Soame Jenyns (2) (1904–1976)

One of the persistent difficulties in reading older books on Chinese history or art is their use of Wade-Giles (without the help of Chinese characters), so if you pick up this text, be prepared to decipher that the 16C artist Tung Ch'i-ch'ang is now transliterated Dong Qichang (Hsia Kuei is Xia Gui, etc.).

That said, there is still much to be gleaned from older texts even if discoveries over time have proven various theories now out-of-date or just plain wrong. An example, "The British Museum is the only museum in this country that possesses more than a handful of Chinese paintings, and the great bulk of that collection is not good enough to put on exhibition" (p. 9). On the plus side is a wealth of anecdotes and quotes.

Chapters 2 ("The Influence of Religion") and 3 ("The Relation to Calligraphy") are both still relevant and some of the examples he cites forgotten or at least not quoted in more modern texts--for example: "Good writing is often compared to good writing. To ride a good horse was a metaphor for a good hand" (p. 95). In Chapter 4 ("The Patronage of the Throne") Jenyns reminisces on China's lack of interest in its native art, which he compares to the thirty years after the opening of Japan in 1868 when Japanese art was "sold extensively abroad" (p. 115). Had we only realised how the situation would reverse and a mere 40 years later those same pieces would be selling to Chinese for small kingdoms. And how rightly he bemoaned that during his time "bona fide travellers are hampered and hindered...while native antique dealers dig up, mutilate and steal...material which the foreign archaeologist would hand over ...to some Chinese cultural institution" (p. 115).

It is Jenyns familiarity with Japanese art that sometimes yields the more interesting facts--that oil paints were "a medium of expression in Japan as early as the eighth century" (p. 119) but were probably unknown in China until introduced by the Jesuits in the late 16C--the latter fact known to all students of Chinese art who never seem to query 'why so late?' given their use in Japan eight centuries before.

It is Chapter 5 ("The Choice of Materials and Techniques"), with its discussions on silk versus paper and other materials, that a modern reader may find most helpful, where we learn that "silk treated with glue and rubbed with chalk or mica produced a beautifully smooth surface" (p. 120). More than once I've been unable to discern silk from paper in 16C works and now I know why. And in all my years of reading, it's the only place I've read that the famous calligrapher Wang Xizhi "is reputed to have used rats' whiskers for softness" (p. 127) in his brushes. Such fascinating snippets keep the pages turning. Here you will find wonderful quotes from artists' sons and quotes from the Mustard Seed Garden such as the mandate: not to depict water without a flowing spring or trees with less than four branches. Heady stuff!… (plus d'informations)