Wn-shu and P'u-hsien. Chinese Wood-Block Prints of the Wan-li Era Author(s): Robert Treat Paine, Jr.

Source: Artibus Asiae, Vol. 24, No. 2 (1961), pp. 87-91 Published by: Artibus Asiae Publishers Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3249273 Accessed: 23/10/2010 22:28
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ROBERT TREAT PAINE, JR.

WRN-SHU
CHINESE WOOD-BLOCK

AND P'U-HSIEN
PRINTS OF THE WAN-LI ERA

able in several ways (fig. i, z). The prints are Chinese and dated 1578. The techniqueis worth noting, the subject matter is very unusual, and for wood-block prints the size is extra-

of FineArts,Bostonz, is remarkwood-block printsin the Museum pair, of hand-colored

ordinary. The prints portray Wen-shu and P'u-hsien, the Buddhist figures who usually accompany Sakyamuni.The title of the print on the right is given as "The BodhisattvaMafijuiricoming down from the mountain"and that of the print on the left as "The BodhisattvaSamantabhadra coming down from the mountain". Such iconographicaltreatments are not easily found in dictionariesof Buddhist icons. A famous painting by Liang K'ai (formerlyin the collection of Count Sakai) depicts Shaka coming down from the mountain, which is iconographicallycorrect. The writer can add nothing on this confusing point except to speculatethat in Ming times the persons of Wen-shu and P'u-hsien were so closely identified with Shih-chia (Sakyamuni) that they could be representedin this way as a pair without him. The type of drawing recalls such a painting as the unsigned Daruma of K6gaku-ji temples, where a broadly treated, richly curving line, with many changes from thick to thin, dominates the portrayal.In both prints and painting the figures occupy the largerpart of the picturearea, and lack any suggestion of backgroundand any detailed decoratingof costume. The unknown artist of the Wen-shuand P'u-hsienprintspossessesa line which seems related to the works of Yen Hui of the Ytian dynasty. Yet the line lacks the virtuosity and realistic intent of the line of that artistand in a way seems closer to a less originaland more conservative tradition- a traditionwhich obviously persistedinto the late Ming period. Almost no useful information is supplied by the inscriptions on the prints. On the upper part of the print of Wen-shu, apartfrom the genuine old title, are a hand-writteninscriptionon the left and a seal in the center, but both are later interpolations.The seal reads: "K'uei-chang Ko Pao, treasuredin the lecture hall of the Han-linYiUan." The faked inscriptionsays: "In the fifth or chi-mao year of Chih-yiUan [1339] on the auspiciousmouch'inday in the eleventh month the former Historiographerof the K'uei-changKo Hall and Expositor in the Han-lin College, [who held] the second grade of the second rank, the Scholarand Compilerof State Histories, purifiedhimself and respectfullymade this offering." Yti-chi[1272-1348]
They bear museum registration numbers 55.988 for the Wen-shu and 55.989 for the P'u-hsien. They were given to the Boston Museum in 1955 by the writer, who bought them in Japan about 1931 through the kindness of Sadajir6 Yamanaka.

3 Vol. I, p. 131 of Tdisgenmim Meiga Taikan, T6ky6, i929.

87

is genuine.The only None of this needs commentas neitherthe seal nor the inscription with is thatthefakerdidnot thinkthatthe date1339wasinconsistent possiblepointof interest the style. on the printof P'u-hsien aregenuine.The text at the bottomrightstates The inscriptions of the GreatChou yearof Tso-hsiang[thereignof PrinceHsiang] (fig. 3): "Inthe twenty-ninth Thiswas Yen Hui [514-483 B.C.] burntincense and respectfullywrote an inscription. dynasty of Miendistrict[Shensi]. of Shensi, anda pettychieftain a guardof Han-chung, seenby a captain to the eastof the YellowRivernearHuang-sha Ch'AnHsiu,a pettyofficial livingin Hsiu-ch'iao in the thirty-third this. [15554] [a town to the eastof Miendistrict], reprinted yearof Chia-ching in of name of Buddhist monks The Kiangsi, the Ming Ming-hsi Hung-tu [the Nan-ch'ang, of for and ancient name Suchou]printedit again.In the dynasty] Chen-yiian Wu-chtin[an the believer,Tung Chou, sixth year of Wan-li [1578]on an auspiciousday in mid-winter it." andpublished happily dispensed[money] it is interesting In this inscription to notethe inclusion of the nameof Yen Hui,the favorite tells moreaboutthe fateof BudThis bit of apocryphal discipleof Confucius. history-making dhismin the Mingdynasty thanit does aboutBuddhist image-making. A partof the textthatperhaps is theuse of the wordstranslated needsclarification "reprintcut In wordsit or ed" and "printed means character The "k'an" engrave. compound again". can meanto cut on stone,in which casethe idea of engraving which upon stone- a medium it More to cut on the means of a is usually subsequently taking rubbing possible. permitted in partby wood andhenceto print.Thatthe lattermeaning is herethe morelikelyis indicated andthecolor into a corner of thepicture itself.It is squeezed theprinted of Wen-shu, inscription thisarea of the ink appears darkas thoughrelatively hadbeenusedin printing greater pressure cracks wereused. horizontal As will be explained thanelsewhere. later,joinedblocksrevealing cannotbe tracedacrossthe writingof the Herea crack, visiblein the two central lotusflowers, In contrast, indicated acrossthe word"hsiang" the topmostcrackis clearly (image), inscription. in the title of the print. i. e. withoutthe inFor thesereasonsit appears possiblethat the designsof the pictures, couldgo backto the printingmentioned in 1554or at leastto thateditionbrought scriptions, out by the monksMing-hsiandChen-yuian. It is perhaps thatthe lattermonkcame significant fromSuchou,one of the centersof good printingin China in the Mingdynasty. about465/," by 24 %".Suchan area The singlesheetsof paperusedfor the printsmeasure out by carried at once suggeststhatthesepictures an ideafurther for paintings, aresubstitutes The printedareafrom top to bottom the simplebrushline and the strong hand-coloring. and measures havebeenimpracticable, about39".Wood blocksof this sizewouldundoubtedly on some of the broadly carefulexamination showshorizontal jointswhichare most apparent anuneventonein the inking. drawn lineswherea slightwarping of the blockproduced bendof the staff In the Wen-shu printthe firstbreakoccursat the bottomof the horizontal withinthe halo. The next is throughthe hairof the Bodhisattva, just a little above the bald crownof his head.Another breakcomesslightlybelowthe chin.An easilyperceived horizontal breakcanbe foundin the heavyoutlineon the rightsidejustbelowthe top level of the hairof fromthe top a littlebelowthe animal's chest.Measuring the lion. Finally,a jointcanbe traced
88

Fig. i

The Bodhisattva Mafiju'ri. Chinese print, Ming Dynasty Museumof Fine Arts, Boston

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Chinese print, dated The Bodhisattva Samantabhadra. 5578 Museumof Fine Arts, Boston

Fig. 3 Inscription on the Samantabhadraprint

of the title panel to the last break, which is a little under 5" from the bottom of the print, the intervals measure 3 ? ", 4", 6", 9 ? ", and Io" respectively. Similarly,in the print of P'u-hsien there are breaks at the following levels: a break just above the eyebrows, about 8" from the top of the P'u character;a break some 9 Y?" lower, across the elephant's back; another 8 3/4 " below this, which cuts across the design at the level of the lowest of the elephant'sthree tusks; and finallya break9" lower still which cuts across the two centrallotus flowers some 5" above the bottom edge of the paper. The carversof the wood blocks went to great pains to obscure the joints in their fine lines for the hair of divinity or beast. Where the wood has warped, however, the print in spite of hand-coloring cannot conceal the tell-tale joints of the blocks. Perhapsin the first edition of these prints the joints would not have been as apparentas in these which bear the date of 578. The actual chisel marks of the gouges used to cut away the backgroundwood have left traces in both prints. In general these supposedly blank parts are more lightly inked than the key-block itself, but on the other hand it must be pointed out that no attempt seems to have been made to do away with these traces entirely. The technique,which sought to be so careful in the drawing of the finest lines of hair on adjoiningblocks, is carefreeabout the treatmentof the blank background.The "finish"which occurs in prints of a later period is lacking. The coloring also reveals the hand of a colorist who was not very careful about details. Both saintswear robes colored along the edges in a strong and deep blue. The majorpart of the robe of Wen-shu is a dull pink, that of P'u-hsien a warm gray. In both a pink outline is superimposed over the outline drawing of the flesh. Their haloes are outlined in blue, adjacentto which is a soft tone of pink. A golden glow is createdby a wash of yellow above the heads of the gods. The lion's face is blue with dabs of red for nostrils and snout. The hair for its head and the outer parts of its body is orange-red,but the more centralmass of the body is painted green. In the print of P'u-hsien the scroll and elephant are white, while pink is used for the animal's ears, the undersideof its trunk, and the soles of its feet. Chinesewood-block prints on this scale are otherwiseunknown to the writer. The Wen-shu and P'u-hsienof 1578 help to fill in the history of the art of printing in Chinain the latter part of the Ming dynasty. They also reveal that Buddhist art in China had not yet deterioratedto the making of merely fussy icons.

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