Page 400 - Chinese Art, Vol II By Stephen W. Bushell

138 CHINESE ART. —
The Hsiian Ho Hua P'n was published in twenty books in the
second year (a.d. 1120) of the Hsiian Ho regnal period, the pre-
face being dated from the Hsiian Ho palace. It is the most im-
portant work of the kind that has come down to us, all the more
so as the pictures described were so soon to be destroyed or dis-
persed b}^ the invading Tartars, who sacked K'ai-feng-fu in the
year 1125. It includes the works of two hundred and thirty-one
painters, and gives altogether the titles of 6,192 of their picture
rolls, a comprehensive list of all the subjects of Chinese pictorial
art prior to the twelfth century. The artists are divided into ten
classes according to the particular branch of art in which each
artist individually excelled. These ten classes are :
1. Tao Shih, " Taoism and Buddhism," Books 1-4.—Taoism
ranked before Buddhism in the Sung dynasty, and included a
multitude of mythical figures, celestial and terrestrial, personifica-
tions of the current ideas of Chinese cosmogony. The Buddhist
pantheon was no less extensive, derived from Indian sources,
but occasionally adopting pre-existing native divinities into its
fold as Buddhist transformations. Aerial spirits (stun), and
terrestrial gnomes {kiiei), although not Taoist or Buddhist, are
included in this category ; and also deified persons such as Kuan
Ti, the official god of war, and Chung K'uei, the great queller of
malignant demons.
2. Jhi Wu, "Human Figures," Books 5-7.—This includes all
Idnds of figure subjects, with the exception of the religious pictures
just noticed and the ways of barbarians, which are relegated to
the fourth category to come presently. Confucianism and scenes
of ancient myth, historical subjects, pictures of famous statesmen,
generals, and virtuous women, bands of lady musicians {kii ch'in
shih nil), and illustrations of national manners and customs (t'ien
hsia ft'ng su) are some of the titles in the list. The comic element
is not entirely absent, being represented by drunken guests (tsui
k'o), ladies in summer undress {pi shu shih mi), bonzes caught in