Object Analysis of Elegant Gathering in the Apricot Garden, a Painting from Ming Dynasty
The Literati Gathering at Airport Garden by Xie Huan contains three significant features; that the painting was a real event recording, politically and historically, it is presenting the peaceful years and high peak of the three Yangs, and that the painting reveals the ambiguity of the artist Xie Huan position among the Ming elites (Wan 2009). This paper will extensively discuss these three features. Besides, there are two major versions of Literati Gathering at Airport Garden associated with Xie Huan, which are extant in the contemporary world. One belongs to Mr. Weng Wange and is currently in the collection of New York’s Metropolitan Museum. The other version, which is considered complete, is in the collection of the Zhenjiang Municipal Museum in Jiangsu, and this paper will focus more on it.
The reason I chose the last version is that it is considered as a complete version of Xie Huan Literati Gathering at Airport Garden, including full colophons as well as complete paintings. Moreover, various scholars such as Richard Barnhart, Hou-mei Song, and Lu Jiugao have analyzed the austerity of the two versions and concluded that Zhenjiang Museum’s version is a more genuine painting of Xie Huan while other scholars such as James Cahill claim that different artists did the two versions. Additionally, this paper will focus on the correlation of the figures through their psychological arrangement, and sitting arrangement, based on the colophons and various writings as well as Xie Huan’s position among his contemporary elites, will also be discussed.
Historical Background
As from the colophon attached to the Literati Gathering at Airport Garden and that it was written by Yang Rong (1371-1440), the painting date back to the second year of Zhan-Tong (1437) during the reign of emperor Yingzong. This is because, during that period, it was the year of the Yang peak period for the three Yangs, significant paintings in the courts, and Ming History. Moreover, the paintings depicted in this gathering were still friendly at that time as later on, there were conflicts and tensions between the three officials (Burkus-Chasson, 2002). The three Yangs are Yang Pu, Yang Rong (1375-1446) and Yang Shiqi (1365-1444)
Emperor Hungwu (1368) abolished the prime minister system in 1380 AD because he was threatened by Hu Weiyung’s increasing power, which could overwhelm the emperor’s throne, and thus he abolished the prime minister position. Consequently, the empire appointed the official in Hanlin Yuan institute of Academicians to be the grand secretariat (Wan 2009). However, the Emperor himself made decisions on national affairs, and the grand secretariat only held an official title without any meaningful power. This ambiguous situation of the grand secretariat lasted during the reigns of Xuanzong (1426-1435) and Renzong (1425). Nonetheless, the members of the cabinet had no power or position to involve the emperor’s decisions.
During Xuanzong’s reign, he maintained the same system of grand secretariat after Emperor Yunglo, although he did not consult with the member of the Grand Secretariat about members of the state. After his death, his son Yingzong took over power by the age of nine (1436-1449, 1457-1464). Due to the political need, the new Emperors mother Queen Dowager entrusted power to the three Yangs to help Yingzong, and that is how the position of Grand secretariat was elevated to a more powerful position than it ever had during the Ming dynasty error (Hsieh 1999). The three Yangs politically reached their high peak in 1437 AD, the year of Literati Gathering at Airport Garden.
Documentation and Physical Description
Xie Huan’s Literati Gathering at Airport Garden in Zhenjiang museum hand scroll done on color on silk and ink is1238 cm long and 37.5 cm high colophon included, and the painted section is 401 cm in length. The handscroll subject is based on a gathering at an Apricot garden Yang Rong on the first day of March 1437 AD. In each joint of this Handscroll, there is a seal of Guan-Xi Hou-Yi, an offspring of the Guan-Xi family, which alludes that this painting belongs to Yang Rong and should be guanine. While the location of Yang Rong’s garden was not specified in the colophons in this handscroll, both Yang Rong’s and Yang Shiqi’s anthologies mention the residence of Yang Rong in connection to a gathering in spring of 1427 AD, about ten years before the painting Literati Gathering at Airport Garden at Yang’s residence located on the south of the east gate in Beijing’s Changan (Wan 2009).
In the colophons, there are 12 pieces, and both Yang Shigi and Yang Rong wrote two colophons. Moreover, the colophons prepared by the elites present and this gathering, such as Wang Ying, Yang Pu, Zhou Shu, Wang Zhi, Li Shimiam Chem Xun, and Qian Xili, and also an extensive collection of prepared by famous Qing collector Weng Fang-gang (Guest 2018). Yang Shiqi’s and Yang Yong’s colophons imply a subtle relationship between the artists and their political environment of Xie Huan. The Yang Shiqi’s Literati Gathering at Airport Garden addresses several points such as the actual event, socio-political as well as authenticity as he stated the official’s obligation was to devote themselves relentlessly on national affairs day and night as well as entertain themselves during leisure hours.
Composition and Iconography
Seating arrangement
The message passed concerning relationship and position between the figures in the Literati Gathering at Airport Garden is mainly grounded on their seating pattern, historical documents, and official robes. As per Yang Rong’s description, there are three groups of figures where group one is located beside the Apricot trees placed on the left side of the handscroll. On the right portion, group two standing while approaching chairs, and the last group is located in front of the stone screen and is placed in the center of the handscroll.
In the figures of group one, Yang Piu is in the middle, Qian Xili on the right, and Wang Yin on the left and the figures of group two, Zhou Shu, Li Shimian, Chen Xun, and Xie Huan are arranged from left to right. As for the figures in the final group are Yang Rong on the left, Yang Shiqi in the middle, and Wang Zhi on the left. This seating pattern of describing figures is left, right, and then center in the order of seniority was introduced since the Zhou dynasty and applied correctly to the elites of the high officials in the courts whereby the center position is the most prestigious followed by the right position and then the left position regarded to be lower than the right position.
Official Robes
According to the statues collected during the Ming dynasty and Ming history, the official robes of the military and the civil posts were different, and these officials wore different robes on different occasions (Ho 2017). On the figures of the painting, nine out of the ten figures held civil posts while Xie Huan held a military post. Those are the robes that the figures wore in gatherings types of semi-official and were usually worn during the first and fifteenth day of every month which matches Yang Rong’s mention of the first day of March in his epilogue. Because the official’s residence was neighboring the central government residence, the Literati could have come in their official robes to the gathering. However, the official robes of Guard Embroidered Uniform, Xie Huan were not analyzed in the document.
The Issue of Literati Gathering
Ho (2017) claims that the issue of literati gathering is not new in Ming dynasty painting as the tradition and history of literati gatherings have appeared in many paintings since the Han dynasty, and the issue was a fundamental theme during Yuan paintings. Nevertheless, this type of gathering involved in intellectual and social aspects. The gatherings would reflect social ties between fellowships or classes of cronies, particularly among the literati elites. Moreover, it grew into an appearance of the class of self-conscious elite of literati in the late periods of Tang and Song dynasties. Additionally, the real event of the gathering depiction is exemplified in several paintings such as poetry composition on spring outing attributed to Ma Yuan (1185-1225), the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, and Literati Gathering at Airport Garden by Xie Huan. The similarity between hand scrolls is that they are all based on the reallocation of hosts garden although it can be discussed in various ways such as how the artists represent the figures, depth as well as activities in the field.
Ma Yuan based his attention on figures of crowds who surround the table servants with a scholar crossing the bridge and grooms with donkeys and horses waiting for a ferry on the river bank, which are minor activities (Guest 2018). On the other hand, Xie Huan balanced each group of figures and also magnified the size of the figures to maintain the focus of the painting on the figures rather than on the size of the garden, unlike Ma Yuan’s piece (Glaser 2017). Generally, Ma Yuan’s painting shows a relaxing and joyful atmosphere, while Xie Huan’s painting shows a more severe and sedate sense. Additionally, Xie Huan displayed the significant figures as portraitures in frontal depiction, closer to the viewers, and included less foreground compared to Ma Yuan, who created a remote and depth feeling of separation and distance. While the figure in the two paintings was identifiable on the two documents, the figures and sitting arrangement in Xie Huan’s painting was mainly recorded and arranged. Lastly, only Xie Huan added his self-portrait, and thus the paintings conveyed diverse valuation than traditional group-figure paintings.
Cultural Context
According to Glaser (2017), the official elites in civil post beyond the fourth rank wore scarlet red robes, ranks between the seventh and the fifth wore blue robes, and those whose ranks were below seven wore green robes. Yang Rong was a Grand Secretary, Shao-fu was a junior mentor ranked ib since 1425, and Yang Pu position was that of Li-bu Shang-shu, minister of the ministry of personnel ranked 3a. Therefore it was logical that both Yang Pu and Yang Rong in the painting wore red robes. On the other hand, Yang Shiqi who was a senior Grand Secretary and Shao-shi, a junior preceptor ranked 1b, wore regular official robes that alludes to two possibilities; that Yang Shiqi position was the highest-ranked among the participants, a modest position is presented for not wearing official robes, or probably Yang Shiqi was absent at the court meeting. Moreover, Burkus-Chasson (2002) claims that around the springs of the same year, Yang Shaqi had presented a will due to his illness, and probably Yang Rong had this meeting for him.
Authorship Attributions
Except for two writings in his Contemporaries, the dates of Xie Huan’s death and birth are not clearly in any document, and the information in the contemporary writings present a somewhat inconclusive image of Xie Huan. Additionally, none of these documents explores the lifespan of Xi Huan, and the gazetteer of Yungjia only records him, a landscape painter, as a native. However, according to the record of his work, various art historians such as Chou (2017) claim that Xie Huan first appeared in the courts of the Yung-lo period, was superlative during Xuan-de era and did the painting in the third year of Daizong’s reign (1452 AD). Consequently, Xie Huan was born during Hungwu’s reign and died after 1453.
Limitations of Xie Huan’s Portrait in Painting
As I had previously outlined, Xie Huan depicted himself insulated from the other groups, and the main problem with his paintings is that his portrait was not the original plan. If we carefully analyze the painting, we can conclude that the portrait of Xie Huan was added over the rock in the background as dots of vegetation can be seen through his robes. As a result, there are two possibilities; the artist’s position among the elites or the problem of authenticity of his painting. However, most art history scholars do not doubt the authenticity of the painting, and in addition to Yang Rong’s and Yang Shiqi’s colophons, Xie was also involved in the activities of the gathering. Xie Huan may have many reasons for adding his portrait after completion of the painting, which may mirror his situational dilemma among the official elites (Goldman 2017).
Conclusion
In most of the Chinese group figure paintings, it was hardly possible for the artists to portray themselves in the paintings, and what made Xie Huan display himself in Literati Gathering at Airport Garden painting should be considered as a crucial aspect in his handscroll. Moreover, Xie Huan’s painting of Literati Gathering at Airport Garden raises complicated issues as to what functions literati gathering serve, the sophistication of the relationship between the high-officials, the position of artists, and the purpose these artists perform. To contain peace in politics, the official elites like the three Yangs balanced multi-dimensional personalities on even be hypocritical when dealing with certain people, although most of them were egoistic. However, Literati Gathering at Airport Garden painting was accomplished with reciprocal complexities, and the fame of Xie Huan developed during his time and later time after his death as well. Besides, while there are only two paintings extant done by Xie Huan today, we can still see his versatility in the painting of objects like the Literati Gathering at Airport Garden, and we should acknowledge his significance among the Ming court artists.
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