Page 142 - Ming_China_Courts_and_Contacts_1400_1450 Craig lunas

Plate 14.10 Bian Wenjin 邊文進 (c. 1356–c. 1428), The Three Friends Plate 14.11 Colophon of The Three Friends and a Hundred Birds
and a Hundred Birds (Sanyou baiqin tu 三友百禽圖), c. 1413.
Hanging scroll, ink and colours on silk, height 151.3cm, width
78.1cm. National Palace Museum, Taipei

appointed official-in-attendance at the imperial court. style of Southern Song academic painters. In Three Friends
According to He Liangjun’s 何良俊 Siyouzhai hualun 四友齋 and a Hundred Birds (Sanyou baiqin tu 三友百禽圖), in the
畫論 (Theory of Painting from the Studio of the Four Friends), National Palace Museum, Taipei (Pl. 14.11), he writes that:
completed in 1573: In the seventh month of the guisi year of the Yongle reign [1413],
The court designated Renzhi Hall to place painters. At one Bian Jingzhao [Wenjin] of Longxi painted Three Friends and a
time the painters at the academy included specialists in figures, Hundred Birds at his official residence in Chang’an.
Jiang Zicheng; birds, Bian Jingzhao [Wenjin] from Longxi; 永樂癸巳秋七月，隴西邊景昭寫三友百禽圖於長安官舍。
landscapes, Shang Xi, Shi Rui, Ma Shi from Lianchuan, Li
Zai, Ni Duan, and Chen Xian. In this inscription, Chang’an refers to Nanjing, the
我朝特設仁智殿以處畫士，一時在院中者，人物則蔣子成，翎毛 capital at the time. It is probable that the work was
則隴西之邊景昭，山水則商喜、石銳、練川馬軾、李在、倪端、陳 commissioned by the Yongle emperor before the capital was
暹。 49 moved to Beijing. Pine, bamboo, plum blossom and rock
motifs constitute the main structure of the painting. They
Bian inherited the use of fine brushwork and vivid colours are interspersed with nearly a hundred birds, creating a
from the Northern Song painting tradition in the manner of highly decorative quality. The brushwork outlining and
Huang Quan 黃筌 (c. 903–65), while combining it with the texturing the rocks and plum branches is relatively loose,

132 | Ming China: Courts and Contacts 1400–1450