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- Title
Beyond boundaries: Painting re-inscriptions in the fifteenth to seventeenth century China.
- Authors
Wang Wenxin
- Abstract
This paper explores the widespread practice of adding multiple inscriptions to a single artwork at different times in the fifteenth to seventeenth centuries China. Such practices became prominent when literati painters revisited artworks they had previously created or owned, or when paintings had accumulated a multitude of inscriptions over time. Within the realm of Chinese art discourse, this phenomenon is denoted as "re-inscriptions." By examining re-inscriptions written on extant paintings and embodied in individual anthologies, this paper demonstrates that these texts transcended the boundaries of art and touched upon the painters' own lives and the society in which they lived. On the one hand, literati painters engaged in a dialogue with their past selves through re-inscriptions, exploring themes of mortality, aging, and the passage of time - topics seldom addressed in traditional Chinese painting. On the other hand, they utilized re-inscriptions as a means of social interaction, with some re-inscriptions becoming formulaic, adaptable to various artworks to meet different social needs. Furthermore, when faced with pre-existing inscriptions on an artwork, artists added new ones for a conversation with their predecessors. Throughout this process, the accumulation of inscriptions transformed the artwork into a layered cultural narrative, and enabled the literati painters to shape a elite community that transcended the boundaries of time and space.
- Subjects
CHINA; FIFTEENTH century; SEVENTEENTH century; ELITE (Social sciences); CHINESE painting; CHINESE art; SOCIAL interaction
- Publication
Arte, Individuo y Sociedad, 2024, Vol 36, Issue 2, p481
- ISSN
1131-5598
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.5209/aris.92068