Page 12 - Bonhams Scholars Art and Instruments Hong Kong December 2, 2021

Preface

Keason Tang

A large part of the art of Chinese literati was for social scholars. Women's gatherings were rarely seen in the past,
purposes. Prof Craig Clunas in his book Elegant Debts: but educated Chinese women also had their own world in
The Social Art of Wen Zhengming has studied the social the boudoir. Lot 83, The four women painted on the blue and
circle of the Wu school in Suzhou focusing on Wen white dish, Kangxi period, carry the qin and book and gather
Zhengming(1470–1559) as the nucleus and outlined the in an imposing private hall, not dissimilar to the French
social aspect of his painting that had hereto been neglected. Marquise of Rambouillet (M. de Rambouille, 1588-1665)
Indeed, the book Elegant Debts was a major source of Salon style. In Chinese decorative arts, few people have
inspiration for this exhibition. Since ‘no one nowadays studied the form children and young boys at gatherings or
seriously believes in its purest form in the ‘literati myth’ of in ‘hundred boys pictures’. However, when you look closely
the disinterested scholar-amateur’ (Elegant Debts p.13, at the things that children play, they are mostly imitating
n.27.), we should highlight the social nature of Chinese the adult world. It is not that Chinese children have lacked
literati art, thus we titles this catalogue ‘Elegant Gatherings: innocence since ancient times. Such images are often the
The Social Art of Chinese Scholars’. expectations of the future generations in the eyes of adults.
In this case, parents are the same in ancient and modern
The reason why a gathering of literati can be called an times. However, the elegant scenes in the children opera
‘elegant gathering’ lies in the people involved and what pictures can be understood as a kind of cultural capital
they did. The earliest records of these elegant gatherings as Pierre Bourdieu once said. Cultural capital has been
were indeed very elegant. For example, the Sage Confucius passed down from generation to generation. The boys in
apparently gave his approval of his disciple’s yearning the 100 Boys picture are of the court style of the early Ming
‘in the last month of spring, with the dress of the season Dynasty in Lot 78 and were dressed in palace embroidered
all complete, along with five or six young men who have robes. Pretending to be Su Shi writing in a pavilion is not
assumed the cap, and six or seven boys, I would wash in something one would imagine ordinary boys playing on the
the Yi river, enjoy the breeze among the rain altars, and street would do.
return home singing’(Chapter of Xianjin, Lunyu). There were
also the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove, a group of Activities pursued in an elegant gathering included playing
disillusioned scholars in the Eastern Jin dynasty (266-420), qin, writing calligraphy, painting, poetry, wine, flower
as well as the elegant gathering of political and military appreciation, and drinking tea. The Treatise of Superfluous
figures at Orchid Pavilion, and the elegant gathering at West Things, as well as the Leisure Notes by Li Yu (1610-1680)
Garden including Su Shi (1037-1101), and the gathering at and other books all record these various elegant pursuits, so
the Apricot Garden hosted by Yang Shiqi (1365-1444, all we don’t need to expand on them here. These lots offered in
of them high government ministers). Throughout history this catalogue are also related to these elegant pursuits.
there was numerous elegant gatherings, but from elegant
pastimes, they became networking events with political Gatherings can be a burden for many modern people.
as well as cultural significance. The location for an elegant Firstly, one needs a lot of money, to curry favours, gossip,
gathering can range from a bamboo grove to the mansion and facades. It is full of ostentation. This is not just golden
gardens of a Prime Minister, with the implements becoming ageism to devalue the present and look at the past with
more and more refined. The elegant gathering then became admiration. Elegant gatherings in the past could also be
an event of significant cultural capital. more down to earth, for example the gathering of bandits
at Liangshan in the Water Margin had nothing to do with
Texts and images of elegant gatherings show they could ‘elegance’. The boundaries between ‘elegance’ and
include not just male scholars, but also Buddhist monks, ‘vulgarity’ have thus always been very ambiguous. The
women, and children. Male literati of course, dominated surviving Chinese visual and material art, when praised by
politics, the economy, literature and art in Imperial China. later generations, will often still be praised for its ‘elegance’.
As mentioned earlier, their gatherings had clear political Probably we are longing for elegant people, and elegant
and cultural intentions. Most of the subjects of the elegant things in our hearts.
collections shown in this catalogue are mainly male

Lot 80 (detail)