Anige (1245-1306), att. Portrait of Khubilai Khan.  Yuan Dynasty, 1294. Album leaf, colors and ink on silk. 54.9x47cm.

Made by court painter, Khan is dressed in Mongolian clothing and depicted at a 3/4 angle.  The painting is very carefully done.  There is reddish pigment across his cheeks.  Anige was originally from Nepal, he was not a Chinese artist.

Liu Guandao (act. ca. 1275-1300). Khubilai Khan Hunting. Yuan, 1280. Hanging scroll, ink and colors on silk. 6'x41"

Liu came from a small artisan town and in 1279 was appointed to the Imperial Wardrobe Service. Khan was pleased with Liu's earlier portrait of his son. In the upper portion is a camel train which represents a Mongolian stepp area, with brightly colored horses and figures. The painting has an odd perspective and is quite simplistic looking. Khan is seen with presumably Chabi, and he and the other horsemen are seen in Mongolian attire that is ritually specific. The man with the bow pointed toward the air signifies the spring water geese hunt. 

Liu Guandao. Whiling Away the Summer. Yuan, 13th century. Handscroll, ink and colors on silk.

This painting is about a scholar in leisure.  There are 2 women who are servants and a man lying on a couch who may be a recluse or an eccentric.  We see a parts of his exposes body which was very rare for the period. In his right hand is a fly whisk. The theme of the recluse goes back to at least the 3rd century and the Seven Sages at the Bamboo Grove. The painting contains a painting within itself, almost an inversion as the main painting seems to be that of a winter scene while the interior painting depicts a summer event. On the table near the man is a vase of lingzhi and a musical instrument with scrolls to show the man’s education. The painting plays with the idea of reality vs. illusion, stylistically the work follows Song dynasty painting traditions but is a bit more expressive. The line work on the women’s robes is energetic and frenetic and the bamboo is outlined in color fill.

Liu Yuan (act. late 13th-early 14th century). Sima You’s Dream of the Courtesan Su Xiaoxiao. Handscroll, ink and colors on silk, 11 1/2 x 29 1/2”

Xiaoxiao was a young prostitute who was considered very beautiful that had died. The scroll depicts Sima You sleeping and dreaming of the recently deceased woman. Sima is wearing a gauze cap with long tassels while Xiaoxiao is standing in a billow of clouds to show some supernatural elements. She is holding clappers to keep time while reciting a poem. At the time there was a long standing tradition of encounters with sex in dreams and Yuan’s piece was the first to illustrate that.  The robes and drapes show very expressive line work both depicted on Sima and Xiaoxiao. Xiaoxiao was a high class prostitute known as a courtesan.

Sun Junze (act. first half 14th century) Villa by the River. Hanging scroll, ink and light colors on silk. 73x 44 1/2”

Junze work was rather large and the painting was originally contributed to another Southern Song dynasty artist Ma Yuan who did work like Watching Deer by a Pine Shaded Stream. Both were artists who made large works that showed an appreciation for nature. Yuan was known for his ‘axe cut brushstrokes.’

Sun Junze’s composition is heavily focused at the bottom left and the composition is closed off by sharp objects in the background. There is a dramatic contrast in brushwork and the brushwork gets bigger as the scroll progresses. The shade work is much more naturalists than other works and Junze’s painting shows socializing among the Chinese elite in a rather expensive looking villa. The painting is an example of Jiehua, or boundary painting.

Anige (1246-1306). White Stupa. Miaoying temple, Beijing. Yuan dynasty, 1279. 164’

This reliquary mound is a solid mound of earth and rubble. The base of the stupa is in the shape of Mt. Sumeru and is said to be the central world mountain or axis mundi. Anige’s White Stupa is sometimes called a dogoba. There is lots of symbolism: bulging lotus petals, the upper part of the stupa has 13 levels which represents the 13 stages of Buddhist enlightenment. At the time, the Mongols had adopted Buddhism which helped legitimize their rule in China and Tibet. Khan promoted the idea that he was a reincarnation of the Bodhisattva of wisdom, Manjusri. The stupa is made out of sandalwood and molds of gold and other precious materials. It was the largest temple built under Khan and Anige was given a thousand serfs and 15,000 acres of farmland outside the capital.

Juyong Gate. Yuan dynasty, 1345. White marble.

There is a stupa gate within Juyong called Cloud Terrace with carvings inside the gate. A central character of the carving is a bird called a Garuda - who is half human and divine, he is often depicted about doorways because of his protective nature. Figures next to the bird are Nagas are snake deities. The carvings inside the gate are the four heavenly kings that protect the four directions. They are all depicted as Chinese military officials. Depictions of these kings were very popular in east Asia, and there was a popular sutra about their roles in protecting the nation. 

King of the North on NW wall: Attribute: parasol

King of the South on SE wall: Attribute: sword

King of the East on NE wall: Attribute: lute

King of the West on SW wall: Attribute: serpent

All of the kings are seated in an active pose.

Yan Hui (act. late 13th-early 14th cent.) Iron Crutch Li and Seatoad Liu. Yuan dynasty. Pair of hanging scrolls, ink and colors on silk. 

Yan Hui was primarily a painter of religious matters and he probably worked in the Song dynasty and lived into the Yuan dynasty. 

The scrolls depict Li Tieguai who had the ability to soul travel to meetings of daoist immortals, before he went on a trip he told his disciple to cremate his body if he doesn’t come back by the 7th day. The disciple became restless and cremated him on the 6th day and enters the body of the first deceased person he can find who is a beggar. In painting, his iconography is bold rough garments and he carries a gourd, which was a common daoist immortals item. The painting is similar to court style but much more expressive, Li is a lower class figure in brushwork. The robes are very modulated.

Liu Haichan is one of the earliest known images of Liu, who lived in the ‘Five Dynasties Period.’ He was a dangerous man who served the emperor but was soon visited by a daoist, the man asked for 10 eggs and 10 coins and stacked them up to show Liu his precarious lifestyle. The next day Liu quit the service and in the painting is shown to hold a branch and a peach which are associated with immortality. He has on somewhat ragged clothing.

The compositions are very similar and they work well as a pair, 3/4 views facing opposite ways.

Anon. Erlang Ridding the Mountain of Demons. Yuan dynasty, 14th century. Handscroll, ink and colors on silk. 21” x 17’5”.

Erlang was an official who was deified as a hunting deity. He becomes identified as the son of Li Bing, governor of the state of Shu, Sichuan province, 3rd. century BCE. It came to be believed that Erlang had the power of water spirits and his cult became very popular in the Song dynasty. His cult rose to national attention and the controlling of cults was of utmost importance to control subversive advances. Erlang is seen scaling Mt. Guankou, and the painting has a long horizontal composition that is incomplete. Erlang has a ghost army that helps him clean out the mountains, cleaning out animals and even some females who were thought to be demons in the form of women. There is quite a bit of detail in the landscape with modulated lines. Tigers, bears, women with animal feet. The last scene, which is incomplete, should have been Erlang as he was the most important character.

Ren Renfa (1255-1328). Two Horses. Handscroll, ink and colors on silk. 29x94cm.

Renfa was a former Song artist who took position under the Mongols, which was quite controversial for artists of the former dynasty. Renfa’s specialties were figures and horses, the inscription to the left tells of a lean and fat horse. The emaciated horse has ribs showing, while the fat horse has reins in his mouth. The choice of material on silk could mean that the painting should have been commissioned for a court painting. “If one remains lean and yet fattens the whole nation, he will not be lacking purity … If one seeks to fatten only oneself and emaciate the masses, how will he not bequeath a shameful reputation for corruption?”

Most literati paintings referenced works from past political eras and referencd political movements.

Compare with..

Gong Kai’s Bones of a Noble Steed.

Qian Xuan. Pear Blossoms. Yuan dynasty, 13th century. Handscroll, ink and colors on silk.

Qian Xuan lived in Wuxing.  The inscription is self-written and is a poem referencing and old Bo Juyi poem about the Tong emperor and the execution of his favorite concubine Yong Guifei. Qian Xuan’s painting is a single flower branch with quite a bit of detail in the branch’s surface. The palette is very subdued and there was very deliberate control and detail. Although the painting is that of the literati movement, it could have been mistaken for being the work of a professional painter. The pear branch is cutoff and the composition is centered around the branch as a figure of sadness.

Zhao Mengfu. The Mind Landscape of Xie Youyu. Yuan, ca. 1287. Handscroll, ink and colors on silk.

Zhao was an influential literati painter who had a miner position within the Song dynasty. In 1286 he was offered a position in Beijing by the Mongol government and it was considered very controversial that he accepted said position.  The painting is archaistic of a painting done by Xie Kun, who helped create the idea of the “recluse at court.” Which theorized that by living as a recluse one would be superior to the average man. Xie Youyu is painted in a landscape setting and the painting references both…

The Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove.

Gu Khaizi. Nymph of the Luo River.

The back area blocks our view because artists at this time had yet to develop methods to convey depth. There is a lone figure at the end which gives temporal experience. There are pine trees which are associated with long life, magnolias with purity. The man is seated on a map. 

Zhao Mengfu. Autumn Colors on the Qiao and Hua Mountains. Dated 1296. Handscroll, ink and color on paper. 

This was painted for Zhou Mi. It references Zhao’s stay in Shandong and it is not a realistic representation of landscape. The ground plane continues with the horizon line and is of an unusual perspective. There is a smooth progression from right to left. Bright blue mountain pigment is archaistic and the painting is trying to emulate a falsely naive style. The trees made using hemp-fiber stroke style and the brown wash lends a sense of depth to the landscape forms. There are odd scaling issues: there is a bigger house further away than the smaller ones placed in the foreground.

Guan Daosheng. A Bamboo Grove in Mist. Handscroll, ink on paper. Yuan dynasty. 

Guan was a woman who painted in literati style for family and friends. She was smart and well educated and painted mostly botanical subjects. “Ink bamboo” was one of her specialties. The bamboo symbolizes non-attachment and was a symbol for a female resistance movement to educate women. She was the first to paint clumps of bamboo and mist after rain. There is a variety of brushwork, panoramic bamboo scene which is rather unusual as most botanical subjects are not landscape but closeups.

Huang Gongwang. Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains. Yuan, 14th century. Handscroll, ink on paper. 

The artist was a Daoist painter. The scroll was cutoff in the first section. The composition has a varied tonality with a combination of 2d and 3d movements painted with dry, roasted ink. The artist studied fengshui and the hills are depicted in a manner that leads our eye back using hemp fiber strokes. There is a homogeneity of form and a typical, bland feel. In the last scene on the 1st section the mountain does not seem finished, and feels rushed.

Ni Zan. The Rongxi Studio. 14th century. Hanging scroll, ink on paper. Ming Dynasty.

Ni Zan painted and inscribed this work for one person who had brought the work back and asked for a false inscription.  Many wonder why (debts? medical?) and the work originally had little to do with the Rongxi studio.  It begs the question whether these paintings were so minimal in content that they could be repurposed.  The painting features dry brush work, dots, horizontal dots, and the brush work looks somewhat blurry.  There is horizontal movement at the base of the mountains.

Wang Meng. Forest Grotto at Juqu. 1370’s. Ming Dynasty. Hanging scroll, ink and color on paper.

Ming was the first emperor who had come from the peasant class, he was very paranoid and often had people executed for their disloyalty.  The grotto was a cave with water at Lake Taihu, and was treasured for its rocks which were extremely expensive.  In many paintings at the time were references to the rocks at Lake Taihu. The work is extremely dense with a textured surface, it isn’t dated or signed and whomever Wang Meng made the painting for is represented in the building.  The Taihu rocks are meant to represent mountains with their unusual shapes. The water areas are patterned with fish scales and there is a furry texture through rounded and curling strokes.  There are archaic references to color and a visitor on a path to the building.  The painting uses a multi point perspective and the painting has no sense of space.  There are references to Zhan Zigian Spring Outing and the Nothern Song landscape.  

Dish. Porcelain with underglaze blue painting. Yuan dynasty, 14th century. 

This dish is made of porcelain with an underglaze of blue painting.  The under gaze is cobalt blue and made with “frit” or chemically complex glasses that are ground to introduce soluble or unstable ingredients. Dishes like this were made for allies of the dynasty, Chinese markets, and markets abroad.  The porcelain was made of kaolin and china stone, the Chinese were very interested in pure white clay bodies. 

Jar. Porcelain with underglaze blue painting. Yuan dynasty, 14th century.

The main band of decoration is an illustration of a Yuan dynasty play that was very popular.  Plays like these were meant for a wider audience as they were written in Vernacular Chinese.  The jar’s band tells the story of Three Visits to a Thatched Hut with 3 characters. Zhuge Lieng who was humbled by Liu Be’s patience and how the two agreed to unify Chinese rule. Very popular story about two rulers coming together. The jar is approached like an ink monochrome painting and the main band is sandwiched between lotus petals within the scrolling band. Something which also had strong Chinese connotations.

Jar. Porcelain with underglaze blue and red painting and appliquéd decoration. Yuan dynasty, 14th century.

This jar was excavated in Baoding, in the mid section there is a carved black body painted in red (blossoms) and blue (leaves). The jar is fired with cobalt, iron, and copper as they were the only three pigments that could survive firing.  There are cloud collar motifs.

Wang Shouming. Pillow. Cizhou ware, stoneware with iron oxide underglaze designs. Yuan dynasty, 14th century.

This pillow is made of stoneware that was fired at upwards of ~1200 degrees celcius.  It depicts a narrative scene with hibiscus on the front of the pillow. Within the scene there are men holding official tablets and they are probably remonstrating. The inscription says: “made by the hermit of the banks of the Zhang river.” The seal in the base has the artist’s name.