Page 285 - The Arts of China, By Michael Sullivan Good Book

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5. This motive was frankly admitted in an edict of one
District, Peking," Wen-wu 1959, 9. My remarks, written in
1966, arc borne out by a thermoluminesccnce test on of the barbarian rulers of Later Chao (c. a.d. 335): "We
twenty-two typical "Hui-hsien" pieces from well-known were born out of the marches," he declared, "and though
English and American collections, all of which turned out We are unworthy, We have complied with our appointed
to be modern. See S.J. Fleming and £. H. Sampson, "The destiny and govern the Chinese as their prince. . . . Bud-
Authenticity of Figurines, Animals, and Pottery Facsimi- dha being a barbarian god is the very one wc should wor-
les of Bronze in the Hui Hsien Style," Archaeometry 14, 2 ship." See Arthur Wright. "Fo-t"u-teng, a Biography,"
(1972): 237- 44. Harvardfoumal of Asiatic Studies II (1948) :3 56.
6. The caves were first documented by Sir Aurel Stein,
Chapter 3 who visited them in 1907 and brought away with him a
large collection of manuscripts and paintings from a sealed
1. David Hawkcs, Ch'u Tz'u, pp. 105-107. Hawkcs
library. In the following year, the great French Sinologue
suggests that this poem may have been written in 208 or 207
Paul Pclliot systematically photographed and numbered
B.C.
the caves. His numbers, totalling nearly 300, are familiar to
2. Translated by Arthur Waley, An Introduction to the
Western readers and appear in my text in brackets, pre-
Study of Chinese Painting (London, 1923), pp. 30-ji.
ceded by the letter "P." A second system ofnumbering was
3. B. Karlgrcn, "Early Chinese Mirror Inscriptions,"
used by the noted painter Chang Ta-ch'ien, who with his
BMFEA 6 (1934): 49- Some private manufacturers put the
assistants copied some of the frescoes during the Second
name of the Shang-fang on their mirrors to increase their
World War. A third system was adopted by the National
value. See Wang Chongshu, Han Civilisation, trans. K. C.
Art Research Institute at Tunhuang, which since 1943 has
Chang ctal. (New Haven, 1982), p. 107.
been actively engaged in preserving, restoring, and copy-
4. While it is generally assumed that objects placed in the
ing the paintings under the directorship of Ch'ang Shu-
tomb, including copper cash, were for the use of the de-
hung. This organisation has now identified 492 caves and
ceased, inscribed placqucs found in some Han tombs show
niches, and I have used their system in this book.
that the food was a tax paid to the earth gods and that the
cash was to buy the land from the administration of the un-
Chapter 7
derworld,
5. As fresh discoveries increase the number of known 1 . It was probably the demands of Mahayana Buddhism
kilns—only a few of which arc mentioned in this book for the endless multiplication of icons, diagrams, spells,
the problem of nomenclature becomes more and more and texts that brought about the rapid development of
acute. But until Chinese ceramics experts produce a new block printing during the T'ang Dynasty. The earliest
definitive classification, it would not be helpful to the dated printed text yet discovered is a Buddhist charm on
reader to depart too far from accepted names for well- paper of a.d. 770, found at Tunhuang by Sir Aurel Stein. It
known kilns. For a list of kilns, see Yutaka Mino and Patri- is likely, however, that the Chinese and Tibetans had been
cia Wilson. An Index to Chinese Kiln Sites from the Six Dy- experimenting with block printing since the middle of the
nasties to the Present (Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, sixth century, while the use of seals in Shang China and the
1973)- For a more up-to-date (though incomplete) list with practice of taking rubbings of inscriptions engraved on
illustrations of shards in colour, see the Catalogue of the Ex- stone (made possible by the Han invention of paper) point
hibition of Ceramic Finds from Ancient Kilns in China (Fung to the existence of printing of a sort at a far earlier date.
Ping Shan Museum, Hong Kong, 1981). 2. Chang Tsao's contribution to the evolution of T'ang
landscape style is discussed in my Chinese Landscape Paint-
Chapter 6 ing. Vol. II: TheSuiand T'ang Dynasties, pp. 65-69.
3. Ahbdras-Sin Wa I-Hind, trans, and cd. Jean Sauvagct
1 . Beautifully translated by Ch'en Shih-hsiang in Liter-
(1948), 16, Section 34.
ature as Light against Darkness, rev. ed. (Portland, Maine,
4. The Ting-ware kilns at Chien-tz'u-ts'un in Hopei
1952).
were in the late T'ang already producing a fine white por-
2. William R. B. Acker. Some Tang and Pre-Tang Texts
celain, which may have been the elusive Hsing-yao, but no
on Chinese Painting (Leiden, 1954), p. xxx.
kilns have yet been found in Hsing-chou itself.
3. There are a number of delightful stories about him in
5. See Chinese Tomb Pottery Figurines (Hong Kong,
his official biography and in that fascinating collection of
1953). P. 9-
gossip, Shih-shuo hsin-yu. See Arthur Waley 's account of
6. From the Compendium of Deities of the Three Religions,
him in An Introduction to the Study of Chinese Painting, pp.
San chiao sou shen ta chuan, quoted in Lu Hsiin, A Brief His-
45-66, and Ch'en Shih-hsiang's translation of the official
tory of Chinese Fiction, trans. Yang Hsien-yi and Gladys
life. No. 2 in the University of California's translations of
Yang (Peking, 1959), pp. 21-22.
Chinese Dynastic Histories biographies (Berkeley, 1953).
4. A Late Sung version of the Lieh-nii t'u in Peking is il-
Chapter 8
lustrated in Chung-kuo li-tai ming hua. vol. 1 (1978). pis. 20-
32. The copyist has made effective use of the shading tech- 1. Sickman and Sopcr, The Art and Architecture of China,
nique for drapery (visible also in the bed hangings of the p. 192.
Admonitions scroll), which seems to have been a peculiarity 2. This passage has been slightly adapted from Tsung
of Ku's style. Pai-hua, "Space-Consciousness in Chinese Painting,"
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