Looking for Chinese Painting
Ben Jacobs-Swearingen
I would like it if I could get whatever information there may be
about a certain painting by Wu Ming Shi, called Ran2 Li2 Tu2. If this
painting is not striking any bells right off, it may help your memory if
you think about the painting which so disgusted Bao Yu in Chapter 5 of
Hong Lou Meng. As Qin Shi was leading him into her bedroom to experience a
somewhat decadent nirvana, he happened to see a painting extolling
Scholarly Diligence personified in the form of Liu Xiang, the philosopher
whose greatest contribution to scholarship perhaps was the authorship of a
treaty of the 5-elements (wu xing), which was written in an effort to
explain the dynastic change of a previous era. Pan Ku's later "History of
Early Han" was reportedly based on this treaty.
Thank You.
Best Regards,
Merry Xmas,
Ben Jacobs-Swearingen
7403...@compuserve.com
Andrew Werby
>To Whom it May Concern:
>
> I would like it if I could get whatever information there may be
>about a certain painting by Wu Ming Shi, called Ran2 Li2 Tu2. If this
>painting is not striking any bells right off, it may help your memory if
>you think about the painting which so disgusted Bao Yu in Chapter 5 of
>Hong Lou Meng.
[Ben refers to the classic Qing (formerly anglicized as "Ching") dynasty
novel by Cao Xueqin known in English as The Story of the Stone, or more
familiarly The Dream of the Red Chamber.]
As Qin Shi was leading him into her bedroom to experience a
>somewhat decadent nirvana, he happened to see a painting extolling
>Scholarly Diligence personified in the form of Liu Xiang, the philosopher whose greatest contribution to scholarship perhaps was th=
e authorship of a treaty of [treatise on] the 5-elements (wu xing), which was written in an effort to
>explain the dynastic change of a previous era. Pan Ku's later "History of
>Early Han" was reportedly based on this treaty.
> Thank You.
>
> Best Regards,
> Merry Xmas,
>
> Ben Jacobs-Swearingen
> 7403...@compuserve.com
[In my version, the philosopher is reading his book, lighted by a
flaming torch held by a supernatural being.(unspecified) A pair of
mottoes flanked the painting: "True learning implies a clear insight
into human activities" and ""Genuine culture involves the skillful
manipulation of human relationships". It was these sentiments, as much
as the painting itself, that Bao Yu found so distasteful. I am not sure
if the writing was on the painting itself or next to it. (Bao Yu's
taste ran more towards paintings of pretty ladies and double-entendre
verses)
The theory of the Five Elements was central to Chinese philosophy. In
its simplest form it resembles the children's game Ro-Cham-Beau (sp?)
:
Water produces wood but destroys fire
Fire produces earth but destroys metal
Metal produces water but destroys wood
Wood produces fire but destroys earth
Earth produces metal but destroys water.
The interaction of these forces was held to be responsible for the
course of human history, much as Europeans of the same era interpreted
the interactions of the stars and planets.
Do you think this painting actually existed? That it is still extant
somewhere? If you need to find out, then, short of a pilgrimmage to
China, perhaps the best course would be to open a correspondence with
the curators of a museum which handles such things, such as the Asian
Art Museum in San Francisco. Good luck...]
Andrew Werby - United Artworks