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A Chinese scrll thrugh time

The Newsletter | N.59 | Spring 2012

20 | The Reiew

The Night Banquet is a tenth century hand scrll attributed

t the painter Gu Hngzhng. A well-knwn statesman Han

Xizai [902-970] is the main character, depicted in a number

scenes n this scrll. Han was amus r his parties, aswe can read in an imperial painting catalgue rm arund

1120: Rumrs circulated inside the curt and [Suthern Tang

Emperr Li Yu] regretted nt being able t see Hans amus

parties with his wn eyes. The emperr und a slutin r his

prblem, and sent the painter Gu Hngzhng t act as his spy.

Lucien van Valen

Lee, De-Nin D. 2010.

The Night Banquet: a Chinese scroll through time.

Uniersity Washingtn Press,

172 pp. hardcer, ISBN: 9780295990729

THE oBSERvATIoNS BY GU resulted in a liely eyewitness

depictin the arius ways in which Han and his enturage

were seen engaging in the pleasures music, d and

wmen. The, in ttal e, scenes shw sme these pleasures,

but they als suggest that a lt mre is ging n than meets

the eye. Fr example, in the periphery the rst scene we

see a curtained bed with the cers slightly rumpled. on the

ppsite side this rst scene we see a wmen partly hidden

by a painted screen watching the party. The stry behind

the implicatins these elements are explained in this bk

as it reaches int the intimate details that are captured in

the scenes the scrll.

Lee starts her bk with the questin the authenticity

the scrll. We can llw step by step her examinatin

textual eidence n the scrll, the external textual eidence

and the isual eidence. The rst chapter ends with adiscussin ne nal questin: We must cnsider whether

a lst Suthern Tang riginal is the basis r the extant Night

Banquet. Seeral ptins llw, sme are in ar the

scrlls authenticity while thers te r the pssibility

that this is a later reprductin an lder riginal.

Each hypthesis is presented with ample pr.

The llwing chapters almst read like a detectie stry.

The bk is a real page turner, as it gies the reader an brad

impressin hw the painting has been appreciated by

dierent iewers and wners er a lng stretch time.

During its existence the scrll has grwn in length, as it had

seeral clphns attached. There is an annymus early

additin with a liely descriptin Hans actiities; the text

is ery clear in its critical iew. Lee translates and careully

examines each clphn, t sere as a guide r the pinin r

interpretatin the writer abut the scenes as a whle, and

the stry behind the imagery. A nice tuch is the cmplete

print ut these Chinese texts at the end the bk.

The cus in ne the chapters is called The Cnucian gaze,

which is mainly cncerned with the mre r less prper cn-

duct the peple in the scene. This Cnucian gaze represents

the critical apprach a iewer as he sees the Night Banquetin light irtue and cnduct. Parallel t that is anther iew:

the yeuristic gaze. The yeuristic gaze is equally strng,

althugh nw the iewer is attracted t and arused by the

scenes wrldly and sensual pleasure music, wine and

wmen. In a painting recrd, written in the late thirteenth

r early urteenth century, Tang Hu tells us that he had

seen tw ersins the Night Banquet, by Zhu Wenju and

anther by Gu Hngzhng, but he cndemned the painting

nt suitable r a schlars study. There is ne thing we can

be sure nly the high ranking and a well-educated elite

was suppsed t see, enjy and understand such a painting.

Fr yet anther pint iew speaks a pem added in 1326

by Ban Weizhi. In this pem Ban reers t seeral well-knwn

histric examples strange behair as he expresses a

mre psitie interpretatin the deeds Han; althugh

Hans deeds lk cndemnable at rst sight they may turn

ut t be a ery irtuus nature in the end.

In the annymus clphn that was attached t the scrll in

the early urteenth century, the lie Han Xizai is described

in detail, but the questin remains hw trustwrthy this might

be. The clphns authr makes clear that Han shameully

wasted his talents. Lee cncludes n page 55: Whateer the

iewers reactins t the Night Banquet may hae been, the

annymus clphn eectiely changes them. She argues

that the additin becmes part the riginal wrk and it is

almst impssible t see the painting withut this infuence.

Lee takes us thrugh the next perid in time with new

changes in the appreciatin the scrll when we cme t

the cnnisseur wh sees the scrll with its additins as a

whle. This whle extended scrll is measured in an entirely

dierent way r its histrical and cultural alue. Aside rm the

clphns, eery wner puts his seal n the scrll ten mre

than ne therere wnership by emperrs and cllectrs can

be traced thrugh time. This habit the elite makes the scrll

aluable as a histrical recrd as much as it is as a painting.

one the last examples in the bk is Zhang Daqian, as

he had the scrll r a perid time bere it returned t the

cllectin what is nw the Palace Museum in Beijing. Zhang

added seeral seals and tw his riends added clphns andseals. They are in all likelihd the last persns t d s. Since

eery new era brings a dierent way lking at the scrll, this

can be recgnized in the present time. Tday, preseratin and

cnseratin histric art treasures wuld rbid any urther

extensins t the scrll.

In the cllectin the Palace Museum in Beijing the scrll

can seldm be seen by the general public. on ne these

rare ccasins in 2002, I was lucky enugh t see it n display.

It was part an exhibitin Early Treasures Chinese

painting in the Shanghai museum, as ne the nest

examples the perid. The exhibitin was held in hnr

the 50th anniersary the Shanghai Museum with 72 art

treasures the Jin, Tang, Sng and Yuan dynasties n display.

The exhibitin attracted large crwds Chinese, wh jumped

at the pprtunity t see the paintings they s ar nly knew

rm reprductins in bks. The dim lighting the exhibitin

halls are pr the precautins that are taken with these

precius wrks. Fr prtectin and cnseratin theragile wrks art, nly 5000 isitrs a day were allwed.

Hence the ttal number peple that were able t see this

exhibitin was arund 200.000, amng them a cuple

hundred reigners. I think that the limited access t this

type hand scrll places an imprtant task in the hands

the publishers bks and reprductins such a scrll.

This brings me t the nly prblem I hae with this bk,

namely the pr quality reprductin the painting n the

scrll. The images are s small that it is hard t see the ner

details what Lee is describing in such a igrus and liely

manner. Nt many the readers are likely t eer see this

painting in reality. Fr that reasn alne the bk shuld

hae gien mre attentin t the isual underlining

the stry uneiled. I wuld argue that i a scrll is wrthy

this elabrate bseratin and meticulus study which

it surely is ne wuld at least expect a larger and better

reprductin r the cnenience the reader.

As Lee llwed the painting thrugh time and encuntered

the arius pssible interpretatins the theme, she pinted

ut that withut dubt the image represents a sensual

situatin and was nt meant t be seen by the general public.

Tday this painting, and the ther treasures the past, are

knwn t the general public, an audience neer intended r

such an intimate image. As the stry unlds in the last chapter,

she reminds us that in publicatins and n the internet we can

nd reprductins in abundance and many partial images with

mre (r ewer) details. oerall, the bk is mre cncerned

with the histrical eidence in the rm seals and clphns

that hae been added during its lng existence. We are treated

t an impressie amunt detail and precise bseratin

eery aspect the additins t the scrll. The questin in the

rst part the bk was: d we nw knw when and by whm

it was painted? In the end we still d nt knw r sure.

The ne ptin that is nt brught t the discussin by Lee is

the pssibility that Zhang Daqian painted it he was the last

wner bere the scrll was returned t the Palace Museum

cllectin, and Zhang is widely knwn t hae cpied and

reprduced ld masters; I just cant help but wnder

Lucien van Valen holds an MA in Fine Arts rom the

Gerrit Rietveld Academy and an MA in Chinese Languages

and Cultures rom Leiden University (1997). In 2005 she

received her PhD rom Leiden University, combining both

felds o expertise in her thesis The Matter o Chinese

Painting (ino@lucienvanvalen.nl)

Above and below:

Details rom the

painting on the scroll.