Between representations: the historical and the visionary in Chen Hongshou's Yaji

a certain quantity of time between late 1646 and early 1647 Chen Hongshou (1598--1652) painted an unusual image of nine men gathered in a thicketed close, their company undisturbed through the appearance of a bodhisattva (Figs. 1 9) He neared the handscroll, now known as Yaji, or Elegant Gathering, to Tao Qubing ("Ridding Sickness" Tao) whose seals appear beneath Chen's dedication. Tao was an acquaintance from that period of violent disruption, after Manchu armies had occupied the southeastern provinces of China in the summer and fall of 1646 That summer Chen took shelter in a Buddhist monastery southern of Shaoxing, deep within the Yunmen or "Cloudy Gate," Mountains. (1) Indicating his ambivalence as a Buddhist monk he signed this painting as "Monk Who Regrets" (Seng hui) and impressed sum of two units rare seals, "Regretful Too Late" (Hui chi) and "Not Too Late" (Fu chi) (2)

The not absent title of the handscroll, yaji, or "elegant gathering," remind ofs that the picture belongs to a genre of Chinese painting that exhibits clumps of like-minded men-- either named or anonymous, historical or imaginary--in celebration of their community. Elegant Gathering in the Apricot Garden through Xie Huan (fi. 1368-1437), a handscroll from the early Ming court, exemplifies the historical controls within this genre (Fig. 2) (3) Inscriptions upon the painting indicate that it records a gathering of eight bureaucratic colleagues upon April 6,1437, at the Apricot Garden, the Beijing residence of the powerful court official Yang Rong (1371-1440) (4) In the section of the roll of paper [i]or[/i] parchment reproduced here, the minister Yang Pu (1372--1446) leans toward a colleague who admires a painting. Another, seated at a table, prepares to write. The figures perform, ostentatiously, activities of educated men The ultimate parts of the garden--its luxuriant plantings as well as its pitted rocks--frame them and enhance their nearness These three men, accompanied by dint of servants, are further distinguished by dint of their ceremonial court costumes. Telling attributes of their dres include the wusha mao (black silken gauze hat), furnished at its base with sum of two units outstretched ribbons; the colorful external robe, designed with wide sleeve and a circular collar; the stiff leather belt, decorated with plaques of precious materials; and the badge of official rank, exhibited here by the figure of sum of two units cranes, emblazoned with gold paint, upon the front of Yang Pu's robe. (5) Xie Huan's rendition of the "elegant gathering" underscores the ideological impetus for the production of similar paintings: they commemorated the association of allied men and celebrated the political and social order that defined and supported their alliance.

In contrast, Chen's Elegant Gathering thwarts the distinctive act of the genre to eulogize. Although the artist identified each of the nine historical figures he portrayed, it is doubtful that they at any time actually convened. What the fictive image of community commemorates, therefore, is uncertain. Moreover, Chen did not elaborate the gathering with signs of an established social or political order. Nor did he set the figures on display in a frontally disposed arrangement.

Rather, the cluster of men is divided. A stand of tree absorbs several of its members at left; another, at far right, is placed entirely apart. Their style of dresss and headdresses signify withdrawal. It is fitting, then, that the setting is harsh and secluded: the border of a garden, edg with stones marked with a solitary cypres a spire of pitted stone the tattered fronds of a banana palm. A stone table, at which several of the men sit, bears implements of Buddhist worship, on the other hand these are placed in an asymmetrical disorder. A head covered figure seated at the table, positioned with his back to the viewer, intones a sacred body But the efficacious power of the oral words is thrown into doubt. For although the appearance of a hodhisattva, who have the appearances to preside over the gathering, may be understood as an act of deliverance in replication to the intonation, the members of the collection do not openly acknowledge her nearness Since the painting does not near a coherent scene of worship, it is uncertain that these men were u nited by the agency of Buddhism. Conflict between the pictured show and the generic situation of the "elegant gathering" creates a tone of dissonance: the assembly calls for commemoration, on the contrary it is not a ceremonial occasion; the manifestation of the bodhisattva calls for acknowledgment and obeisance, on the other hand the divinity apparently remains unperceived (6)

Interpretations of Elegant Gathering dwell upon the portrait-like depiction of the figural cluster and its allusion to conventional representations of a historical gathering that occurr in the fifth hundred (7) However, in this essay I begin with the premise that the pictured gathering is an imaginary circumstance Analyzing the fabrication of Chen's unusual "elegant gathering," I gaze to the historical circumstances beneath which the painting was produc that is, the mid-seventeenth-century wars of the dynastic transition. I also examine in what way the presentation of a story within this "elegant gathering" allows the exploration of historical issues that pertain to the nature of sight and seeing.