Papers by Ning TANG
Journal of Chinese Calligraphy and Painting Studies, 2025
Ink plum, as a genre of traditional Chinese literati painting, has often been
placed within a co... more Ink plum, as a genre of traditional Chinese literati painting, has often been
placed within a comparative framework alongside other types of plum blossom painting by scholars of Song-Yuan art history. However, the inner complexity of this genre has received little scholarly attention. By delving into the f iner details of both textual sources and visual materials, this article re-examines the world of ink plum painting across nearly two centuries, spanning from the mid-Southern Song to the late Yuan period.
During this period, numerous painting manuals of plum blossom motifs and theoretical mnemonic rhymes emerged, serving as vehicles for the widespread dissemination of ink plum knowledge and imagery in southern China. Works such as Songzhai meipu 松齋梅譜 (Plum Blossom Manual of the Pine Studio) preserve abundant information and reveal a dynamic world of ink plum culture. Amid the f lourishing yet chaotic scene, Zhao Mengjian 趙孟堅 , concerned with preserving orthodoxy, composed two lengthy ballads entitled Zhao Zigu Meipu 趙子固梅譜 (Plum Blossom Painting Manual by Zhao Mengjian), in an effort to establish the “Taochan School” ( 逃禪宗派 ), a lineage tracing back to the Southern Song painter Yang Wujiu (style name Taochan). These two examples ref lect the adversarial coexistence of two distinct knowledge systems surrounding ink plum during the Song-Yuan period.
In terms of painting style, Wu Zhen 吴鎮 and Wu Guan 吴瓘 inherited the Southern Song imagery of “sparse branches and chilly blossoms,” yet each developed it along different directions. Beyond the realm of elite literati, Kuaiji 會稽 emerged as a new centre for ink plum production. As the birthplace of “ancient plum trees” that embodied prevailing aesthetic ideals, and a hub for the creation and circulation of plum blossom painting manuals, Kuaiji fostered a vibrant local tradition. Many painters of mid- to lower-class backgrounds produced large quantities of ink plum paintings, constituting a visual world markedly distinct from that of the upper-class literati in terms of social class, locality, and artistic expression.
Although most ink plum paintings produced in Kuaiji have not survived, extant works are predominantly preserved in Japan. Among Kuaiji artists, Wang Mian 王冕 stands out as a rare professional literatus-painter capable of bridging the two worlds of ink plum. His works reveal a strong connection to plum blossom painting manuals, underscoring Kuaiji’s central role in the production of such materials during the Yuan dynasty. At the same time, Wang’s career and the contemporary reception of his work highlight the disadvantaged position of Kuaiji in the broader discourse on ink plum during the Yuan period.
典藏·古美術, 2021
《典藏古美術》349期〈一塊石碑、三種歷史──〈昇仙太子碑〉折射的武周朝政治、文字與書法
Bulletin of National Museum of History, 2024
Journal of Art Studies, 2024
An outstanding figure among painters of beautiful women (meiren
hua), Tang Yin’s work has receive... more An outstanding figure among painters of beautiful women (meiren
hua), Tang Yin’s work has received widespread scholarly attention.
Previous studies mainly focused on revealing the rich meanings of his
works and discovering his voice of self-expression; however, besides this
literatus aspect, Tang Yin also had a professional dimension. Furthermore,
paintings of beautiful women, as a genre for use and pleasure, were often
on display before various audiences, which presented another challenge
with which Tang Yin, as a professional artist, had to grapple. This article
focuses on Tang Yin’s paintings of beautiful women to discuss how Tang
Yin manipulated the imagery and poetry on paintings to adapt to the subtle
social environment of the middle Ming Dynasty.
Tang Yin’s paintings of beautiful women can be categorized into two
major types: mixed-gender and female-only. In terms of the “internal”
aspect of painting and poem, Tang Yin extensively drew from materials
found in historical records and popular operas for the mixed-gender type,
transforming the subject matter into romantic relationships initiated by
women falling in love with male literati. In handling the images, Tang Yin
blended ancient and contemporary settings to bridge the gap between past and present. In his masterpiece, Tao Gu Presenting a Lyric, Tang Yin went further, adding multiple visual references and placing the male-female relationship above the lord-subject relationship to defend himself from criticism of his deviant behavior in contemporary eyes. In the female-only type, women in the paintings are often placed in an elegant but isolated setting, creating a distance between them and the audience. In his poems on the paintings, Tang Yin either constructed a set of male-female
relationships in the tradition of feminine querimony poetry guiyuan shi,
which associated such works with mixed-gender types except that male
characters are missing from the image, or projected his own life experiences onto female figures to express different aspects of himself. In
the masterpiece Court Ladies of the Former Shu, Tang Yin similarly added
multiple historical and visual references while challenging the dual
Confucian orders of male-female and lord-subject.
As for the “external” aspect of Tang Yin’s paintings of beautiful
women, i.e., the spaces where these paintings were hung and the
corresponding audience, Tang Yin’s mixed-gender type was often
displayed in brothels, where the audience was mostly males of various
social classes. These works could demonstrate multi-layered romantic
relationships between men and women, thereby helping male viewers with
different educational backgrounds better understand them. As for the
female-only type, these works, with reduced erotic implications, could be
displayed in a wider range of spaces. The props held by the female
characters effectively enhanced diversity to the composition and indicated
their historical identities, making it easier for the viewers to understand.
Whether it was through feminine querimony poetry or poems with
historical allusions, Tang Yin provided well-educated male and female
elite audiences with the possibilities of reading and understanding his
works. In the middle Ming Dynasty, when many literati failed to obtain
government positions through imperial examination, they had to find
alternative career paths without sacrificing their identities as scholars.
Tang Yin, as a professional literati painter, needed to achieve balance
between market demand and self-image. His solution was to construct
layered meanings in his works, creating multiple possibilities for
understanding them. This characteristic, compatible with both selfexpression and audience interpretation, allowed Tang Yin to negotiate the space between self and multiple audiences.
The National Palace Museum Research Quarterly, 2024
A masterpiece in the history of ink plum (momei), a special genre of Chinese literati painting, F... more A masterpiece in the history of ink plum (momei), a special genre of Chinese literati painting, Four Views of Flowering Plums is one of few genuine works done by the Southern Song literatus painter Yang Wujiu (1097-1171). This article aims to sort out the history of transmission of this piece from the late Qing to early Republican period, and to explore the influence of Four Views of Flowering Plums through the interactions of
different collectors.
Four Views of Flowering Plums returned to Suzhou in the Jiaqing period (1796-1820), and was henceforth handed down to Lu Gong, Cheng Zhenyi, Pan Zunqi, Li Hongyi and Gu Wenbin in the late Qing period. As one of the few renowned Song paintings which did not become part of the Qing court collection and still circulated in the Jiangnan area, Four Views of Flowering Plums experienced various forms of actions performed by these collectors. In addition to traditional ways such as affixing seals to it, inviting literati to attend elegant gatherings and view it, and making art pieces after the original work, these Suzhou collectors also innovatived in making rubbings of Four Views of Flowering Plums and naming their studios after it. All these actions effectively enhanced the popularity of Four Views of Flowering Plums in the Jiangnan area. More than that, this piece was also recorded in the documentation of calligraphy and painting in the late Qing period in a mis-interpreted way. Meanwhile, Four Views of Flowering Plums also exerted a multi-level influence on collectors. It not only enhanced the social status of collectors, helping them enter the social circle of top scholar-officials, but also derived from it were new works of art that participated in the constructing of some collector’s family memory.
During the Yuan-Ming period, there was a wave of art creation surrounding
Four Views of Flowering Plums by Suzhou literati painters. In the late Qing and early Republican period, these derivative works were distributed throughout cities in the Jiangnan area, such as Suzhou, Huzhou, Kunshan, and Nanjing, and collectors of different social identities had interpersonal connections with each other, demonstrating that there was an active art-centered network existing in the Jiangnan area at the time. This network, however, suffered much from the effects of the Taiping Rebellion (1851-1864), which caused artworks and artists to flow into Shanghai.
At the same time, with the collapse of the imperial system and in the multi-ethnic environment of Shanghai, traditional literati started to lose their monopoly in the discourse of late Qing Suzhou, and they increasingly needed to make a living through their talents in calligraphy and painting. As a result, the role of literati in the art ecosystem gradually moved from collector to painter or calligrapher. In this respect, Wu Hufan’s (1894-1968) After Lu Zhi’s Plums and Bamboo, of which the original piece is a derivative work of Four Views of Flowering Plums, provides a good instance of this change.
The National Palace Museum Research Quarterly, 2023
A masterpiece in the history of ink plum (momei), a special genre of Chinese literati painting, F... more A masterpiece in the history of ink plum (momei), a special genre of Chinese literati painting, Four Views of Flowering Plums is one of few genuine works done by the Southern Song literatus painter Yang Wujiu (1097-1171). This piece was in the collection of Wu Zhen’s family and Ke Jiusi, two prominent literati artists in the Yuan dynasty. Coming into Ming dynasty, Shen Zhou and Wen Zhengming, two leading literati artists in Suzhou, became the successive owners of Four Views of Flowering Plums. After that, this work was obtained by Xiang Yuanbian, one of top art collectors in Chinese history, and it left Suzhou afterwards. Four Views of Flowering Plums, after the establishment of the Qing dynasty, did not enter the collection of the Qing court; instead, it was kept in the Jiangnan area and circulated among private collectors. It was during the late Qing period when Four Views of Flowering Plums went back to Suzhou, and it was kept there till the early 20th century. The history of its seal impressions and various documentation indicate that this masterpiece was treasured in private collections for almost eight centuries.
During the Yuan and Ming dynasties, Four Views of Flowering Plums and another now lost painting by Yang Wujiu on four scenes of flowering plums were highly popular among contemporary literati. Not only did they write literary works to respond to Yang’s lyric poetry which is attached after Four Views of Flowering Plums, but also Shen Zhou and Wen Zhengming both did their ink plum works in the style of Yang’s paintings.
Moreover, more practices surrounding Four Views of Flowering Plums can be found, such as Lu Zhi including more Song and Yuan ink plum works to respond to, and Wen Jia replacing historical images with his own creations. All these profound impacts of Four Views of Flowering Plums had made four blossoming plums a sub-genre in the tradition of ink plum painting.
On a broader level, Four Views of Flowering Plums participated in shaping the style of ink plum painting in the Yuan and Ming dynasties in a subtle way. The whole plum in the natural environment depicted in Four Views of Flowering Plums was actually not favored by the upper class, including the court and literati, of Southern Song dynasty. By the Yuan dynasty, Yang Wujiu’s paintings were highly valued because he had become a member of the genealogy of ink plum painting, but compared with the solitary branch
depicted in works like Plum Blossoms in Snow and Plum Blossoms and Bamboo, Four Views of Flowering Plums was still not the type of ink plum painting that was taken seriously. It was not until Shen Zhou and Wen Zhengming adjusted the imagery, taking part of the composition and making the structure more concise, did Four Views of Flowering Plums finally finish the historical process of shaping the “pure and elegant” (qingya) style of ink plum painting which was appreciated by Ming Suzhou literati.
Journal of National Museum of History (Taiwan), 2023
Three Aspects of Sino-Japan Exchange Reflected in a Rare Handscroll (in English)
Orientations, 2023
Analyzing Sino-Japanese exchanges in three aspects across two different historical periods throug... more Analyzing Sino-Japanese exchanges in three aspects across two different historical periods through observing a handscroll named Japanese Pirates in Tokyo University
The National Palace Museum Research Quarterly 故宮學術季刊, 2022
Stele for Chan Master Xinxing is considered as the benchmark work representing renowned Tang call... more Stele for Chan Master Xinxing is considered as the benchmark work representing renowned Tang calligrapher Xue Ji’s (649-713) style for a long time. Although the stele is long gone, the seals, the historical records and the Tang idiom, “It’s not a loss to make a purchase mistaking Xue (Ji) for Chu (Suiliang),” all seem to secure the authenticity of the two extant rubbings; however, the chain of evidence lacks the record from the Tang to the Northern Song, i.e., the history of the stele. Furthermore, there are several unreasonable points in the text itself calling for further examination, including the time gap between writing the prose and erecting the stele and the digression of the content from the title. More importantly, the calligraphic style of Stele for Chan Master Xinxing is distinctively different from other genuine works of Xue Ji in the renowned Stele for the Crown Prince Who Ascended as an Immortal and the newly unearthed work Epitaph of Fang Xianzhong. This article, thus, aims to reconstruct the history of this stele, to clarify the issues mentioned above, and to discuss the authenticity of Stele for Chan Master Xinxing.
This article focuses on the reigns of Emperors Zhongzong (r.705-710) and Ruizong (r.710-712), a period of frequent turnover in political power from the Early to High Tang. It argues that the erection of Stele for Chan Master Xinxing was a sophisticated missionary activity, that the Three Levels Sect of Buddhism utilized the renowned Li Zhen (627-688), Prince Yue, as a martyr in fighting against Wu Zetian (624-705) and the status of Xue Ji as a high official in Zhongzong’s court to promote the Three Levels Sect which had just gotten relief from Wu Zetian’s suppression. Unfortunately, the effort of the Three Levels Sect backfired after Zhongzong’s death in 710. Coming into Xuanzong’s reign, Xue Ji was disreputed from a court dignitary to a traitor and was sentenced to death. The Three Levels Sect, likewise, met much stricter suppression during Xuanzong’s reign. It is very possible that this stele was demolished by then.
More than a century after the demolition, as this article proceeds, the stele should have been re-erected in the reconstruction project of Huadu Temple, the headquarter of the Three Levels Sect, after the Huichang Persecution of Buddhism in 846. Xue Ji’s calligraphic style was already hard to recognize by then, in spite of his growing reputation as a calligrapher. Moreover, The Tang idiom claiming the stylistic similarity between Xue Ji and Chu Suiliang is actually a ninth-century legend rather than an eighthcentury statement of fact, which means that historically using it to justify Xue Ji’s style is actually misleading. The Three Levels Sect, again, tried to use this re-erected stele to promote itself, but Xue Ji’s calligraphy on the original stele was unfortunately lost in the demolition. Therefore, the Three Levels Sect, following this late Tang idiom, replaced Xue Ji’s calligraphy with Chu Suiliang’s, which caused the stylistic similarity between Stele for Chan Master Xinxing and Chu Suiliang’s calligraphic works and the distinctive stylistic difference between Stele for Chan Master Xinxing and the genuine works of Xue Ji, such as Stele for the Crown Prince Who Ascended as an Immortal and Epitaph of Fang Xianzhong. Thus, as an exceptional case in the history of Chinese calligraphy, Stele for Chan Master Xinxing is a genuine Northern Song rubbing but taken from a fake Tang stele. A genuine rubbing from a fake stele as it is, this work should not be treated as a benchmark for Xue Ji’s calligraphy.
Journal of National Museum of History (Taiwan) 史物論壇：國立歷史博物館學報, 2021
Born in China and expatriating in Paris, painter Sanyu (Chang Yu) never set foot in Taiwan, yet t... more Born in China and expatriating in Paris, painter Sanyu (Chang Yu) never set foot in Taiwan, yet today he is revered throughout Taiwan and broader Chinese communities worldwide. The stark gap between these two facts calls for an explanation, resulting in this investigation of the reception of Sanyu's art that reveals agency within art world in postwar Taiwan.
The paper's argument derives from three interrelated perspectives. First, Sanyu's personal image was overturned from a loser to a genius youth whose deserving talent was largely neglected. Second, the aesthetic understanding of Sanyu's paintings shifted. Having been framed in terms of Western modern art history, his work is now seen through the lens of modern Chinese art, breaking the restrictions imposed by Chinese national-style painting guohua. Lastly, via the emerging global art market, Sanyu's works were shipped from Paris to Taipei en masse, turning the island into the place with the most comprehensive collection of his work in the world.
Based on these three observations, this paper argues that the changing reception of Sanyu reflects two sides of 20th-century Taiwanese art history: On the one hand, the emergence of a nation-state consciousness affected art collection and historiography considerably. On the other hand, an unprecedentedly rapid flow of artists, artworks, and information across borders weakened the potency of art histories constructed around
the national-style painting. The tension between these two forces continues until now, simultaneously challenging and stimulating the writing of 20th-century art history.
Book Reviews by Ning TANG
Journal of National Museum of History (Taiwan), 2023
New History Journal 新史學, 2019
Uploads
Papers by Ning TANG
placed within a comparative framework alongside other types of plum blossom painting by scholars of Song-Yuan art history. However, the inner complexity of this genre has received little scholarly attention. By delving into the f iner details of both textual sources and visual materials, this article re-examines the world of ink plum painting across nearly two centuries, spanning from the mid-Southern Song to the late Yuan period.
During this period, numerous painting manuals of plum blossom motifs and theoretical mnemonic rhymes emerged, serving as vehicles for the widespread dissemination of ink plum knowledge and imagery in southern China. Works such as Songzhai meipu 松齋梅譜 (Plum Blossom Manual of the Pine Studio) preserve abundant information and reveal a dynamic world of ink plum culture. Amid the f lourishing yet chaotic scene, Zhao Mengjian 趙孟堅 , concerned with preserving orthodoxy, composed two lengthy ballads entitled Zhao Zigu Meipu 趙子固梅譜 (Plum Blossom Painting Manual by Zhao Mengjian), in an effort to establish the “Taochan School” ( 逃禪宗派 ), a lineage tracing back to the Southern Song painter Yang Wujiu (style name Taochan). These two examples ref lect the adversarial coexistence of two distinct knowledge systems surrounding ink plum during the Song-Yuan period.
In terms of painting style, Wu Zhen 吴鎮 and Wu Guan 吴瓘 inherited the Southern Song imagery of “sparse branches and chilly blossoms,” yet each developed it along different directions. Beyond the realm of elite literati, Kuaiji 會稽 emerged as a new centre for ink plum production. As the birthplace of “ancient plum trees” that embodied prevailing aesthetic ideals, and a hub for the creation and circulation of plum blossom painting manuals, Kuaiji fostered a vibrant local tradition. Many painters of mid- to lower-class backgrounds produced large quantities of ink plum paintings, constituting a visual world markedly distinct from that of the upper-class literati in terms of social class, locality, and artistic expression.
Although most ink plum paintings produced in Kuaiji have not survived, extant works are predominantly preserved in Japan. Among Kuaiji artists, Wang Mian 王冕 stands out as a rare professional literatus-painter capable of bridging the two worlds of ink plum. His works reveal a strong connection to plum blossom painting manuals, underscoring Kuaiji’s central role in the production of such materials during the Yuan dynasty. At the same time, Wang’s career and the contemporary reception of his work highlight the disadvantaged position of Kuaiji in the broader discourse on ink plum during the Yuan period.
hua), Tang Yin’s work has received widespread scholarly attention.
Previous studies mainly focused on revealing the rich meanings of his
works and discovering his voice of self-expression; however, besides this
literatus aspect, Tang Yin also had a professional dimension. Furthermore,
paintings of beautiful women, as a genre for use and pleasure, were often
on display before various audiences, which presented another challenge
with which Tang Yin, as a professional artist, had to grapple. This article
focuses on Tang Yin’s paintings of beautiful women to discuss how Tang
Yin manipulated the imagery and poetry on paintings to adapt to the subtle
social environment of the middle Ming Dynasty.
Tang Yin’s paintings of beautiful women can be categorized into two
major types: mixed-gender and female-only. In terms of the “internal”
aspect of painting and poem, Tang Yin extensively drew from materials
found in historical records and popular operas for the mixed-gender type,
transforming the subject matter into romantic relationships initiated by
women falling in love with male literati. In handling the images, Tang Yin
blended ancient and contemporary settings to bridge the gap between past and present. In his masterpiece, Tao Gu Presenting a Lyric, Tang Yin went further, adding multiple visual references and placing the male-female relationship above the lord-subject relationship to defend himself from criticism of his deviant behavior in contemporary eyes. In the female-only type, women in the paintings are often placed in an elegant but isolated setting, creating a distance between them and the audience. In his poems on the paintings, Tang Yin either constructed a set of male-female
relationships in the tradition of feminine querimony poetry guiyuan shi,
which associated such works with mixed-gender types except that male
characters are missing from the image, or projected his own life experiences onto female figures to express different aspects of himself. In
the masterpiece Court Ladies of the Former Shu, Tang Yin similarly added
multiple historical and visual references while challenging the dual
Confucian orders of male-female and lord-subject.
As for the “external” aspect of Tang Yin’s paintings of beautiful
women, i.e., the spaces where these paintings were hung and the
corresponding audience, Tang Yin’s mixed-gender type was often
displayed in brothels, where the audience was mostly males of various
social classes. These works could demonstrate multi-layered romantic
relationships between men and women, thereby helping male viewers with
different educational backgrounds better understand them. As for the
female-only type, these works, with reduced erotic implications, could be
displayed in a wider range of spaces. The props held by the female
characters effectively enhanced diversity to the composition and indicated
their historical identities, making it easier for the viewers to understand.
Whether it was through feminine querimony poetry or poems with
historical allusions, Tang Yin provided well-educated male and female
elite audiences with the possibilities of reading and understanding his
works. In the middle Ming Dynasty, when many literati failed to obtain
government positions through imperial examination, they had to find
alternative career paths without sacrificing their identities as scholars.
Tang Yin, as a professional literati painter, needed to achieve balance
between market demand and self-image. His solution was to construct
layered meanings in his works, creating multiple possibilities for
understanding them. This characteristic, compatible with both selfexpression and audience interpretation, allowed Tang Yin to negotiate the space between self and multiple audiences.
different collectors.
Four Views of Flowering Plums returned to Suzhou in the Jiaqing period (1796-1820), and was henceforth handed down to Lu Gong, Cheng Zhenyi, Pan Zunqi, Li Hongyi and Gu Wenbin in the late Qing period. As one of the few renowned Song paintings which did not become part of the Qing court collection and still circulated in the Jiangnan area, Four Views of Flowering Plums experienced various forms of actions performed by these collectors. In addition to traditional ways such as affixing seals to it, inviting literati to attend elegant gatherings and view it, and making art pieces after the original work, these Suzhou collectors also innovatived in making rubbings of Four Views of Flowering Plums and naming their studios after it. All these actions effectively enhanced the popularity of Four Views of Flowering Plums in the Jiangnan area. More than that, this piece was also recorded in the documentation of calligraphy and painting in the late Qing period in a mis-interpreted way. Meanwhile, Four Views of Flowering Plums also exerted a multi-level influence on collectors. It not only enhanced the social status of collectors, helping them enter the social circle of top scholar-officials, but also derived from it were new works of art that participated in the constructing of some collector’s family memory.
During the Yuan-Ming period, there was a wave of art creation surrounding
Four Views of Flowering Plums by Suzhou literati painters. In the late Qing and early Republican period, these derivative works were distributed throughout cities in the Jiangnan area, such as Suzhou, Huzhou, Kunshan, and Nanjing, and collectors of different social identities had interpersonal connections with each other, demonstrating that there was an active art-centered network existing in the Jiangnan area at the time. This network, however, suffered much from the effects of the Taiping Rebellion (1851-1864), which caused artworks and artists to flow into Shanghai.
At the same time, with the collapse of the imperial system and in the multi-ethnic environment of Shanghai, traditional literati started to lose their monopoly in the discourse of late Qing Suzhou, and they increasingly needed to make a living through their talents in calligraphy and painting. As a result, the role of literati in the art ecosystem gradually moved from collector to painter or calligrapher. In this respect, Wu Hufan’s (1894-1968) After Lu Zhi’s Plums and Bamboo, of which the original piece is a derivative work of Four Views of Flowering Plums, provides a good instance of this change.
During the Yuan and Ming dynasties, Four Views of Flowering Plums and another now lost painting by Yang Wujiu on four scenes of flowering plums were highly popular among contemporary literati. Not only did they write literary works to respond to Yang’s lyric poetry which is attached after Four Views of Flowering Plums, but also Shen Zhou and Wen Zhengming both did their ink plum works in the style of Yang’s paintings.
Moreover, more practices surrounding Four Views of Flowering Plums can be found, such as Lu Zhi including more Song and Yuan ink plum works to respond to, and Wen Jia replacing historical images with his own creations. All these profound impacts of Four Views of Flowering Plums had made four blossoming plums a sub-genre in the tradition of ink plum painting.
On a broader level, Four Views of Flowering Plums participated in shaping the style of ink plum painting in the Yuan and Ming dynasties in a subtle way. The whole plum in the natural environment depicted in Four Views of Flowering Plums was actually not favored by the upper class, including the court and literati, of Southern Song dynasty. By the Yuan dynasty, Yang Wujiu’s paintings were highly valued because he had become a member of the genealogy of ink plum painting, but compared with the solitary branch
depicted in works like Plum Blossoms in Snow and Plum Blossoms and Bamboo, Four Views of Flowering Plums was still not the type of ink plum painting that was taken seriously. It was not until Shen Zhou and Wen Zhengming adjusted the imagery, taking part of the composition and making the structure more concise, did Four Views of Flowering Plums finally finish the historical process of shaping the “pure and elegant” (qingya) style of ink plum painting which was appreciated by Ming Suzhou literati.
This article focuses on the reigns of Emperors Zhongzong (r.705-710) and Ruizong (r.710-712), a period of frequent turnover in political power from the Early to High Tang. It argues that the erection of Stele for Chan Master Xinxing was a sophisticated missionary activity, that the Three Levels Sect of Buddhism utilized the renowned Li Zhen (627-688), Prince Yue, as a martyr in fighting against Wu Zetian (624-705) and the status of Xue Ji as a high official in Zhongzong’s court to promote the Three Levels Sect which had just gotten relief from Wu Zetian’s suppression. Unfortunately, the effort of the Three Levels Sect backfired after Zhongzong’s death in 710. Coming into Xuanzong’s reign, Xue Ji was disreputed from a court dignitary to a traitor and was sentenced to death. The Three Levels Sect, likewise, met much stricter suppression during Xuanzong’s reign. It is very possible that this stele was demolished by then.
More than a century after the demolition, as this article proceeds, the stele should have been re-erected in the reconstruction project of Huadu Temple, the headquarter of the Three Levels Sect, after the Huichang Persecution of Buddhism in 846. Xue Ji’s calligraphic style was already hard to recognize by then, in spite of his growing reputation as a calligrapher. Moreover, The Tang idiom claiming the stylistic similarity between Xue Ji and Chu Suiliang is actually a ninth-century legend rather than an eighthcentury statement of fact, which means that historically using it to justify Xue Ji’s style is actually misleading. The Three Levels Sect, again, tried to use this re-erected stele to promote itself, but Xue Ji’s calligraphy on the original stele was unfortunately lost in the demolition. Therefore, the Three Levels Sect, following this late Tang idiom, replaced Xue Ji’s calligraphy with Chu Suiliang’s, which caused the stylistic similarity between Stele for Chan Master Xinxing and Chu Suiliang’s calligraphic works and the distinctive stylistic difference between Stele for Chan Master Xinxing and the genuine works of Xue Ji, such as Stele for the Crown Prince Who Ascended as an Immortal and Epitaph of Fang Xianzhong. Thus, as an exceptional case in the history of Chinese calligraphy, Stele for Chan Master Xinxing is a genuine Northern Song rubbing but taken from a fake Tang stele. A genuine rubbing from a fake stele as it is, this work should not be treated as a benchmark for Xue Ji’s calligraphy.
The paper's argument derives from three interrelated perspectives. First, Sanyu's personal image was overturned from a loser to a genius youth whose deserving talent was largely neglected. Second, the aesthetic understanding of Sanyu's paintings shifted. Having been framed in terms of Western modern art history, his work is now seen through the lens of modern Chinese art, breaking the restrictions imposed by Chinese national-style painting guohua. Lastly, via the emerging global art market, Sanyu's works were shipped from Paris to Taipei en masse, turning the island into the place with the most comprehensive collection of his work in the world.
Based on these three observations, this paper argues that the changing reception of Sanyu reflects two sides of 20th-century Taiwanese art history: On the one hand, the emergence of a nation-state consciousness affected art collection and historiography considerably. On the other hand, an unprecedentedly rapid flow of artists, artworks, and information across borders weakened the potency of art histories constructed around
the national-style painting. The tension between these two forces continues until now, simultaneously challenging and stimulating the writing of 20th-century art history.
Book Reviews by Ning TANG