| dc.description.abstract | Painting Poems of Non-official Painters Leading Secluded Lives During the Late Song to Early Yuan Dynasties
Abstract
This thesis discusses the painting poetry of four non-official painters leading secluded lives in the Song and Yuan dynasty, including Zheng Sixiao（1241~1318）, Ma Zhen（1254~？）, Gong Kai（1222~1307）, and Qian Xuan（1239~1301）. It also discusses how they display “the meaning of painting” through their poems on figures riding on horses, landscape, birds and flowers and plants.
In chapter 1, the definition of “non-official painters leading secluded lives” is drawn, followed by the development of “painting poetry” and contemporary poetry style. The lives of the four main poets are presented from chapters 2 to 5, in addition to a focus on the individual styles of the painting poems of Zheng Sixiao, Ma Zhen, Gong Kai, and Qian Xuan.
Chapter 2 is divided into “Yibai ershi tu shiji (Poems on 120 Paintings)” and other painting poems of Zheng Sixiao. “Poems on 120 Paintings” is a means to study how Zheng Sixiao creates this series of paintings and poems in terms of the materials he selects and the gist he is trying to convey. The second section discusses painting poems from “Xin shi” and painting poems on the orchid, bamboo and chrysanthemum.
Ma Zhen’s work is discussed in chapter 3. Painting poems on landscape are discussed in terms of how emotion and ambition are expressed through describing the natural scenery. The rest of the chapter is in three parts: poems on other painters’ works, poems on descriptions of traveling and the painting process, and finally, poems with unique perspectives from the view of portraying individuals, history and objects.
Eleven poems of Gong Kai are discussed in chapter 4, including poems portraying horses, “The Zhongshan Outing”, character-oriented poems such as “The Portraits of Su [Shi] and Huang [Tingjian]”, and poems on other painters’ art.
The works of Qian Xuan are discussed in chapter 5, including poems on landscape, poems on flowers, birds, and vegetables, poems on characters, history, events and objects. For poems on landscape, the painter’s emotion is revealed through topics such as life in the mountains, waiting for the ferry, gorgeous “gold and green” landscape, and gazing at Mt. Bian after the snow has cleared.
Poems about flowers, birds and vegetables fall into three categories: three pictures of birds and flowers, three pure flowers, and finally, autumn melons and eggplants. The last section of this chapter discusses how Qian Xuan expresses his emotion and ideas in painting poems by themes related to characters, history criticism, events and object descriptions.
Chapter 6 is a concluding chapter, and points out the painters’ pursuit of
“the Tang dynasty model and a return to antiquity”, the painters’ spirit of seclusion, the application and innovation of poems on objects, and the establishment of the lofty position of Chinese literati painting.
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