DOI chapter:
Essays
DOI chapter:Ning, Yao: Propagating the Confucian Virtues: Chinese Artists in Serialized Printed Portrait Books
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.70035#0038
Propagating the Confucian Virtues
originally from Taicang (today's Chang-
sha), is represented in a frontal pose
wearing a home-style robe. Wang was
one of the most important painters of the
Qing dynasty and a high-ranking official
at the imperial court (Fig. 13). All the
figures are bust portraits covering a full
page, followed by the associated bio-
graphy on the next page. The two pages
are not juxtaposed.
In regard to the style and compo-
sition of Gu Yuan's books, Ren Xiong's ft
(1823-1857) prints achieved more
vividness, marking a second flourishing
period of printed images after the
seventeenth-century. The image of Wang
Xizhi, the Sage of Calligraphy, a figure
who had been represented in many
collections of famous worthies through-
out the centuries, is presented - perhaps
for the first time - in a landscape with a
pavilion behind him while reading a
handscroll (Fig. 14). The pavilion might
refer to the Orchid Pavilion. According to
the legend, the masterpiece of Wang
Xizhi - Lanting xu W'r’/f (Orchid Pavil-
ion Preface) was composed and hand-
written in the year 353 in a gathering of forty-two poets at the Orchid Pavilion near
today's Shaoxing in the Yue area. This print is one of altogether eighty famous
worthies from the Yue area published in the book Yuyue xianxian xiang zhuan zan
jftft (The Pictures, Biographies and Eulogies of the Former Worthies from the
Yue Area) in 1856. In 1877 this book was printed again after Ren Xiong's death, albeit
based on new engraved woodblocks. The size of the figure Wang Xizhi is reduced, and
a long inscription - the biography of the calligrapher - was added in this new edition
which altered the composition (Fig. 15). In 1886 another lithographic-reprinted
edition was published under the title Ren Weichang xiansheng huazhuan sizhong ft
(Master Ren Weichang's Four Sets of Illustrated Biographies; Fig. 16).
Weichang is the style name of Ren Xiong.58
Compared with the conventional way of representing the worthies - a frontally
positioned bust portrait - the human figures in Ren Xiong's printed book were size-
reduced and appear in a background of landscape or in an interior. Together with the
various innovative compositions indicating the narrative legends, calligraphy played
an important role in all of Ren Xiong's prints. The brushstroke applied to the hill on
Fig. 13: Image of Wang Shilang ZE # tß
(Portrait of Minister Wang, Wang Yuanqi EE ft
iß), in: Wujun mingxian tu zhuan zan ftWft
ft ft! Wft (The Illustrated Biographies and
Eulogies of the Eminent Worthies from Wujun),
woodblock print, 1827
31
originally from Taicang (today's Chang-
sha), is represented in a frontal pose
wearing a home-style robe. Wang was
one of the most important painters of the
Qing dynasty and a high-ranking official
at the imperial court (Fig. 13). All the
figures are bust portraits covering a full
page, followed by the associated bio-
graphy on the next page. The two pages
are not juxtaposed.
In regard to the style and compo-
sition of Gu Yuan's books, Ren Xiong's ft
(1823-1857) prints achieved more
vividness, marking a second flourishing
period of printed images after the
seventeenth-century. The image of Wang
Xizhi, the Sage of Calligraphy, a figure
who had been represented in many
collections of famous worthies through-
out the centuries, is presented - perhaps
for the first time - in a landscape with a
pavilion behind him while reading a
handscroll (Fig. 14). The pavilion might
refer to the Orchid Pavilion. According to
the legend, the masterpiece of Wang
Xizhi - Lanting xu W'r’/f (Orchid Pavil-
ion Preface) was composed and hand-
written in the year 353 in a gathering of forty-two poets at the Orchid Pavilion near
today's Shaoxing in the Yue area. This print is one of altogether eighty famous
worthies from the Yue area published in the book Yuyue xianxian xiang zhuan zan
jftft (The Pictures, Biographies and Eulogies of the Former Worthies from the
Yue Area) in 1856. In 1877 this book was printed again after Ren Xiong's death, albeit
based on new engraved woodblocks. The size of the figure Wang Xizhi is reduced, and
a long inscription - the biography of the calligrapher - was added in this new edition
which altered the composition (Fig. 15). In 1886 another lithographic-reprinted
edition was published under the title Ren Weichang xiansheng huazhuan sizhong ft
(Master Ren Weichang's Four Sets of Illustrated Biographies; Fig. 16).
Weichang is the style name of Ren Xiong.58
Compared with the conventional way of representing the worthies - a frontally
positioned bust portrait - the human figures in Ren Xiong's printed book were size-
reduced and appear in a background of landscape or in an interior. Together with the
various innovative compositions indicating the narrative legends, calligraphy played
an important role in all of Ren Xiong's prints. The brushstroke applied to the hill on
Fig. 13: Image of Wang Shilang ZE # tß
(Portrait of Minister Wang, Wang Yuanqi EE ft
iß), in: Wujun mingxian tu zhuan zan ftWft
ft ft! Wft (The Illustrated Biographies and
Eulogies of the Eminent Worthies from Wujun),
woodblock print, 1827
31