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Description: Painting and Private Life in Eleventh-Century China: Mountain Villa by Li Gonglin
BOOKPainting and Private Life in Eleventh-Century China: Mountain Villa by Li Gonglin
Robert E. Harrist Jr.
Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-23817
In the eleventh century, the focus of Chinese painting shifted dramatically. The subject matter of most earlier works of art was drawn from a broadly shared heritage of political, religious, and literary themes. Late in the century, however, a group of scholar-artists began to make paintings that reflected the private experiences of their own lives. Robert Harrist argues here that no work illuminates this development more vividly than Mountain Villa, a handscroll by the renowned artist Li Gonglin (ca. 1041–1106). Through a detailed reading of the painting and an analysis of its place in the visual culture of Li's time, the author offers a new explanation for the emergence of autobiographic content in Chinese art. Harrist proposes that the subject of Li's painting—his garden in the Longmian Mountains—was itself a form of self-representation, since a garden was then considered a reflection of its owner's character and values. He demonstrates also that Li's turn toward the imagery of private life was inspired by the conventions of Chinese lyric poetry, in which poets recorded and responded to the experiences of their lives. The book draws the reader into the artistic, scholarly, and political world of Li Gonglin and shows the profound influence of Buddhism on Chinese painting and poetry. It offers important insights not just into Chinese art, but also into Chinese literature and intellectual history.

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Author
Robert E. Harrist Jr.
PublisherPrinceton University Press
Print publication date April 1998 (out of print)
Print ISBN 9780691016092
EISBN 9780300275308
Copyright© 1998 by Princeton University Press
Illustrations 80
Print Status out of print
Publisher (out of print)
WorldCat
Google Books

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List of illustrations

  • Going up the River at Qingming Festival, section
  • Early Spring
  • Bare Tree, Bamboo, and Rocks, section
  • Whiling away the summer by a lakeside retreat
  • Cloudy Mountains
  • Fishing Village after Light Snow, section
  • Imperial Horses at Pasture after Wei Yan, section
  • Illustrations of The Classic of Filial Piety, chapter 7, section
  • Illustrations of The Classic of Filial Piety, chapter 10, section
  • Illustrations of The Classic of Filial Piety, chapter 12, section
  • Five Horses, section
  • Mountain Villa, section
  • Opening scene of riders entering the Longmian Mountains, section of Mountain Villa
  • Opening scene of riders entering the Longmian Mountains, section of Mountain Villa
  • Lodge of Establishing Virtue, section of Mountain Villa
  • Discovering Truth Embankment, Lodge of Fragrant Reeds, Necklace Cliff, Chamber of Perching Clouds, section of Mountain Villa
  • Raining Blossoms Cliff, section of Mountain Villa
  • Jade Dragon Gorge, Guanyin Cliff, section of Mountain Villa
  • Suspended Cloud Bank, section of Mountain Villa
  • Precious Blossom Cliff, section of Mountain Villa
  • Chenpeng Torrent, Peak of Accumulated Gems, section of Mountain Villa
  • Hall of Ink Meditation, section of Mountain Villa
  • Magpie Stream, section of Mountain Villa
  • Mountain Villa
  • Mountain Villa
  • Discovering Truth Embankment, Lodge of Fragrant Reeds, Necklace Cliff, Chamber of Perching Clouds, section of Mountain Villa
  • Hut of Mysterious Completion, Cave of Extending Blossoms, Valley of the Pure Prime, section of Mountain Villa
  • Raining Blossoms Cliff, section of Mountain Villa
  • Lingling Valley, section of Mountain Villa
  • Jade Dragon Gorge, Guanyin Cliff, section of Mountain Villa
  • Suspended Cloud Bank, section of Mountain Villa
  • Surpassing Gold Cliff, section of Mountain Villa
  • Precious Blossom Cliff, section of Mountain Villa
  • Chenpeng Torrent, Peak of Accumulated Gems, section of Mountain Villa
  • Hall of Ink Meditation, section of Mountain Villa
  • Magpie Stream, section of Mountain Villa
  • Huazi Hill, Meng Wall Cove, section of Wangchuan Villa
  • Wangkou Villa, section of Wangchuan Villa
  • Grained Apricot Lodge, Clear Bamboo Range, Magnolia Enclosure, section of Wangchuan Villa
  • Dogwood Bank, Sophora Path, section of Wangchuan Villa
  • Bamboo Lodge, section of Wangchuan Villa
  • Colophons, section of Thatched Hut
  • Playing Chess Under Trees
  • Thatched Hut, section of Thatched Hut
  • Leafy Shade Lodge, section of Thatched Hut
  • Canopy of Green Court, section of Thatched Hut
  • Understanding Truth Chamber, section of Thatched Hut
  • Awaiting Immortals Steps, section of Thatched Hut
  • Cloud Brocade Torrent, section of Thatched Hut
  • Soothing Rapids, section of Thatched Hut
  • Gold Jasper Pond, section of Thatched Hut
  • Reflections Terrace, section of Thatched Hut
  • Pillowing Mist Court, section of Thatched Hut
  • Lingling Valley, section of Mountain Villa, detail
  • Reflections Terrace, section of Thatched Hut, detail
  • Summer Mountains
  • Map from tomb 3, Mawangdui, Hunan
  • Map of Tōdaiji, Nara
  • Map of Pingjiang Prefecture
  • Diagram from a woodblock-printed almanac for the year 877, detail
  • Lodge of Establishing Virtue, section of Mountain Villa, detail
  • Eight Thrones, from Dragon Cavities of the Nine Stars
  • Diagram for a condensed site, from Twelve Methods of Arrangement
  • The Parable of the Illusory City
  • Nymph of the Luo River, section
  • Frontispiece to chapter 4 of the Lotus Sutra
  • Illustration for chapter 13 of Bizang quan
  • Illustration for chapter 13 of Bizang quan
  • Illustration of Su Shi's Second Prose Poem on the Red Cliff, section
  • Illustration of Su Shi's Second Prose Poem on the Red Cliff, section
  • Chamber of Perching Clouds, section of Mountain Villa, detail
  • Raining Blossoms Cliff, section of Mountain Villa, detail
  • Frontispiece for the Lotus Sutra, detail
  • Necklace Cliff, section of Mountain Villa, detail
  • Potalaka Guanyin
  • Iris and Orchid Chamber, section
  • The Stone Table Garden, section
  • The Ninth Day Literary Gathering at Xing’an, section
  • The Qianlong Emperor in a Garden
  • Colophons by Ye Longli, Wang Ao, and Dong Qichang, section of Mountain Villa
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Contents
Robert E. Harrist Jr.
Description: Painting and Private Life in Eleventh-Century China: Mountain Villa by Li Gonglin
Painting and Private Life in Eleventh-Century China: Mountain Villa by Li Gonglin
Contents
Author
Robert E. Harrist Jr.
PublisherPrinceton University Press
Copyright© 1998 by Princeton University Press
Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-23818
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Acknowledgments
Robert E. Harrist Jr.
Description: Painting and Private Life in Eleventh-Century China: Mountain Villa by Li Gonglin
Painting and Private Life in Eleventh-Century China: Mountain Villa by Li Gonglin
~So many people have helped me with this book that I feel it is as much their work as my own, though the blame for its shortcomings rests, of course, on my shoulders.
Author
Robert E. Harrist Jr.
PublisherPrinceton University Press
Copyright© 1998 by Princeton University Press
Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-23819
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Abbbreviations
Robert E. Harrist Jr.
Description: Painting and Private Life in Eleventh-Century China: Mountain Villa by Li Gonglin
Painting and Private Life in Eleventh-Century China: Mountain Villa by Li Gonglin
Abbreviations
Author
Robert E. Harrist Jr.
PublisherPrinceton University Press
Copyright© 1998 by Princeton University Press
Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-23820
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List of Illustrations
Robert E. Harrist Jr.
Description: Painting and Private Life in Eleventh-Century China: Mountain Villa by Li Gonglin
Painting and Private Life in Eleventh-Century China: Mountain Villa by Li Gonglin
List of Illustrations
Author
Robert E. Harrist Jr.
PublisherPrinceton University Press
Copyright© 1998 by Princeton University Press
Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-23821
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Introduction: The Poetics of Private Life
Robert E. Harrist Jr.
Description: Painting and Private Life in Eleventh-Century China: Mountain Villa by Li Gonglin
Painting and Private Life in Eleventh-Century China: Mountain Villa by Li Gonglin
~By any standard, the Northern Song period (960–1127) marked a high point in the history of Chinese painting. Inspired by their restless imaginations and by their intense observation of nature, artists of the Northern Song depicted the teeming pantheons of Buddhism and Daoism, Confucian...
Author
Robert E. Harrist Jr.
PublisherPrinceton University Press
Copyright© 1998 by Princeton University Press
Related print edition pages: pp.3-10
Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-23822
Chapter subject tags:China--History--Song dynasty, 960-1279Chinese literatiChinese poetryLandscape painting, Chinese--Song-Yuan dynasties, 960-1368Li, Gonglin, 1049-1106. Mountain villa

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Chapter 1. The Face behind the Fan: Li Gonglin and Northern Song Painting
Robert E. Harrist Jr.
Description: Painting and Private Life in Eleventh-Century China: Mountain Villa by Li Gonglin
Painting and Private Life in Eleventh-Century China: Mountain Villa by Li Gonglin
~If his contemporaries had been asked to describe Li Gonglin’s profession, it would have occurred to none of them to say that he was a painter. He was admired for his skill in painting, for his ability as a calligrapher and poet, and for his knowledge of antiquities; but his principal role in Northern Song society was that of a scholar-official.
Author
Robert E. Harrist Jr.
PublisherPrinceton University Press
Copyright© 1998 by Princeton University Press
Related print edition pages: pp.11-31
Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-23823
Chapter subject tags:China--History--Song dynasty, 960-1279Li, Gonglin, 1049-1106Landscape painting, Chinese--Song-Yuan dynasties, 960-1368Male friendshipLi, Gonglin, 1049-1106. Mountain villa

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Chapter 2. A Walk through the Longmian Mountains
Robert E. Harrist Jr.
Description: Painting and Private Life in Eleventh-Century China: Mountain Villa by Li Gonglin
Painting and Private Life in Eleventh-Century China: Mountain Villa by Li Gonglin
~To enter the world of the Longmian Mountains depicted by Li Gonglin today requires visits to the former imperial palace in Beijing, to a sixteenth-century villa on a hillside near Florence, to a museum housed in a nineteeth-century mansion in Paris, and to museums in Taipei and Cleveland. At each of these sites are copies of Li’s Mountain Villa. Yet...
Author
Robert E. Harrist Jr.
PublisherPrinceton University Press
Copyright© 1998 by Princeton University Press
Related print edition pages: pp.32-45
Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-23824
Chapter subject tags:Li, Gonglin, 1049-1106. Mountain villaMountains--ChinaChinese poetrySu, Zhe, 1039-1112

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Chapter 3. The Transformed Landscape: Place and Persona in Northern Song Gardens
Robert E. Harrist Jr.
Description: Painting and Private Life in Eleventh-Century China: Mountain Villa by Li Gonglin
Painting and Private Life in Eleventh-Century China: Mountain Villa by Li Gonglin
~Traveling in imagination from site to site in Li Gonglin’s Mountain Villa, the viewer discovers scenes of rolling hills and intimate depictions of waterfalls, ponds, caves, and trees. All the basic elements of Chinese landscape painting are present, but to interpret...
Author
Robert E. Harrist Jr.
PublisherPrinceton University Press
Copyright© 1998 by Princeton University Press
Related print edition pages: pp.46-66
Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-23825
Chapter subject tags:China--History--Song dynasty, 960-1279Chinese literatiGardens--ChinaIdentity (Philosophical concept)Li, Gonglin, 1049-1106. Mountain villa

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Chapter 4. Evoking the Past: Memories of Wang Wei and Lu Hong
Robert E. Harrist Jr.
Description: Painting and Private Life in Eleventh-Century China: Mountain Villa by Li Gonglin
Painting and Private Life in Eleventh-Century China: Mountain Villa by Li Gonglin
~For men of Li Gonglin’s generation, gardens marked the intersection of unique, self-created identities and powerful cultural traditions that spanned many centuries: while embodying the personae of self-proclaimed drunkards, idlers, and eccentrics, the gardens of eleventh-century scholars also conjured up memories of the remote past. In Sima Guang’s...
Author
Robert E. Harrist Jr.
PublisherPrinceton University Press
Copyright© 1998 by Princeton University Press
Related print edition pages: pp.67-87
Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-23826
Chapter subject tags:Gardens--ChinaLi, Gonglin, 1049-1106. Mountain villaWang, Wei, 701-761Lu, Hong, active 7th century-8th century

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Chapter 5. Mountain Villa and the Languages of Landscape in Eleventh-Century China
Robert E. Harrist Jr.
Description: Painting and Private Life in Eleventh-Century China: Mountain Villa by Li Gonglin
Painting and Private Life in Eleventh-Century China: Mountain Villa by Li Gonglin
~While Li Gonglin evoked memories of Wang Wei and Lu Hong in his painting, he also depicted himself among the specific, named sites of his own property, among those cliffs and those waterfalls, in topography rendered so convincingly and with such a...
Author
Robert E. Harrist Jr.
PublisherPrinceton University Press
Copyright© 1998 by Princeton University Press
Related print edition pages: pp.89-104
Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-23827
Chapter subject tags:Li, Gonglin, 1049-1106. Mountain villaLandscape painting, Chinese--Song-Yuan dynasties, 960-1368Narrative painting, Chinese

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Chapter 6. Conclusion: Painting and Private Life
Robert E. Harrist Jr.
Description: Painting and Private Life in Eleventh-Century China: Mountain Villa by Li Gonglin
Painting and Private Life in Eleventh-Century China: Mountain Villa by Li Gonglin
~For many centuries after the death of Li Gonglin, visitors to the Longmian Mountains continued to search for traces of his former dwelling. In the seventeeth century He Yongshao, a native of the area, guided a friend on a springtime excursion to the mountains. Although the two men found no remains of Li’s home, they greatly enjoyed the scenery where...
Author
Robert E. Harrist Jr.
PublisherPrinceton University Press
Copyright© 1998 by Princeton University Press
Related print edition pages: pp.105-112
Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-23828
Chapter subject tags:Li, Gonglin, 1049-1106. Mountain villaLandscape painting, Chinese--Song-Yuan dynasties, 960-1368Identity (Philosophical concept)Landscape painting, Chinese--Ming-Qing dynasties, 1368-1912Chinese literati

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Appendix: The Extant Copies of Mountain Villa
Robert E. Harrist Jr.
Description: Painting and Private Life in Eleventh-Century China: Mountain Villa by Li Gonglin
Painting and Private Life in Eleventh-Century China: Mountain Villa by Li Gonglin
The existence of multiple copies of Li Gonglin’s Mountain Villa is not surprising. Although Li did not intend for his paintings to circulate beyond the groups of friends for whom he made them...
Author
Robert E. Harrist Jr.
PublisherPrinceton University Press
Copyright© 1998 by Princeton University Press
Related print edition pages: pp.113-118
Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-23829
Chapter subject tags:Li, Gonglin, 1049-1106. Mountain villaPainting--CopyingScrolls, Chinese--Song-Yuan dynasties, 960-1368

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Bibliography
Robert E. Harrist Jr.
Description: Painting and Private Life in Eleventh-Century China: Mountain Villa by Li Gonglin
Painting and Private Life in Eleventh-Century China: Mountain Villa by Li Gonglin
Bibliography
Author
Robert E. Harrist Jr.
PublisherPrinceton University Press
Copyright© 1998 by Princeton University Press
Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-23830
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Glossary of Chinese Characters
Robert E. Harrist Jr.
Description: Painting and Private Life in Eleventh-Century China: Mountain Villa by Li Gonglin
Painting and Private Life in Eleventh-Century China: Mountain Villa by Li Gonglin
Glossary of Chinese Characters
Author
Robert E. Harrist Jr.
PublisherPrinceton University Press
Copyright© 1998 by Princeton University Press
Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-23831
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Index
Robert E. Harrist Jr.
Description: Painting and Private Life in Eleventh-Century China: Mountain Villa by Li Gonglin
Painting and Private Life in Eleventh-Century China: Mountain Villa by Li Gonglin
Index
Author
Robert E. Harrist Jr.
PublisherPrinceton University Press
Copyright© 1998 by Princeton University Press
Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-23832
Read
Painting and Private Life in Eleventh-Century China: Mountain Villa by Li Gonglin
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