A Study On The Artistic Activities Of Li E,a Poet In Qing Dynasty

Li E(1692-1752),born in Qiantang,Zhejiang Province,known as "Mr.Fanxie ",whose style names were Taihong and Xiongfei,and pseudonyms were Fanxie and Nanhu Huayin.Li E lived under the reign of emperor Kangxi,Yongzheng and Qianlong in the Qing dynasty.Although he passed the imperial examination,he did not involve official career.He engaged in academic and artistic activities with the support of his patrons and friends represented by "Yangzhou Erma"(Two brothers surnamed Ma in Yangzhou).They focued on poetry,scholarship and art,forming an association for assembly to compose poems,studying ancient books,appreciating calligraphy,painting and cultural relics,inspecting inscriptions on ancient bronzes and stone tablets,and touring the sights of the country together.As a consequence of interaction a large number of artistic and cultural achievements,such as poetry,calligraphy and painting,are the materials that should be paid attention to in the study of Chinese art history.Li E devoted his whole life to scholarship and wrote a lot of works.Among them,there are two works directly related to painting and calligraphy,i.e.The Records of Southern Song Dynasty Court Painting and The Jade Terrace History of Calligraphy.In other works,there are abundant materials related to the history of fine arts,such as The Miscellany of Dongcheng,An Addendum to the History of Liao Dynasty and The Supplement of Yunlin Temple.According to his collection of poems and essays,Collected works of Fan Xie Shan Fang and his friends’ works,we can see that he prefaced many kinds of writings of art,appreciating various works of art,such as calligraphy and painting,rubbings of carvings,ancient seals,coins,antiques and so on,and writing poems and inscriptions.When traveling,he researched the antiquities around the country,such as Buddha statues,cliffs carving,ancient buildings,etc.Fortunately,Li E’s handwriting and portraits remain as well,which are worth sorting out and studying.There have been some research results on Li E’s art activities and works in academic circles.On this basis,I would here in examine and focuse on the art activities of a poet from the perspective of art history,hoping to link the interaction between the court and the people,art patrons and scholars,and artists.To clarify all aspects of li E’s artistic activities and present his artistic life condition and concepts in a full-scale way is a necessary supplement to the study of art history in the early and middle Qing Dynasty.The thesis aims to cover the following aspects:First,Li E’s artistic circle and " Observation Records of Artistic Works ";This chapter briefly analyzes the political,economic and cultural environment in the period of emperor Kangxi,Yongzheng and Qianlong,the influence of the transportation going around the Grand Canal on cultural production and communication,The interaction of officials,merchants and scholars centered around Yangzhou,Hangzhou and Tianjin.The purpose of this paper is to clarify the artistic communication between Li E and his friends.(1)Art patrons are represented by "Yangzhou Erma".These scholarly merchants,with their wealth and knowledge,had transformed their residences into first-class accessible literati clubs,libraries and museums,providing a free and stable academic workplace for li E as the representative of the unofficial literati.(2)Artists as Ding Jing,Jin Nong,Hua Yan,Fang Shishu,Gao Xiang,Wang Shishen,etc,shared the same interests with li E,traveling and studying together,forging each other in literature and art creation,competing or cooperating in an equal and good atmosphere.(3)In the colorful literary and artistic activities,Mr.Fan Xie had seen and recorded a large number of ancient works of art,and participated in the creation of many works of art,which will be explained in this chapter.Second,Li E’s two cases of ancient relics research and art connoiseurship;First of all,the interpretation of his poem on Buddhist statue named Mahākāla in Baocheng Temple(Ziyang Hill of Wushan scenic,Hangzhou,Zhejiang),reveals the profound knowledge of Li E and the fairness of historical view.Secondly,it will discuss the Court of Qing dynasty’s " adoption and assimilation " of the knowledge achievements of unofficial scholars,based on his inscription to Dong Yuan’s painting called Long Xiu Jiao Min Tu.Third,Li E’s art history writing and evaluation;(1)The compilation and academic influence of two works on art history,The Records of Southern Song Dynasty Court Painting and The Jade Terrace History of Calligraphy.(2)Art history materials in Li E’s other works and their influence,mainly introduces the relevant information of the three books: The Miscellany of Dongcheng,The Addendum of Liao History and The Supplement of Yunlin Temple.(3)Materials of art history in Li E’s poems,essays,inscriptions to calligraphy and Painting,centering on his Collected works of Fan Xie Shan Fang,the thesis would discuss Li E’s related poems and essays on calligraphy,painting,seal,inscriptions on ancient rubbings of carvings,cultural relics,ancient coins and antiquities,and briefly sort out his artistic conceptions.Fourth,Li E’s remaining handwritings and portraits;After Li E’s death,a large number of manuscripts,poetry manuscripts,transcribing books,letters,postscripts to books,calligraphy and painting inscriptions,couplets and so on were left.This thesis makes a textual research on the authenticity of Li E’s handwriting s and discusses the significance of Li E’s calligraphy.Mr fan Xie’s image is luckily to survive in the world,but is it realistic or only the imagination of later generations? Which painting is most likely to be close to the appearance of himself? Mr.Fan Xie’s stories have been spread widely by younger scholars.Which subject is a most favorite by people and has become a painting theme handed down from ancient times?This section will explain it combining the literature and the images which exist and reform radically to it.Fifth,Li E’s artistic activities chronology and Li E’s poems and essays related to art history.There are many kinds of chronologies of Mr.Fan Xie,and the data are abundunt and comprehensive.In the thesis,the existing data are resorted,the parts related to his artistic activities are selected and highlighted,and the previous omissions or misreading information are amended to present the complete picture of Li E’s artistic activities with a timeline.At the same time,the thesis collects and sorts out the topics of poems and essays of Li E related to art history and makes them into forms,hoping to provide convenience for future scholars studying Li E’s related issues of Chinese art history.