as it appears here. Compared with

other signatures this one obviously lacks the firm

ness, security and balance of his hand.45 The few

characters giving the date and the painter's name

might be a later addition to a fourteenth century

painting that in its general stylistic appearance is not far removed from the art of Chao Yung.

In 1349 a Ch'an portrait in a landscape was

dedicated to a certain nun named Ching-ning,ch who lived in the Wu-wei-anci of Hang-chou

(Fig. 29). Subject of the painting and writer of the colophon is the Ch'an priest Ch'ien-yen

Y?an-ch'angCJ (died 1357) about whom not

much is known. He was one of Chung-f?ng

Ming-p?n's disciples. His close spiritual bonds

with the T'ien mu-shan abbot are testified by an

eulogy on the posthumous chins? of his teacher in the collection of Tokyo University of Arts

dated in correspondence with 13 54.46 To my

knowledge, the Y?an-ch'ang portrait, now in the

collection of Nakamura Gakuryo,ck Kanagawa, is the only one of its kind that was expressis

verbis dedicated to somebody. According to the

signature hidden at the lower left side it was

painted by Ku Shan-chih,cl an artist whom I have

been unable to identify.

The long-haired priest, emaciated and ad

vanced in age, sits in orthodox meditation pos ture on a rock platform. His shoes are placed on

a large, flat rock in front of him. In his right hand he holds the ching-ts'? or kyosakucm of the Ch'an instructor. Unlike Sung-y?an Ch'ung yo and Chung-f?ng Ming-p?n, Y?an-ch'ang is

dressed in a formal priest's habit. His figure measures almost exactly half the height of the

scroll. Long, fluid lines paralleled by distinct

shadings describe the fall of the drapery rather

eloquently. Sparse shrubbery flanks the rock and a tall, upright pine rises in rigid parallelism with

the left border through the entire picture. The

background remains blank so that all attention is

focussed upon the meditating priest and the in

scription which appears to have been calculated as an integral part of the composition from the

very beginning. Laughingly Y?an-ch'ang speaks in it of himself as "the unenlightened, old t'ou

tyocn . . . living in a thatched hut among pine

trees and a heap of stones". Tyou-tyo is the pho netic transliteration of the Sanskrit term dhuta.

It refers to a Buddhist recluse who has gotten rid

of the trials of ordinary life, of the attachment to clothing, food and dwelling. Five years later, in 13 54, Y?an-ch'ang signed his inscription on

Fig. 29. Ku Shan-chih (act. mid-14th century): Por trait of Ch'ten-yen Y?an-ch'ang Seated Under a Pine

Tree. Colophon by the sitter dated in accordance with 1349. Hanging scroll, ink and light colors on silk. Collection of Nakamura Gakuryo, Kanagawa.

the posthumous portrait of Chung-f?ng Ming

p?n in the Tokyo University of Arts (cf. n. 46) again with this phrase, and it might be interesting to note that his teacher, in a colophon on the fine Freer handscroll with "Sixteen Lohan" attributed to Fan-lungco (active 12th century),47 also uses

this term in referring to himself (Fig. 30). Ming-p?n closes his eulogy with the words:

"Lao-pien T'i-tiencp stores this painting in his

sack. One day after meditation he brought this out to show me and asked me to inscribe after the

painting. Respectfully written by Ming-p?n, the old priest [lao tyou-tyo] who resides at the

Hsi-t'ien-mu shan".48

23



Fig. 30. Colophon by Chung-f?ng Ming-p?n (1263-1323) on a handscroll with the t(Sixteen Lohan" attributed to Fan

lung (act. 12th century), ink on paper. Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

In surveying this material one may conclude

that independent portraits of Ch'an priests in a

landscape represent an unconventional extension

of the orthodox types of Buddhist portraiture.

They made their appearance during the Yuan

dynasty, probably having their iconographical and compositional sources in religious as well as

secular painting of earlier periods. As an amal

gamation of various elements and a synthesis of

traditional figure painting and the literati genre of rocks, bamboo and old trees they seem to be in

their final result a creation of the bold shih-ta

fuc<l ". . ., the scholar-official elite or gentlemen

painters",49 . . . rather than the priest-painters with their conventions and routine. This type of

portrait has for its subject the Ch'an recluse who

has departed from a strictly regulated monastic

life and from the established hierarchy of his church. I think it is plausible that such portraits became popular in an age in which various forms

of escapism as an alternative way of life became

prominent.

The impact that portraits of this kind and the

mentality which inspired their creation may have

had on Zen painters in Japan as well as on Chi nese artists of later times can be judged by sev

eral extant works. Two ink-monochrome paint

ings, one portraying the Tofukujicr founder Enni

Bennen,cs or Sh?ichi Kokushict (1202-1280),50 the other the Zen master Daid? Ichiicu (1292 1370),51 have been convincingly attributed to

Kichizan MinchcT ( 1352-1431 ), who took great interest in Yuan painting. The latter portrait

bearing an inscription by Sh?kai Reikencw (1315 1396) which is dated in correspondence with 1394, has special iconographical implications

which I will not discuss in this context.52 From the seventeenth century in China we have two

portraits of scholar-recluses: one, showing the

Ming-loyalist Tu Chun,01 is signed by Chang F?ngcy (act. ca. 1645-1674) ;53 the other, dated in accordance with 1639, was painted by the renowned portraitist Tseng Ch'ingcz (1568 1650) and a certain Ts'ao Hsi-chihda who sup

plemented the landscape setting for the work now owned by the University Art Museum in Berkeley.54 Collaborative efforts of this sort re

mained popular throughout the Ming and Ch'ing dynasties.

This paper was delivered at the Symposium on Chinese Figure Painting held at the Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., in September, 1973, to celebrate the museum's fiftieth anniversary.

NOTES

1. Cf. Max Loehr's paper The Beginnings of Portrait Painting in China read at the 25 th International Congress of Oriental ists in August, I960, in Moscow (Vol. 5 of the summaries, pp. 210-214).

2. Some of these questions have been discussed in my book, Die zen-buddhistische Bildnismalerei in China and Japan

(M?nchener Ostasiatische Studien, Bd. 10), Wiesbaden, 1973. Hereafter: Brinker: Bildnismalerei.

3. Wolfgang Bauer: "Icherleben und Autobiographie im ?lteren

China", Heidelberger Jahrb?cher, VIII (1964), p. 36, Anm. 40.

4. Wang Gung-wu: "Feng Tao: An Essay on Confucian Loy alty", in Confucian Personalities, ed. by Arthur F. Wright and Denis Twitchett, Stanford, 1962, p. 144.

5. Chinese Art Treasures, exhibited in the United States by the

Government of the Republic of China, 1961-1962, Cat. No. 26 and in color on the front cover.

6. Frederick W. Mote: "Confucian Eremitism in the Yuan

Period", in The Confucian Persuasion, ed. by Arthur F.

Wright, Stanford, I960, p. 203. In this context cf. also Wai-kam Ho's excellent chapter "The Recluse and the I

min", in Sherman E. Lee and Wai-kam Ho: Chinese Art Under the Mongols: The Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368), The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1968, pp. 89-95, and the studies

quoted ibid., note 89, p. 108. Hereafter: Lee and Ho: Yuan Cat.

1. Biography of Ku K'ai-chih, translated and annotated by Chen

Shih-hsiang (Chinese Dynastic Histories Translations, No. 2), University of California, Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1953, p. 29, n. 46.

8. Ibid., p. 15.

24



9. Wen Wu, I960, 8-9, pp. 37-42, and Alexander C. Soper: "A New Chinese Tomb Discovery: The Earliest Representa tion of a Famous Literary Theme", Artibus Asiae, XXIV, 2

(1961), pp. 79-86.

10. Ibid., p. 85.

11. Both paintings are recorded in Pien Yung-yusdb (1645-1712)

Shih-ku-t'ang shu-hua hui-k'aodc (16, 4-5), dated in accord ance with 1682, and both bore colophons by Chao M?ng-fu's son, Chao Yung, who attributes the Princeton scroll to his

father's early career.

12. Mote, op. cit., pp. 236 f.

13. Transi. Wai-kam Ho, in Lee and Ho: Yuan Cat., p. 90.

14. Ibid., p. 91.

15. For a detailed discussion of this work see Helen B. Chapin's

study revised by Alexander C Soper: "A Long Roll of Bud dhist Images," Artibus Asiae, Ascona, 1972.

16. Ibid., pis. 19-21 (frames 44-49).

17. Cf. the chapter in Brinker: Bildnismalerei, pp. 58-65.

18. For an entire view and another detail see Jan Fontein and

Money L. Hickman: Zen Painting and Calligraphy, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1970, Cat. No. 1, pp. 2 and 3. Here after: Fontein and Hickman: Zen Cat.

19. Ibid., p. 49.

20. Kokuhodd?National Treasures of Japan, Vol. 4, Tokyo, 1966, pi. 50 (detail in color) and figs. 69-70. Hereafter: Kokuh?.

21. Ko jiro Tomita and Hsien-chi Tseng: Portfolio of Chinese

Paintings in the Museum (Yuan to Ch'ing Periods), Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1961, No. 7.

22. Sogen no kaigade?Chinese Painting of the Sung and Yuan

Dynasties, ed. by the Tokyo National Museum, Ky?to/T?ky?, 1962 and 1971, pis. 47-48, and Fontein and Hickman: Zen

Cat., No. 12, p. 35.

23. Max Loehr: Chinese Art: Symbols and Images, Wellesley College, 1967, p. 52.

24. Osvald Sir?n: A History of Later Chinese Painting, Vol. 2, London, 1938, pi. 201, and Sherman E. Lee: A History of Far Eastern Art, New York, 1964, fig. 591.

25. Ibid., fig. 625.

26. A series of six letters is owned by Iwasaki Takako,df Tokyo, {Kokuh?, Vol. 5, pi. 66: detail in color, figs. 120-123, and

Shod? zenshud% Vol. 17: Ch?goku 12, Gen-min I, Tokyo: Heibonsha, 1967 and 1968, pis. 10-16, and the supplemen

tary envelope with original size reproductions of the com

plete set of letters.). One letter by Chao M?ng-fu to Chung f?ng Ming-p?n is contained in a handscroll with writings by

members of the Chao family recently given as anonymous loan to the Art Museum of Princeton University. Mr. and

Mrs. Richard Stanley-Baker and Mrs. Lucy Lo of Princeton

kindly informed me of some unpublished letters in the National Palace Museum. One is said to be a moving docu ment in which Chao tells his friend Ming-p?n about the death of his wife, Kuan Tao-sh?ngdh (1262-1319).

27. Kokuh?, Vol. 5, pi. 48 (color), and Shod? zensh?, Vol. 17, pi. 38.

28. Ibid., p. 164, and Fontein and Hickman: Zen Cat., No. 15, p. 42.

29. Sogen no kaiga, pi. 13, and Lee and Ho: Yuan Cat., No. 197.

30. Richard Barnhart in his admirable paper "Survivals, Revivals, and the Classical Tradition of Chinese Figure Painting", Pro

ceedings of the International Symposium on Chinese Painting, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1972, p. 172, has pointed out, that

" 'iron-wire' is a misnomer when applied to the art

of Li Kung-lin or Ku K'ai-chih, and it is only in the late

Ming period that one finds it so used [as antithesis of the

fluent, graphic brushline]. The earlier concepts of 'silken threads' unravelling, or 'drifting clouds and flowing water' better describe the quality of restrained calligraphic move

ment relating Li Kung-lin to Ku K'ai-chih. Chao M?ng-fu, not Ch'ien Hs?an,di was the true heir of this tradition".

31. Ssu-pu ts'ung-k'an,^ Shanghai, 1919-1936, Appendix p. 2a.

32. Ts'ung-shu chi-cti eng,d* Shanghai, 1936, Nos. 0218-0220. The Hsieh hsiang mi-ch?eh has been translated by Herbert Franke: "Two Yuan Treatises on the Technique of Portrait

Painting", Oriental Art, Old Series, Vol. Ill, No. 1 (1950), pp. 27 ff.

33. Mei-shu ts'ung-shu?1 Shanghai, 1923, II, 5, 3A.

34. Sogen no kaiga, pi. 87.

35. Ernst Aschwin Prinz zur Lippe-Biesterfeld: "Li K'an und seine 'Ausf?hrliche Beschreibung des Bambus' ", Ostasiatische

Zeitschrift, N.F. 18. Jg. (1942/43), pp. 31 f.: "Die beiden Enden des oberen Pinselstriches l?sst man etwas in die H?he

gehen, die Mitte sich senken, so dass er sanft gekr?mmt ist, wie die Mondsichel (Abb. 18m). So kann man die Rundung des Stammes in Erscheinung bringen".

36. Lee and Ho: Yuan Cat., No. 242.

37. See, for example, the two colophons quoted and translated

by Lippe, op. cit., p. 93 and pp. 106 f.: "Oftmals habe ich

Tuschbambus-Bilder des Si-chaidm betrachtet. In dieser Rolle

ist (das Aussehen des Bambus in) Alter und Jugend, Gesund heit und Krankheit, Wind und Sonne vollst?ndig und

ersch?pfend (dargestellt) und ich bin der Ansicht, dass man

sie besonders sch?tzen and geniessen sollte. Aufschrift von

M?ng-fu aus Wu-hing".dn "Mein Freund Chung-pind0 hat das

wahre Bild 'dieses Herrn' gezeichnet! Das Unergr?ndliche hat

er ergr?ndet und das ?usserste erforscht in seinem Wunsche, die Erscheinung des Bambus bis ins Letzte zu erfassen. Seit

200 Jahren ist unter denen, die sich Bambusmaler nennen, keiner gewesen, der imstande war, sich mit der gleichen Feinheit und Tiefgr?ndigkeit dieser Aufgabe zu widmen wie

Chung-pin".

38. National Palace Museum Quarterly, Vol. IV, No. 2 (October,

1969), fig. 19A.

39. Cf. Weng Fong and Marilyn Fu: Sung and Yuan Paintings, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1973, No. 15,

pp. 91 ff. and 146 f.

40. Lee and Ho: Yuan Cat., No. 187.

41. See my article "Shussan Shaka in Sung and Yuan Painting", Ars Orientalis, Vol. 9 (1973), fig. 15.

42. Takakusu Junjir? and Watanabe Kaigvoku, ed.: The Taish? shinshu daizokyodv (The Tripitaka in Chinese), Tokyo, 1914

32, Vol. 80, No. 2554, p. 446A.

43. Tomita and Tseng: op. cit., No. 6.

44. Lee and Ho: Yuan Cat., No. 229, and Richard Barnhart:

Marriage of the Lord of the River (Artibus Asiae Suppl. XXVII), Ascona, 1970, fig. 26.

45. Cf. also his "Chung-mu" signatures on the "Orchid and Bam boo" picture in the Shanghai Museum (Yoshiho Yonezawa and Michiaki Kawakita: Arts of China pll~|, Paintings in

Chinese Museums, New Collections, transi, by George C.

Hatch, T?ky?/Palo Alto, 1970, pl.^

7:color.) and on the

charming little landscape fan with "Old Trees on a Rocky Shore" in the ?stasiatiska Museet, Stockholm (Osvald Siren: Chinese Painting, Leading Masters and Principles, Vol. VI, London/New York, 1958, pi. 28.).

46. Tokyo geijutsu daigaku: Z?hin zuroku,dCL Kobijutsu I: Kaiga,

Tokyo, I960, pi. 78, and Brinker: Bildnismalerei, Abb. 106.

47. Thomas Lawton: Chinese Figure Painting, Freer Gallery of Art Fiftieth Anniversary Exhibition II, Washington, D.C.,

1973, Cat. No. 20

48. Ibid., pp. 98 f.

49. "The term shih-ta-fu hua along with some closely related ex

pressions (shih hua, shih-j?n hua, shih-fu hua) has its roots in the writings of Sung experts in this field, such as Su Shih,

Huang T'ing-chiendr (1045-1105) and the authors of the Hs?an-ho hua-p'uds At least since the early twelfth century

it denotes the painting of the gentlemen elite, of people in

high-ranking official positions (Grossw?rdentr?ger) contrast

ing it with professional art, sometimes including academic

traditions, and with the vulgar taste of the ordinary people. Shih-ta-fu hua is a fairly neglected term among modern writ ers, while w?n-j?n hud11 is usually indiscriminately applied to both the early amateur painters' movement in Sung and Yuan times and to the literati painting of the Ming and Ch'ing dynasties. In the context of Sung and Yuan painting, how ever, the use of the term w?n-j?n hua is a mere anachronism, because it has neither linguistically nor historically any basic ties before the time of Tung Ch'i-ch'ang (1555-1636). Tung himself differentiated between w?n-j?n hua, the painting of

literary men, and that of the shih-j?n or shih-ta-fu, the gen tlemen or high scholar-officials.

G?nther Debon has presented an excellent, penetrating analysis of the development and the exact meaning of these two terms in his book published together with Chou Ch?n-shan:

Lob der Naturtreue. Das Hsiao-shan hua-p'u des Tsou I-kuei

(1686-1772), Wiesbaden, 1969, pp. 25-38. See also Susan Bush: The Chinese Literati on Painting-, Su Shih (1037 1101) to Tung Ch'i-ch'ang (1555-1636). Harvard-Yenching Institute Studies XXVII, Cambridge, Mass. 1971.

50. Ernst Grosse: Die ostasiatische Tuschmalerei (Die Kunst des Ostens, Bd. 6), Berlin, 1922, pis. 73-74, and Matsushita Takaaki: Suibokuga (Nihon no bijutsu, No. 13), Tokyo, 1967, fig. 44, and Brinker: Bildnismalerei, Abb. 83a-b.

51. Ibid., Abb. 30, and Fontein and Hickman: Zen Cat., No. 42, pp. 100 f.

52. I have done this in my book, pp. 91-97; cf. note 2.

53. Archives of the Chinese Art Society of America, VII (1953), p. 84, fig. 5, and 1000 Jahre Chinesische Malerei [Exhibition Catalogue], Haus der Kunst, M?nchen, 1959, No. 87.

54. James Cahill, ed.: The Restless Landscape: Chinese Painting of the Late Ming Period, University Art Museum, Berkeley, 1971, No. 80, p. 157.

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