1.0 Introduction

Due to the difference in patronage from court painting, the production of Pi-ling paintings continued for several hundred years, unaffected by political events or by changes in rulers or dynasties. Just as Suzhou gained fame for its silk, and Ningbo for Buddhist paintings, so too Pi-ling became famous for its plant and insect paintings in color. From the Sung dynasty until the Ming, writers have immortalized the unique beauty of Pi-ling paintings, praising their subjects and colors as wonderful and marvelous creations under heaven (Weng, 1978).

The Pi-ling school specialized in flower, plant, and insect painting, with recognizable characteristics, which can be distinguished from the general current of bird-and-flower painting in China. This region’s artistic tradition will be examined in this paper, in order to facilitate a better understanding not only of many artists’ interest in flower painting but also of the distinctive features of the Pi-ling school which helped to shape the artists’ personal style.

2.0 The Emergence Pi-ling School of Painting

Many factors—geographic, economic, and artistic—determined both the emergence and continuity of the Pi-ling school of painting. Geographically, Pi-ling’s ideal location in the Chiangnan region was conducive, to the development of flower, plant, and insect painting. Situated south of the Yangtze River, it was a balmy and moist region with numerous lakes, fertile soil, abundant growths of flora and fauna.

Countless species of bamboo, flowers, plants, trees, vegetables, birds, fishes, and insects grew there and their diverse shapes and colors providing a rich source of inspiration for painters. It should be recalled that Hsu Hsi, the great Five Dynasties painter of flowers, birds, plants, and insects, came from the Chiangnan region, namely Nanking, which is about fifty miles north of Pi-ling (Yonezawa, 1966).

Pi-ling’s special location along the Grand Canal may have been another important factor in the longevity of the Pi-ling school of painting. Like Hangzhou , Suzhou, and Yangzhou, Pi-ling was a thriving center of commerce. Its manufactured items included cotton, silk, hemp, vases, fans, brushes, wooden and bamboo wares, lamps, and wine, among other things (Yonezawa, 1966).

The early establishment of the Pi-ling school, therefore, is related to the prosperity of Pi-ling and nearby towns, which had many affluent families who could afford to acquire and appreciate paintings. Indeed, while a few Pi-ling painters, such as Wu Ping (active late twelfth century) and Sun Lung (active fifteenth century), became court painters, most of them served the aesthetic needs of individuals. As a result, they developed a unique style of painting. Unlike the courtly style of bird-and-flower painting, they did not depict rare or auspicious subjects (Shimada and Yonezawa, 1952)

The Pi-ling school, however, could not have been established if there had not been a founder or a group of painters who first layed a strong foundation in Pi-ling. Although the lack of definite information makes it difficult to determine who was instrumental in establishing the tradition of plant and insect painting in Pi-ling, Shimada and Yonezawa (1952) has speculated that the painter Chu-ning (active Northern Sung dynasty) was the patriarch of the Pi-ling school of grass and insect painting.

3.0 The Development of School

Among the Pi-ling painters who were active during the Sung dynasty, only a few can be studied with some certainty, because of a dearth of extant works. Hsu Ti is one of these rare painters whose name is associated with the painting, “Insects and a Cabbage Plant” (Fig. 1), currently preserved in the National Palace Museum of Taipei. Very little is known about Hsu Ti. He was a Pi-ling painter active during the Southern Sung period, painted grass and insects in bright and beautiful colors, and is said to have followed Chu-ning (Shimada and Yonezawa, 1952).

Fig. 1 “Insects and a Cabbage Plant,” by Hsu Ti

(http://www.npm.gov.tw/english/exhbition/epai0624/selec03_0.htm)

The unique features of the Pi-ling school are immediately recognizable in the humble subjects consisting of a cabbage and a few insects: a dragonfly, grasshopper, and butterfly. The composition is simple and easy to read. The central motif, the cabbage, is slightly to the left of the center of the painting, with insects surrounding it. The work suggests an unpretentious rendering of nature. No attempt has been made to perfect nature, as some cabbage leaves show borders eaten away by insects, while another leaf is broken off. Interest in naturalistic colors also plays a major role in Pi-ling painting.

The cabbage leaves were painted in fresh green color, with their bases and arteries in white. The bright intensity of the colors conform to the colors of subjects in nature. Harmonizing with the cabbage are the white butterfly and the green grasshopper, while the black dragonfly adds a bright accent to the general color scheme of the painting. All the forms were painted in a descriptive and realistic manner, portraying their natural appearance accurately.

Although differing in subject matter, Hsu Ti’s painting exhibits qualities that link it to the mainstream of Southern Sung court painting, especially the interest in foreshoretening and emphasis on foreground. The placement of the foreshortened cabbage near the picture plane, with its leaves spreading out into various directions, suggests an illusion of space around the vegetable. Moreover, both the dragonfly and the butterfly are foreshortened to suggest their existence in space. In addition to the artist’s spatial concept, there is an interest in nature’s forces such as the wind, a feature not found in all of bird-and-flower painting of the Southern Sung period (Yonezawa, 1966).

Hsu Ti’s work represents the distinctive regional characteristics of the Pi-ling school: neither courtly nor scholarly, it falls in the middle ground. Like scholar- and monk-painters, Pi-ling artists preferred ordinary subjects found in nature; however, these artists, lacking a scholarly background arid painting for a living, used colors to render descriptive forms. Thus their works depend entirely on colors, without ink brushwork, producing decorative images that are easy to apprehend (Shimada and Yonezawa, 1952).

With its unique artistic tradition, the Pi-ling school gained renown. From time to time, its talented artists became court painters or were summoned to the imperial palace to paint there for some time. Wu Ping, a Pi-ling artist of the Southern Sung period, is a case in point. He must have been a talented painter, for he entered the Imperial Academy as a court painter during the Emperor Kuang-tsung’s reign (1190-1194).

Wu Ping’s position thus differed from that of other Pi-ling painters, since he had to meet certain aesthetic standards of the court. Thus not all of Wu Ping’s works can be considered purely in the context of the Pi-ling school. In fact, literary descriptions of Wu Ping reveal that he often painted birds and flowers rather than plants and insects. Yet he cannot be dismissed here, because a painter such as Wu Ping probably contributed appreciably to enhancing the prestige and fame of the Pi-ling school.

“Bamboo and Insects,” a small fan by Wu Ping (Fig. 2), clearly illustrates Wu’s association with the Pi-ling school. It depicts a few branches of bamboo with insects around them: a dragonfly hovers at the lift side, while a wasp, at the right. A grasshopper perches on bamboo leaves at the lower right of the painting. All are everyday subjects unique to the Pi-ling school. While the subject and the spatial concept of this work bear a strong affinity to Hsu Ti’s painting, there are also differences. Unlike Hsu Ti, Wu Ping used both color and ink to render the forms.

Fig. 2 “Bamboo and Insects,” by Wu Ping

(http://www.clevelandart.org/art/1964.154)

The bamboo, for instance, were outlined in ink lines and filled in with green and white pigments; and the insects were painted entirely in ink by varying its tonal range. The transparency of the ink conveys a successful impression of the delicate nature of the insects. The thin bamboo branch seen through the transparent wings of the dragonfly is especially masterful. Although the extent of Wu Ping’s scholarly education is not clear, Wu Ping clearly was a painter who had familiarity with the use of ink. Wu Ping’s use of ink distinguishes him from other professional artists of Pi-ling (Goepper, 1966).

Although technically different from Hsu Ti’s painting, this work shows an affinity to other works of the Southern Sung period in its spatial concept. The placement of the foreshortened forms on-the picture plane create clearly readable images of nature. The stillness of the subject, however, does not suggest any evidence of natural forces. Wu Ping’s work represents a unique synthesis of the courtly style and Pi-ling’s regional style, for which he probably gained fame at the Southern Sung court (Goepper, 1966)

4.0 Innovative Currents During Ming Dynasty

Although the Mongol rule of China in the Yuan dynasty greatly changed the main current of Chinese bird-and-flower painting, the Pi-ling school seems to have experienced little change. This was due to the status of the Pi-ling painters; as minor professional artists, they were neither court painters nor literati painters. As a result, the Pi-ling school was able to continue producing paintings of flowers, plants, and insects, unaffected by political events of the time. Unfortunately, both literary and pictorial materials from this period are too scarce to form a satisfying picture of this school during the Yuan dynasty (Cahill, 1978).

Although no noteworthy development took place in Pi-ling painting during the Yuan dynasty, paintings of flower, plant, and insect themes continued to be produced in the Ming dynasty, indicating that a strong tradition had been established in Pi- ling. Work by one artist of this period, Sun Lung (active fifteenth century), represents innovative current of the Pi-ling school during the Ming dynasty.

Like Wu Ping, Sun Lung was a court painter, who painted not in the style of contemporary Pi-ling professional artists but in a distinctive personal style, thus revitalizing the Pi-ling school and enhancing the school’s fame. During the Hung-chih (??) reign (1488-1505), Sun Lung became a court painter; hence he was a contemporary of Lin Liang and Lu Chi. Moreover, Sun Lung had some contact with scholar-painters of his time, as evidenced by inscriptions of Yao Shou (1423-1495), an early Ming literati-painter, which appear on Sun Lung’s works. His wider circle of acquaintances no doubt enabled Sun Lung to study a broad range of artistic styles than did the professional artists of Pi-ling, facilitating the artist’s development of a personal style (Cahill, 1978, pp. 125-28).

Sun Lung’s “Flowers, Rocks, and Goose” (Fig. 3) is a fine example of his style, which bears little resemblance to both the style of contemporary Pi-ling painters and that of court painters. Although the painting depicts ordinary subjects found in nature, it does not emphasize representational or descriptive qualities. The harmonies of warm and naturalistic color washes create a casual and fresh impression of the images of nature. With its emphasis on casual brushwork, Sun Lung’s painting is consonant with the works of Lin Liang. Thus the forms are neither foreshortened nor placed in deep space.

The airy and soft impression of natural images in Sun’s work departs strongly from the meticulous style of contemporary Pi- ling artists. The transparency and tonal range of Sun’s colors indicate the artist’s familiarity with the expressive capacity of sensitive brush. Sun Lung’s artistic allegiance to the Pi-ling school is more apparent in his albums depicting a variety of plant and insect themes. To the stock repertory of subjects found in traditional Pi-ling paintings—butterfly, dragonfly, grasshopper, and bee—Sun Lung added the shrimp, the frog, and the cicada, all of which grow abundantly in the warm Chiangnan region (Cahill, 1978, pp. 136-37).

Fig. 3 “Flowers, Rocks, and Goose,” by Sun Lung

(http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sun_Long_-_Swimming_Goose_by_Flowers_and_Rocks.jpg)

These subjects are all arranged without a calculated rhythm, recalling other Pi-ling paintings such as “Insects and a Cabbage Plant” (Fig. 1). In his works, Sun Lung likewise rejected descriptive and realistic depictions of forms, preferring instead a casual and free mode of painting. Sun Lung’s color washes, especially wet in album leaves depicting sceneries with water, create an atmospheric effect to suggest the moist and humid climate in which flora and fauna grow. With its casual and schematic qualities, Sun Lung’s brushwork conveys expressive vitality independent of forms depicted (Barnhart, 1997). In his works, then, the artist used the new brushwork of his contemporaries to depict subjects closely associated with his native region.

5.0 Conclusion

Unlike the scholarly style of painting, Pi-ling artists lacked the use of ink monochrome brushwork. In general, they were minor professional painters without scholarly background, who painted decorative works of common subjects in color. Although a full picture of the Pi-ling school cannot be formed at the present time, the paintings discussed above indicate a rich tradition in Pi-ling district. The school consisted of minor professional artists who executed decorative and unpretentious paintings of flowers, plants, and insects in bright and naturalistic colors.

Yet there were also a few well-known artists who helped to revitalize the local school and to introduce new stylistic elements from the mainstream of Chinese painting. With such a tradition in Pi-ling, it is not surprising that this heritage offered sources of inspiration for painters of the Ch’ing dynasty. Suffice it to say that the local artistic legacy continued to exert a strong influence on Pi-ling painters. It is hardly surprising, then, that some painters were strongly indebted to the artistic tradition of Pi-ling school.

6.0 List of References

Barnhart, R. M. et al. 1997. Three thousand years of Chinese painting. New Haven. Yale University Press

Cahill, James. 1978. Parting At The Shore: Chinese Painting of the Early and MidcTle Ming Dynasty, 1360-1558. New York. Weatherhill; 1st edition

Goepper, Roger. 1963. The Essence of Chinese Painting. Translated by Michael Bullock, London.

Shimada, Shujirö and Yonezawa, Yoshiho. 1952. Paintings of the Sung and Yilan Dynasties. Tokyo.

Weng, Wan-go. 1978. Chinese Painting and Calligraphy. New York.

Yonezawa, Yoshio. 1966. Flower and Bird Painting of the Sung Dynasty. Translated by S. Miyamoto. London.

Frankel, G, 2007, Paper-Cuts. In M. Berenbaum & F. Skolnik (eds.), Encyclopaedia Judaica

Detroit: Macmillan Reference.

Mullen, N, 2005, Chinese Folk Arts, Festivals, and Symbolism in Everyday Life. California:

Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology.

U China Visa, 2011, China Paper Cuts, JianZhi. [online] Available at: http://www.uchinavisa.com/chinese-paper-cuts.html [Accessed 14 May 2015].

New year cheer: ring in the New Year with crafts that celebrate the snow, bring a message of

peace, and inspire dreams of the future, 2002, Instructor, 112 (1), pp. 16-20.

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