Painting Architecture: "Jiehua" in Yuan China, 1271–1368

217 Pages·2023·56.926 MB·English

by  Leqi Yu

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PAINTING ARCHITECTURE
Jiehua in Yuan China, 1271–1368
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“Architecture has been a subject of Chinese painting for two millennia, but has remained
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elusive. Painting Architecture explains the reasons as well as why the thirteenth and N
fourteenth centuries are pivotal. The book also translates the vast writings on architectural T
painting, places the paintings in historical context, and assesses the relation between the I
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paintings and actual buildings. The superior scholarship and original interpretation ensure
that paintings of architecture will be part of future discourse about Chinese painting.” G
—Nancy Steinhardt, professor, University of Pennsylvania
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“Focusing on the development of jiehua in the fourteenth century when the Mongols ruled
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China, Yu’s book raises issues beyond the field of painting history, including architectural
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history, aesthetics, and social-historical studies. It is a long-awaited contribution to a rarely
studied painting genre and an admirable accomplishment of multidisciplinary research on I
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Chinese art.”
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—Qianshen Bai, associate professor emeritus, Boston University
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In Painting Architecture: Jiehua in Yuan China, 1271–1368, Leqi Yu has conducted
comprehensive research on jiehua or ruled-line painting, a unique painting genre in R
fourteenth-century China. This genre relies on tools such as rulers to represent architectural E
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details and structures accurately. Such technical consideration and mechanical perfection 5m
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linked this painting category with the builder’s art, which led to Chinese elites’ belittlement
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and won Mongol patrons’ admiration. Yu suggests that painters in the Yuan dynasty ie
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made new efforts towards a unique modular system and an unsurpassable plain-drawing
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tradition. She argues that these two strategies made architectural paintings in the Yuan a

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dynasty entirely different from their predecessors, as well as making the art form extremely n

difficult for subsequent painters to imitate. Y
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Leqi Yu received her MA in the history of art from Williams College and her PhD in East Asian
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languages and civilizations from the University of Pennsylvania. She has held a Smithsonian h
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Institution history of art postdoctoral fellowship at the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. n
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Sackler Gallery and a postdoctoral fellowship at Renmin University of China. , PAINTING

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Cover image: Xia Yong’s Yellow Pavilion at the Met. 7
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© The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Source: Art Resource, New York. – ARCHITECTURE
Chinese Art / Chinese History / 1
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Chinese Painting / 6
Chinese Architecture 8
Jiehua in Yuan China, 1271–1368
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Y LEQI YU
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Printed and bound in Hong Kong, China
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Painting Architecture

Painting Architecture
Jiehua in Yuan China, 1271–1368
Leqi Yu
Hong Kong University Press
The University of Hong Kong
Pokfulam Road
Hong Kong
https://hkupress.hku.hk
© 2022 Hong Kong University Press
ISBN 978-988-8754-23-6 (Hardback)
All rights reserved. No portion of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in
any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, record-
ing, or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing
from the publisher.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Printed and bound by Hang Tai Printing Co., Ltd. in Hong Kong, China
To Shenghan Jiang and Yu Jiang

Contents
List of Illustrations viii
Acknowledgments xi
Introduction 1
The Concept of Jiehua 3
Why the Mongol Yuan? 17
Xia Yong: A Neglected Jiehua Master 19
1. Painting and Architecture 36
Dilemma: The Yellow Crane Tower or the Yellow Pavilion? 36
Modularity in Xia Yong’s Art 50
Utility and Artistry 71
2. Painting and Painter 83
Wang Zhenpeng and His Lineage 85
Baimiao: The Power of Ink and Line 92
Landscape in Jiehua: Late-Yuan Literati Style versus Northern
Song Li-Guo Style 102
3. Painting and Politics 112
Direct Appointments: Based on Emperors’ Interest in Complex
Constructions 112
Elegant Gatherings: The Interactions between Southern Scholars
and Northern Officials 122
Conclusion 126
The Professional Atelier: An Alternative Interpretation of
Xia Yong’s Jiehua 127
The Art Market: The Cultural Values of Buildings Painted 130
Notes 137
Bibliography 171
Index 191
Illustrations
Figures
0.1: Summer Palace of Emperor Ming Huang, attributed to Guo Zhongshu,
Yuan dynasty 2
0.2: Guo Zhongshu, Travelling on the River in Clearing Snow, Northern
Song dynasty 9
0.3: Drawing of the use of the jiehua devices 11
0.4: Xia Yong, Yueyang Pavilion, 1347, Beijing version 20
0.5: Xia Yong, Prince Teng Pavilion, Yuan dynasty, Shanghai version 24
0.6: Xia Yong, Yueyang Pavilion, Yuan dynasty, Yunnan version 27
0.7: Xia Yong, Yueyang Pavilion, Yuan dynasty, Beijing version 27
0.8: Xia Yong, Yueyang Pavilion, Yuan dynasty, Taipei version 29
0.9: Palace by the River, attributed to Xia Yong 30
0.10: Xia Yong, Tower Reflected in the Lake, Yuan dynasty, Beijing version 32
0.11: Xia Yong, Pavilion of Prosperity and Happiness, Yuan dynasty,
Shanghai version 34
1.1: Xia Yong, Yellow Pavilion, Yuan dynasty, New York version 37
1.2: The man-on-a-crane image from Yellow Pavilion (fig. 1.1) 39
1.3: The man-on-a-crane image from Yellow Pavilion (plate 2) 39
1.4: The image of the worshippers from Yellow Pavilion (plate 2) 39
1.5: The illustration of Shenliu jumu from a Ming-period woodblock-
printed book 42
1.6: Yellow Crane Tower, Yuan dynasty, Guangdong version 45
1.7: Xia Yong, Tower Reflected in the Lake, Yuan dynasty, Harvard version 48
1.8: Master image from Tower Reflected in the Lake (fig. 1.7) 50
1.9: Xia Yong, Yueyang Pavilion, Yuan dynasty, Washington version 52
1.10: A section from Yueyang Pavilion (fig. 1.9) 53
Illustrations ix
1.11: A section from Yueyang Pavilion (fig. 0.4) 54
1.12: Xia Yong, Prince Teng Pavilion, Yuan dynasty, Washington version 55
1.13: Qiu Ying, a leaf in Album of Replicas of Song Paintings, Ming dynasty 56
1.14: Roof ornaments from the Front Gate of the Liao-period Dule
Monastery 60
1.15: Roof ornaments from Daxiongbao Hall of the Jin-dynasty Huayan
Monastery 60
1.16: Roof ornaments from Sanqing Hall of the Yuan-period Yongle
Daoist Monastery 61
1.17: A section of the Yuan-period mural painting A Scene of Lü Dongbin’s
Miraculous Feat from the Yongle Daoist Monastery 62
1.18: A section from the Prince Teng Pavilion (plate 4) 63
1.19: Li Song, Watching the Tide on a Moonlit Night, Southern Song
dynasty 64
1.20: The front elevation of a six-tier cluster from Yingzao fashi 65
1.21: A section from Emperor Huizong, Auspicious Cranes, Northern
Song dynasty 66
1.22: A section from Zhang Zeduan, Going up the River on the Qingming
Festival, Northern Song dynasty 67
1.23: A section from Yang Guifei Mounting a Horse, Southern Song
dynasty 68
1.24: A section from Li Song, Retiring from Court, Southern Song
dynasty 69
1.25: A section from Dragon Boat Regatta on Jinming Lake, attributed to
Wang Zhenpeng, Yuan dynasty 69
1.26: Yangshi Lei, Drawing for the Qing Mausoleums Dingdongling 73
1.27: Wang Hui Chuan’s drawing of Selling Ink at Wuchang (plate 3) 75
1.28: The West Lake Map from the Song block-printed Xianchun
Lin’an zhi 76
1.29: Xia Yong, Pavilion of Prosperity and Happiness, Yuan dynasty,
Beijing version 77
1.30: A section from Li Cheng, A Solitary Temple Amid Clearing Peaks,
Northern Song dynasty 81
2.1: Tang Di, Prince Teng Pavilion, 1352 84
2.2: Dragon Boat Regatta on Jinming Lake, after Wang Zhenpeng,
Yuan dynasty 93
2.3: Li Song, Retiring from Court, Southern Song dynasty 94