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Gu Kaizhi (; c. 344–406),
courtesy name A courtesy name (), also known as a style name, is a name bestowed upon one at adulthood in addition to one's given name. This practice is a tradition in the East Asian cultural sphere, including China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam.Ulrich Theob ...
Changkang (), was a Chinese painter and politician. He was a celebrated painter of ancient China.Cihai: Page 1846. He was born in
Wuxi Wuxi (, ) is a city in southern Jiangsu province, eastern China, by car to the northwest of downtown Shanghai, between Changzhou and Suzhou. In 2017 it had a population of 3,542,319, with 6,553,000 living in the entire prefecture-level city ar ...
and first painted at
Nanjing Nanjing (; , Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu province of the People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and the second largest city in the East China region. T ...
in 364. In 366, he became an officer (Da Sima Canjun or Assistant to the Minister of Defense, 大司馬參軍). Later he was promoted to royal officer (Sanji Changshi or Gentleman in Waiting to the Emperor, 散騎常侍). He was also a talented poet and calligrapher. He wrote three books about painting theory: ''On Painting'' (), ''Introduction of Famous Paintings of Wei and Jin Dynasties'' () and ''Painting Yuntai Mountain'' (). He wrote: "In figure paintings the clothes and the appearances were not very important. The eyes were the spirit and the decisive factor."Cihai: Page 1846. Gu's art is known today through copies of several silk handscroll paintings attributed to him.


Biography

Gu Kaizhi was born in
Wuxi Wuxi (, ) is a city in southern Jiangsu province, eastern China, by car to the northwest of downtown Shanghai, between Changzhou and Suzhou. In 2017 it had a population of 3,542,319, with 6,553,000 living in the entire prefecture-level city ar ...
(in modern
Jiangsu Jiangsu (; ; pinyin: Jiāngsū, alternatively romanized as Kiangsu or Chiangsu) is an eastern coastal province of the People's Republic of China. It is one of the leading provinces in finance, education, technology, and tourism, with its ca ...
) where his father served in the imperial secretariat as an assistant. At about nineteen he was employed as aide to the Grand Marshal
Huan Wen Huan Wen (桓溫) (312 – 18 August 373), courtesy name Yuanzi (元子), formally Duke Xuanwu of Nan Commandery (南郡宣武公), was a general and regent of the Jin Dynasty (266–420), as well as the leader of Huan clan of Qiaoguo (谯国桓 ...
. He held a succession of minor official posts under various leaders of the Eastern Jin court. One emperor under whom Gu Kaizhi served was
Huan Xuan Huan Xuan (桓玄) (369 – 19 June 404), courtesy name Jingdao (敬道), nickname Lingbao (靈寶), formally Emperor Wudao of Chu (楚武悼帝), was a Jin Dynasty warlord who briefly took over the imperial throne from Emperor An of Jin and de ...
. An enthusiastic art collector, ahead of his accession Huan Xuan ordered a big boat to store paintings and other treasures so that they could be easily transported to safety in case of war. Gu Kaizhi entrusted to the emperor a sealed chest with his most precious works. The emperor broke open the box, stole the paintings, then repaired and returned it to the artist with the seals intact. Upon discovering his loss, Gu Kaizhi said that, "the marvelous works partook of divine power, transformed themselves and vanished, like men ascending to join the immortals."


Works


''The Admonitions of the Instructress to the Court Ladies'' (女史箴圖)

This painting, dated between the 6th and 8th century AD - probably an early
Tang Dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdom ...
copy - illustrates nine stories from a political satire about
Empress Jia Nanfeng Jia Nanfeng (257 – 13 May 300), nicknamed Shi (峕), was a Chinese empress consort. She was the daughter of Jia Chong and first wife of Emperor Hui of the Jin dynasty and also the granddaughter of Jia Kui. She is commonly seen as a villain ...
written by
Zhang Hua Zhang Hua (232–7 May 300According to Sima Zhong's biography in ''Book of Jin'', Zhang Hua was killed on the ''guisi'' day of the 4th month of the 1st year of the ''Yongkang'' era of his reign. This corresponds to 7 May 300 永康元年夏四 ...
(ca. 232-302). Beginning in the eighth century, many collectors and emperors left seals, poems, and comments on the scroll. The ''Admonitions'' scroll was stored in the emperor's treasure until it was looted by the British army in the Boxer Uprising in 1900.Cihai: Page 1846. Now it is in the
British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...
collection, missing the first three scenes. There is another surviving copy of this painting, made during the
Song Dynasty The Song dynasty (; ; 960–1279) was an imperial dynasty of China that began in 960 and lasted until 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song following his usurpation of the throne of the Later Zhou. The Song conquered the rest ...
and is now held in the Palace Museum in Beijing. The Song version is complete in twelve scenes. The painting is on silk and is a polychrome. "The figures, whose countenances are at once solemn and tranquil, are described with a thin, unmodulated brush-line.... The brush-mode...has been described as 'spring silkworms spitting silk'".


''Nymph of the Luo River'' (洛神賦)

''Nymph of the Luo River'' is a painting by Gu which illustrates a poem written by
Cao Zhi Cao Zhi (; ; 192 – 27 December 232), courtesy name Zijian (), posthumously known as Prince Si of Chen (陈思王), was a prince of the state of Cao Wei in the Three Kingdoms period of China, and an accomplished poet in his time. His style o ...
(192-232). It survives in three copies dating to the Song Dynasty. One copy is now held in the Palace Museum in Beijing, and another one is now at the
Freer Gallery The Freer Gallery of Art is an art museum of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. focusing on Asian art. The Freer and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery together form the National Museum of Asian Art in the United States. The Freer and S ...
in
Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
The third was brought to Manchuria by the last emperor
Pu Yi Aisin-Gioro Puyi (; 7 February 1906 – 17 October 1967), courtesy name Yaozhi (曜之), was the last emperor of China as the eleventh and final Qing dynasty monarch. He became emperor at the age of two in 1908, but was forced to abdicate on 1 ...
(1906–1967) while he was the puppet emperor of Manchukuo under Japanese rule. When the Japanese surrendered in 1945 the painting disappeared. After ten years the
Liaoning Province Museum The Liaoning Provincial Museum ( Chinese:  trad. , simp. , ''Liáoníngshěng Bówùguǎn'') is a prominent museum of history and fine arts located in Shenyang, the capital of China's Liaoning province. History The institution ...
recovered it.


''Wise and Benevolent Women'' (列女仁智圖)

''Wise and Benevolent Women'' survives in a 13th-century copy dating to the Song Dynasty, and is today located in the Palace Museum in Beijing. It illustrates a subset of the women described in the Han dynasty work ''
Biographies of Exemplary Women The ''Biographies of Exemplary Women'' () is a book compiled by the Han dynasty scholar Liu Xiang c. 18 BCE. It includes 125 biographical accounts of exemplary women in ancient China, taken from early Chinese histories including '' Chunqiu'', ' ...
''. The 5 meter long scroll is divided into 10 sections, with each section containing a short description.


Notes


References

* * Ci hai bian ji wei yuan hui (). Ci hai (). Shanghai: Shanghai ci shu chu ban she (), 1979.


Further reading

*


External links


The Admonitions Scroll in the British Museum洛神賦图在线高清展览
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gu, Kaizhi 344 births 406 deaths Jin dynasty (266–420) painters Jin dynasty (266–420) politicians Painters from Wuxi Politicians from Wuxi 4th-century Chinese painters 5th-century Chinese painters