Twelve Scenes of Water: A Pictorial Analysis of the Water Motif from the Tang (618-906) to the Yuan Dynasty (1271–1368) and Its Implications for Authenticity in Southern Song Landscape Painting

• Main Authors: José Alejandro Mora Alba, 朱曦程
• Other Authors: LIAO, HSIN-TIAN
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2018
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/bez8gy

碩士 === 國立臺灣藝術大學 === 中華藝術全英語碩士學位學程班 === 106 === Twelve Scenes of Water (Hua shier shuitu 畫十二水圖), as any other painting, is not merely the product of artistic prowess, but rather the result of complex intertwining factors ranging from politics to religion. However, before trying to establish these connections, it is necessary to assess its authenticity, which was settled in an attribution made by the scholar Li Dongyang 李東陽 (1447-1516) in the 15th century and thenceforth has not been revised in depth by modern scholarship. Through a close visual analysis of Twelve Scenes of Water and other works depicting water, spanning from the 6th to the 18th century, I intend to prove that the aforementioned series of paintings is a Ming dynasty forgery, as opposed to what Chinese art historians have unanimously accepted as Southern Song dynasty painting by Ma Yuan 馬遠 (ca. 1160-1225). This analysis is mainly based on the collection at the National Palace Museum in Taipei and to a lesser extent on major works in Beijing’s Palace Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Freer Sackler Gallery, and other institutions. This thesis aims to raise questions not only regarding the authenticity of Twelve Scenes of Water as a Song work, but will also resume the serious study of water as a motif–and more specifically the use of perspective in waterscapes–in Chinese painting started by Robert Maeda. The use of diminution of scale in the water motifs in order to convey an illusion of depth and recession of water will be the main aspect to differentiate Ming dynasty and later works from earlier paintings. Chapter 1 will set the basis for this study, starting with a definition of authenticity and Ma Yuan. The awareness of the scale-distance relation becomes crucial in the analysis of water in Chinese painting as we will see in the course of this thesis. I will also propose a timeline of development of the water motif–with an emphasis on the use of perspective– starting from the Tang dynasty and ending in the Yuan. With the survey of extant works by Ma Yuan, I will attempt to set tentative parameters to how the water in Ma Yuan’s paintings might have looked like. Chapter 2 will be fully devoted to the meticulous analysis of Twelve Scenes of Water, which will be divided in two parts: a visual study and traceability. The first part will thoroughly discuss the seals, motifs and inscriptions that are believed to have been part of the album leaves at the time of their creation. This visual analysis of the album leaves will emphasize the connection of the paintings with Ming dynasty painters since, as seen in Chapter 1, no Song dynasty or previous paintings parallel Twelve Scenes of Water more convincingly than later works. The subsequent part will encompass the elements that were added later, i.e. colophons, collector seals, as well as records of the scroll in catalogs and collections. The main objective of this analysis is to extract new information to establish a tentative list of owners and trace back Twelve Scenes of Water to its earliest known appearance. Chapter 3 will offer a similar analysis of a “copy” of Twelve Scenes of Water called Twenty Scenes of Water. Based on visual evidence of stylistically similar paintings, I will argue the possibility of dating Twenty Scenes of Water as a Qing dynasty work. The introduction and development of a more mathematically correct linear perspective will be discussed in order to support the new dating to Twenty Scenes of Water. The Zhe school and its connections to the complexity of the forgery problem regarding the study of Ma Yuan will be discussed in Chapter 4. The role of emperors and officials in the revival of the Ma-Xia style will also be explored. Finally, a possible author of Twelve Scenes of Water will be identified based on evidence in Twelve Scenes of Water.