The Temple of Confucius and Pictorial Biographies of the Sage

Abstract

Sets of narrative pictures portraying the life of Confucius (Fig. 1; all figures appear at the end of the text) first appeared in considerable numbers in the late Ming period, typically under the title Sheng-chi t'u (Pictures of the Sage's Traces; hereafter SCT) or some close variant. Produced at varying levels of expense, these illustrated biographies or hagiographies were made in a variety of media, such as woodblock prints, paintings on silk, and incised stone tablets. The various examples also exhibit a wide range of artistic quality. These differences in quality and form suggest that pictorial biographies were made for multiple purposes and for diverse audiences. Furthermore, the pictorial biographies differ in total numbers of scenes and in specific episodes selected for inclusion. These differences in content imply disparate conceptions of Confucius and the significance of his life.

A Confucian Education for Europeans

“…Though they may suggest a Christian stimulus, the hagiographic elements of the Abrégé historique come from the Shengji tu, which, as Julia Murray has shown, had been influenced by late imperial Buddhist and Taoist literature. 51 The emphasis on magic and supernatural events in the illustrated lives of Buddha or of Taoist immortals led to the transformation of the historical Confucius into a demigod. The impact of Christianity on the Abrégé historique is tangential and relates mainly to the selection of Shengji tu stories that were illustrated.…”

State Ritual in Late Imperial China

“…The importance of how ritual (including state ritual) was represented in artistic and literary works is another area in which scholars have been making their mark. Scholars have noted that visually representational work of ritual runs the gamut from strictly discussing the material aspects of objects involved in ritual, such as clothing (Zito 1997; Berger & Yuan 2006), musical instruments (Lam 1996, 1998, 2006, 2007) and ceremonial dishes (Zito 1997) to long scrolls that communicate the journeys the emperors’ made to places where they sacrificed and pictorial representations of the Confucian cult (Murray 1966). Rawski and Rawson (2005) do a fine job on the overall context of early Qing dynasty.…”

A Discourse of Originality in Late Ming Chinese Painting Criticism

“…Reproductions of pictures could be exchanged via various media including engraved stone rubbings, woodblock-printed books and single-sheet prints. 13 Among the best known of these books are the Ten Bamboo Studio Manual of Painting, preface dated 1627, and The Mustard Seed Garden Manual of Painting, preface dated 1679.…”