Page 16 - Bonhams, The H Collection, Classical Chinese Furniture, May 13, 2021 London

Obsessions:

The Late Ming Literati Passion for Collecting

Dr. Edward Luper

Despite the many political and economic problems that This late Ming craze for obsession was closely linked to a
afflicted the government of the late Ming period (roughly valorisation of qing (情), variously translated as ‘passion’, ‘love’,
1550 to 1644), it was an ebullient time of intellectual ferment ‘emotion’, ‘feelings’ etc. In the English language, there is the
and cultural flowering before the dynasty’s catastrophic traditional dichotomy of one who is ruled by the heart (i.e.
collapse. A sense of joy and stylishness permeated emotional, irrational, impulsive etc), or ruled by the head (logical,
its culture: it was a time of religious and philosophical rational, sane etc.) However, the heart (xin 心) in the Chinese
eclecticism that saw the flourishing of reformist schools classical tradition, was understood as the site both of mental
of Buddhism and wide-scale philanthropy, along with and emotional processes: thinking and feeling were not distinct.
the expansion of education for women; penetrating
investigations of the concept of individualism and a broad- According to the hugely influential teachings of Wang Yangming
based examination of the grounds for moral action; bold (1472-1529), Wang Gen (1483-1541) and the Taizhou school,
experiments in ink painting; the creation of several of China’s knowledge of the good was innate, we simply had to listen
most celebrated operatic dramas and most powerful novels; carefully to the inner voice that would direct us to moral action.
the codification of aesthetics and taste; and a flourishing art Wang Gen, originally a salt merchant not a Confucian scholar,
market with collectors who indulged fully and obsessively had a vision and took this teaching one step further and argued
in their passions. Indeed, by the 16th century, collecting that since knowledge of the good was innate, everyone had
and obsession had become a sine qua non, something a the potential to be a sage. It did not matter if they were rich or
gentleman could not afford to do without. poor, aristocrat or commoner, man or woman, scholar or not.
These teachings would have far reaching cultural implications
I) Obsession: The Cult of ‘Passion’ as scholars focused on issues of the self and authenticity. To
be in touch with the ‘heart-mind’, was to be in touch with an
The concept of obsession (pi 癖) had penetrated deeply authentic voice guiding one to correct moral action. In other
all aspects of literati life in the late Ming period. Zhang words, what the heart desired, was good.
Dai (1597-1689) wrote that ‘one cannot befriend a man
without obsessions for he lacks deep emotion; nor can Obsession – apart from being excessive and single-
one befriend a man without faults, for he lacks sensitivity.’ minded - was particularly associated with collecting and
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He was not alone. Yuan Hongdao (1568-1610) wrote that ‘I connoisseurship. Although, eleventh century intellectuals such
have observed that in this world, all those whose words are as Su Dongpo (1037-1101) and Mi Fu (1051-1107) had already
insipid and whose appearance is detestable are men without argued that obsessions – such as for collecting rocks, books,
obsessions.’ In the preface to the 16th century Brief History or ancient bronzes - were valuable as an outlet for personal
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of Obsession and Lunacy (Pidian xiaoshi) it is written that fulfilment; by the 16th century, obsession and collecting as
‘everyone has a predilection; this gets called obsession. a vehicle for self-expression became the dominant mode.
The signs of obsession resemble folly and madness…the The traditional understanding of the function of poetry, that
gentleman worries only about having no obsession.’ it ‘speaks of what is intently on the mind’, had long spread to
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other arts such as painting, music and calligraphy; now this
was extended to cover virtually any activity.

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