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Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove
Southern Dynasties (420–589), second half of the 5th century
Rubbings of a pair of stamped-brick murals, ink on paper
Each: 34 5/8 x 94 1/2 in. (88 x 240 cm)
Bricks excavated at Xishanqiao, Nanjin, Jiangsu Province, 1960
Nanjing Museum.
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A pair of murals from an elite tomb in the outskirts of Nanjing
is the most direct evidence of the artistic advance in South China
during an exceptionally innovative period in figure painting.
The murals depict the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove, third-century
officials known for their unconventional behavior and a detached
attitude toward Confucian decorum. While the Confucian-inspired
decor of late Han and Jin tombs features filial sons, moral paragons,
and virtuous rulers, these murals document a dramatic shift in
social attitudes and a new celebration of personal freedom and
individualism. Set within shallow but well-defined pictorial spaces,
the figures have broken free of the restrained and ritual poses
dictated by Confucian protocol. Facial expressions, poses, and
gestures are rendered with much greater specificity and naturalism
and convey distinct psychological states.
A Closer Look
This pair of rubbings taken from stamped-brick murals comes from
an elite tomb in the outskirts of Nanjing, the capital of the
Southern Dynasties, and represents the artistic advances that
took place in southern China while northern China was ruled by
foreign-controlled dynasties. The Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove
were poets, musicians, and scholar-officials, who lived in the
third century in the area of Nanjing. Each sage is identified
by name in writing. The eighth figure, depicted on the left of
the second rubbing, is Rong Qiji (551–479 B.C.), a contemporary
of Confucius who was said to have become an immortal. The figures
are represented here in a typically relaxed and indulgent posture:
playing the qin (zither) or lute, savoring food or wine,
or lounging in various states of inebriation. These paragons of
personal freedom and artistic creativity became icons in Chinese
Daoist culture, where unrestrained behavior and inspiration served
as a culturally sanctioned alternative to Confucian restraint
and propriety.
Versions of these murals decorated numerous tombs in southern
China. The tomb bricks were made by incising the designs into
an initial set of bricks while they were still damp and then firing
them. A second set of unfired clay bricks were then firmly pressed
on top of the first set, so that the design appeared in low relief
on the second set of bricks, which was then fired. Every brick
was numbered on the side to facilitate assembly in the tomb. Each
mural consists of more than one hundred bricks arranged in alternating
horizontal and vertical sequences. Traces of color reveal that
such murals were originally brightly painted.
Each figure inhabits an individual, well-defined environment or
"space cell" framed by lush trees. This device for representing
space was an important step in the evolution of Chinese paintings.
With space cells, Chinese painters conceived small environments
for their subjects that eventually were expanded into large-scale
settings. The sages’ facial expressions, varied postures,
and the naturalism with which their bodies and robes are depicted
are in striking contrast with the static and restrained narrative
scenes of earlier tomb murals.
Notice
• The quality of the lines that make up each
figure
• What each figure holds and does
• The trees that flank each sage. Notice that
each tree is distinct and different.
Consider
• The decision to use images of the Seven Sages
in mortuary murals, departing from the Confucian preference
for images of propriety and ritual during the Han dynasty.
• Compare the similar treatment of the bodies
and robes of the Seven Sages and the Two Standing Figures. The
realism that can be seen in the art of mid-sixth century Luoyang
compliments the relaxed and expressive natures of the Seven
Sages.
Visit the Met
• The Met’s landscape (1977.80) by Wang
Yuanqi (1642-1715) recreates a famous 8th century painting that
is divided into space cells.
Did You Know?
It is easier to view the images on these bricks when
they are reproduced as rubbings. Rubbings have long been a popular
method in China for disseminating pictures and calligraphy from
images inscribed on such heavy materials as stone or brick.
In fact, rubbings of famous works of art are highly prized by
collectors. To make a rubbing, a piece of cloth or heavy paper
is laid over the stone or brick surface. A wadded silk tampon
is suffused with ink and daubed over the surface until the image
beneath is visible.
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