Ahura

Cultural Expressions of a Prosperous World: Decoding the Appearance and Art Historical Significance of "Paintings of Children and Ladies" in Eighth-Century China

PAI, Shih-ming 白適銘

ABSTRACT

The major genre of early Chinese painting was of figures, its production and role mostly serving a didactic function for "admonition" and promoting such principles as loyalty to the ruler, filial piety, proper relations, and maintaining rites. This in turn led to a focus on image of loyal officials, filial sons, and virtuous ladies. In terms of ladies, perhaps the most representative work is "Admonitions of the Instructress to the Court Ladies" (女史箴圖) by Ku K'ai-chih (顧愷之) (British Museum, London). In the T'ang and Sung period, however, didactic painting gradually declined, opening the door for genre and figure paintings more representative of the social conditions and background that produced them. These works not only demonstrate a major difference in purpose to those of the past, but also gradually came to replace them to a certain extent.

Figure painting with more genre elements often incorporated subject matter from actual life. In terms of women as a subject for representation, "paintings of ladies" and "paintings of children and ladies" in the T'ang and Sung dynasties are some of the most conspicuous examples of new types of figure painting, no longer serving the "didactic" function found in "Admonitions of the Instructress to the Court Ladies". Based on such T'ang dynasty text as Chu Ching-hsüan's (朱景玄) Famous Painters of the T'ang Dynasty (唐朝名畫錄) and Chang Yen-yüan's (張彥遠) Record of Famous Paintings through the Ages (歷代名畫記), "paintings of ladies" and "paintings of children and ladies" appeared approximately in the transition from Early T'ang to High T'ang, around the early eighth century, reaching a peak later in the K'ai-yüan (開元) and T'ien-pao (天寶) reigns towards the middle of the century. A procession of renowned painters in the subject, such as Li Ts'ou (李湊), Chang Hsüan (張萱), Chou Ku-yen (周古言), T'an Chiao (談皎), Chou Fang (周昉), and Ch'eng Hsiu-chi, appeared and specialized in the depiction of ladies, ladies and children, and children.

If "paintings of women" and "paintings of children and ladies" no longer had such overt didactic functions, then what was the impetus for their productions? What social or cultural milieu did they express? And what special cultural significance did they represent? These are important questions when pondering the importance of this new type of painting in the T'ang dynasty. Despite the paucity of works on women and children from the eighth century, some general stylistic features and forms of expression tend to appear among them, offering clues for further research. The present study is based on an analysis of such period works as the fragment of a T'ang painting “Lady Playing Wei-ch'i” (奕棋仕女) from Tomb 187 at Astana in Turfan, fragments of jinsho (人勝) in the Shōsō-in (正倉院), and "Handled Cup with Scenes of Ladies and Hunting" (仕女狩獵文八曲把杯) Excavated at Xi'an. Study of these works shows that early in the appearance and rising popularity of these "painting of children and ladies" with women and babies or children, they may at first glance aeem merely to depict life in the palaces among the uppermost classes in society, yet they still convey overall social and cultural norms of peace and prosperity praised in arts of the High T'ang period.