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LIFE OF A CHINESE COURTESAN: MA SHOUZHEN (1548-1604)

Article  in  Aziatische Kunst · July 2008

DOI: 10.1163/25431749-90000118

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LIFE OF A CHINESE COURTESAN
Monica Merlin

LIFE OF A CHINESE COURTESAN: MA SHOUZHEN (1548-1604)1

“I passed my childhood at the river banks, not knowing any sorrows —

But now the storms and rains have brought the autumn chili to Ch’in-huai.
I dare not turn my head again to roods of old along the dykes.
The trees are thin, the sun is low, and I am in a public house.**2

In China during the late Ming period the Southern Capital Nanjing, also
called Jinling, experienced a period of new growing urbanity. This included
the flowering of trade with Southern regions, a general increasing of wealth
and commerce of luxuiy items, the development of printing and the spreading
of books which generally helped to enhance the literacy of people including
women. Moreover, Nanjing was the place of the most famous pleasure
quarters of the period, which were placed along the river Qinhuai in the heart
of the city. There in a lively atmosphere prostitutes, courtesans, singing girls
and boys were performing to entertain men of any social level. Elite courtesans,
which were the highest class of sexual workers, were women well educated in
order to be intellectually and artistically engaging for officials and literati.
This was mainly due to the fact that during the Ming time the imperial
examination took place in the Tribute Hall of Nanjing every three years and
thereby the connection between courtesans and literati was particularly
strong. However, this relation goes back to the Tang period (618-907),3 when
courtesanship began to flourish in the ancient capita! of Chang’an (today
Xi’an).4

Ma Shouzhen (1548-1604) was a charming courtesan living in the

entertainment quarters of Nanjing. At the age of fifteen, she was officially
introduced to the Nanjing courtesan scene by the well known poet and
calligrapher Peng Nian (1505-1566).5 Also known as Ma Xianglan (Ma Orchid
of the Xiang River), she was trained in dancing and singing in order to
become a high range professional entertainer or singing girl (geji).

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0 Notwithstanding the relevance of Ma’s performance as a geji, in order to be
considered an elite courtesan, she had to be a fully fledged artist, thereby
educated in ‘the three perfections’ of the Chinese tradition: poetry,
calligraphy and painting.6

Ma Shouzhen is recorded in Chinese sources as one of the most famous

courtesan-artists of the Ming times. She was, and still is, known as a painter
skilled in depicting orchids, and principally celebrated for her peculiar style of
‘double-outline’ technique.7 She started to paint very early and throughout
her career she “achieved considerable, even international, renown”.8 Her first
dated extant painting is from 1566 when she was eighteen: it is a hand-scroll
painted in ink on paper representing orchid, bamboo and rock (fig.1).9 This is
a perfect example of her favourite subject matters, especially orchids.10

A very fine instance of Ma Shouzhen's art is the painting in the collection of

the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam (fig.2). It is a paper hanging-scroll acquired
by the museum in 1990. It is depicted in monochrome ink and representing a
rock with bamboo and orchids. The composition is well balanced as the
vertical lines of the lower part are in equilibrium with the diagonal lines of the
bamboo in the upper part. On the one hand, as evident in this example, Ma’s
elegant style for orchids follows the manner of Zhao Mengjian (1199-1267), a
famous painter of the Yuan dynasty (fig.3). On the other hand, as shown in
figure 4, her style in bamboo resembles the way of the woman artist Guan
Daoshen (1262-1319), the wife of the celebrated Yuan master Zhao Mengfu
(1254-1322). In so doing Ma Shouzhen decided to follow the visuality of
Chinese painting probably in order to become part of the same tradition and
be therefore recognized by others as such.

The inscription on the painting is in kaishu (regular script) calligraphy and

was written by Ma probably at the time of the production of the scroll.11 It
says that it was painted in a water pavilion along the river Qinhuai for Sir
Figure i Jingzhai (Jingzhai xiansheng mingchui yu qinhuai shuige). Ma, who signed as
Ma Shouzhen, Colored Lady Xianglan (Xianglan nüshi Ma Shouzhen), clearly dedicated the scroll to
fungus, Orchids, Jingzhai which could be the nickname of Lei Jian,12 a Ming poet and
Bamboo and Rocks,
calligrapher originally from the province of Fujian. As typical of the Chinese
1566, ink and color on
paper, handscroll (26.5
painting tradition, all around the painting there are six colophons written by
x 229.5 cm)> 'n: later collectors and other artists who came in contact with the painting.
Weidner, Views from By reading Ma Shouzhen’s paintings it is possible to identify her social
Jade Terrace, 1988. connections as well as the function of her artistic activity. Interpreting her

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0
Figure 2
Ma Shouzhen, Orchid
and Bamboo, ink on
paper, hanging scroll
(121.8 x 31.8 cm),
Rijksmuseum Amster­
dam, E 24-025.

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 19

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Figure 3
Zhao Mengjian,
Orchids, Detail of a
hand-scroll (34 x 91 cm),
in: Zhongguo gudai
shuhua tumu, vol. 19,
1-401.
paintings as a means for establishing social ties that could possibly enhance
her position, sheds a new light on Ma’s work that could not be grasped in any
other way. Moreover it tightly links her biography to artistic choices building
a bridge between the two main sides of this woman’s existence: the artistic
and the courtesan one. Ma was strongly connected to important men - such
as officials and literati artists - to whom she often dedicated her paintings.
The practice of giving paintings as gifts was encompassed in the exchange
system of goods and services which involved different strata of Ming society,
for instance courtesans and literati or officials. Ma dedicated paintings to
high ranking people who could reciprocate the gift in different ways. For
example, if they were poets and calligraphers they could write inscriptions on
her paintings thereby enhancing her prestige as artist and courtesan. One of
the most recurrent recipients of Ma’s paintings was Wang Zhideng (1535-
1612): an eminent poet and calligrapher. Not only by her paintings, but also
reading her poems and letters, Wang Zhideng appears to be a constant
presence in Ma’s life as patron and lover.13 At the same time, Ma was
acquainted with other famous courtesans working in Nanjing and the
surrounding area. She collaborated with them in the production of paintings
as epitomized by the hand scroll depicting flowers and plants made during a
night party together with Lin Xue, Wang Dingrui and Wu Juanjuan.

Looking at Ma Shouzhen’s extant art works - scrolls, fans and album

leaves, half of which are today in Chinese collections, only a few in private
collections, while the others are in American, European and Japanese
museums - she did paint mainly orchids, bamboo and rocks.14 In Late
Imperial China, orchids were visual topoi in paintings by women;15 they
symbolize the literati’s exclusiveness and seclusion as well as purity,16 not
necessarily a woman’s purity, but as Clunas suggests “also of sexually
available lushness”.17 Bamboo is an important subject matter in Chinese
painting since the 10th century, as it represents the intellectual qualities of the
literati. On the other hand, the rock represents stability and strength and it
could be interpreted as a counter balance to the fragility of the orchid flower.
It is also possible to give a gender interpretation to these subjects: orchid
epitomizes femininity, while the rock represents the male physical strength,
and the bamboo intellectual quality. Downloaded from Brill.com02/26/2019 05:49:27AM
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Figure 4 Ma Shouzhen was also a respected poet and her works were included in
Guan Daosheng,
many poetry collections compiled both during the Ming and the Qing (1644-
Bamboo Croves in Mist
and Rain, 1308, in:
1911) dynasties in which anthologies of women’s poetry were very
Weidner, Views from common.18 This was mainly due to the increasing female literacy rates and
Jade Terrace, 1988. also to the growing commercialization of books.19 In this atmosphere of
female intellectualism, in 1591 Ma Shouzhen published her own collection of
poems titled Collection of the Master Orchid of the Xiang River (Xianglan Zi
JO,20 to which Wang Zhideng, previously mentioned, wrote an introduction
celebrating her charm.21 Ma was considered to be one of the “Four Talented
Courtesans of Qjnhuai” (Qinhuai siji shi), as recorded in the homonymous
collection of poems edited by Mao Yuchang of the Qing dynasty.22 As a poet,
she belonged to the genre defined “boudoir poetry”, not necessarily to
indicate that the poems were written by courtesans or women in general, but
to underline the feelings of grief or grievance as the major theme.23 Female
poetry during the Ming and the Qing periods is characterized by a strong
sense of conventionality as they expressed their feelings mainly through
poetic topoi representing natural clements, such as the moon or animals,
which were typically metaphors of their lives.24 In spite of this, Ma is
considered to be one of the few Ming women poets to explicitly express her
feelings as in this poem titled Since you went away. The last couplets clearly
convey the message of her sadness:25

“S/nce you went away,

I am afraid to hear the maidfs song.
When the song enters the abandoned one’s ears,
The green robe is spattered with teardrops.

Since you went away,

No more lifting of Jade cups together.
Wine is a grief-dispelling thing,
But how much can it dispeir26 Downloaded from Brill.com02/26/2019 05:49:27AM
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El Ma Shouzhen spent her whole life as a courtesan although one of the main
aspirations for a prostitute was to get married, become the concubine of a
well-off man and settle in a family, rather than working in the pleasure
quarters.27 Nonetheless, her biography records she proposed Wang Zhideng
to marry her, after he saved her “from a disaster”, but he refused.28 After she
went to Suzhou in 1604 to arrange the celebration for his seventieth birthday,
which went on for months, she died in Nanjing praying, as a devout
Buddhist.29 In occasion of her death, Wang composed twelve eulogies.30

Ma Shouzhen was a famous courtesan who throughout her life enjoyed great
fame as painter and poet. As an elite courtesan she refused “unworthy
candidates” and accepted in her company only educated men, such as very
well-known artists and poets.31 Accordingly, she was connected to important
men of her period, some of which were friends, and some others probably
patrons or sponsors. Thus, it is undisputed she was strongly related to the
literati world through a net of acquaintances and especially through Wang
Zhideng.32 Ma created a network of social relationships principally in order to
enhance her position as courtesan and artist. Nevertheless, many aspects of
her life are still obscure and need to be further researched also in order to
reach a deeper comprehension of courtesanship in the Late Ming.

Noten

1. A special thanks to Menno Fitski.

2. O. Siren, A History of Later Chinese Painting. Vol.2, New York, 1978, p. 52.
3. P. Yao,The Status of Pleasure: Courtesan and Literati Connections in T’ang China
(618-907)’, Journal of Women’s History , Vol. 14, n. 2, 2002, pp. 26-53.
4. V. Xiong, ‘Ji- Entertainers in Tang Chang’an', in: Presence and Presentation. Women
in the Chinese Literati Tradition, 1999, pp. 149-169.
5. Y. Tseng, ‘Women Painters of the Ming Dynasty’, Artibus Asiae, Vol. 53. no. 1/2,
1993, p. 252.
6. LY. Lo, ‘Daughters of the Muses of China’, in: M. Weidner (ed.), Views from Jade
Terrace: Chinese Women Artists, 1300-1912, Indianapolis, 1988, p. 41.
7. Weidner, Op.cit., p. 73.
8. Weidner, Op. cit., p. 72.
9. Weidner, Op.cit., p. 73.
10. S. Li,.‘Tan Mingdai nühuajia Ma Shouzhen hua lan (Discussing the orchid
paintings of the Ming woman artist Ma Shouzhen)’, Wenwu, no. 7, 1991, pp. 81-82.
11. L.Y.L. Chang, P. Miller, Four Thousand Years of Chinese Calligraphy, Chicago, 1990,
pp. 7-8.
12. J. Yu, ed., Zhongguo Meishu Jiaren Ming Cidian (Dictionary of Chinese Artists),
Shanghai, 1981, p.1249.
13. Harvard-Yenching Library, ‘Ma Shouzhen’, in: The Ming-Qing Women’s Writings,
2005. http://digital.library.mcgill.ca/mingqing/search/details-poet.php?poetID=2966&
showbio=&showanth=&showshihuaon=&language=eng. Accessed on 5 June, 2007.
14.1 have traced around 40 of Ma’s paintings.
15. E.J. Laing, ‘Women painters in Traditional China’, in: M. Weidner, Flowering in the
Shadows: Women in the History of Chinese and Japanese Painting, Honolulu, 1990, p.
91.
16. C. Clunas, Pictures and Visuality in Early Modern China, London, 1997, p. 159.
17. Laing, Op.cit., p. 37.
18. Harvard-Yenching Library, Op.cit.
19. Chang, Op.cit., p. 147. Downloaded from Brill.com02/26/2019 05:49:27AM
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22 20. Z. Yuan, G. Yang (eds.), Zhongguo Funü Mingren Cidian (Dictionary of Famous
Chinese Women), Changchun, 1989, p. 16.
21. Tseng, Op.cit., p. 252.
22. K.I.S. Chang, H. Saussy (eds.), Women Writers of Traditional China. An Anthology
of Poetry and Criticism. Stanford, 1999, pp. 230-231.
23. Lo, Op.cit., p. 45-46.
24. Chang, Op.cit., p. 6.
25. Lo 1988, Op.cit., pp. 45-46.
26. Chang, Op.cit., p. 230.
27. For marriage of courtesans see S. Mann, Precious Records. Women in China’s Long
Eighteenth Century, Stanford, 1997, p. 128.
28. Idema, Wilt and Beata Grant, The Red Brush:Writing Women of Imperial China,
Cambridge, 2004, p. 366; Yuan, Op.cit., p. 16.
29. Idema, Op.cit., pp. 366-367.
30. Tseng, Op. cit., pp. 252-253.
31. D. Ko, ‘The Written World and the Bound Foot: A History of a Courtesan’s Aura’
32. Weidner, Op. cit., p. 72.

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