This painting depicts the Daoist philosopher Laozi seated cross-legged on a humble reed mat. The Laozi in this image is not the deified figure revered in religious Daoism, but rather the man who walked the earth prior to his deification. Wearing a simple white scholar’s robe and black hat, Laozi sits surrounded by books, an allusion to his role as royal archivist at the court of the Zhou dynasty. The artist has used tones of ochre to describe a deeply pitted face wizened with age.
The painter Yu Ming was born in Wuxing and spent much of his career in Shanghai and Beijing. Though largely aligned with traditionalist groups that advocated the continued development of classical Chinese painting, Yu was also trained in European watercolor techniques. According to the long inscription by Yu’s friend Xu Zonghao, most of which transcribes Laozi’s biography in the Records of the Grand Historian (Shiji) by Sima Qian (c. 145–c. 86 BCE), this painting is a copy of an original image of Laozi by the great Yuan dynasty painter Zhao Mengfu (1254–1322), and as such it reflects the interest in classical Chinese paintings that animated many of Yu’s patrons in Beijing and Shanghai.
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Surnamed Li, named Er and posthumously named Dan, Laozi was a native of Qurenli, Lixiang, Kuxian, in the state of Chu and served the Zhou court as archivist. He was the one whom Confucius traveled to Zhou to consult on rites. Laozi said, ''The people you are referring to have long perished. Only their words have survived. What is more, while a gentleman whose service is opportune rides in a chariot, those whose service is not will have to drift like tumbleweeds. It is said that a wise merchant keeps his goods out of sight and that a gentleman of great virtue does not flaunt his capabilities. Rid yourself of your arrogance and desires. Neither airs and graces nor overly ambitious intents will serve you well. This is all that I have to say to you." Confucius took his leave and said to his disciples, "I know well that birds are good at flying, fish swimming, and beasts running, and that those that run can be netted, those that swim angled, and those that fly shot with an arrow. As for dragons, I cannot possibly understand how they ride on winds and soar to the heavens. Can Laozi whom I have met today be likened to a dragon?" Laozi devoted himself to the Dao and its virtue and focused his learning on self-obliteration and self-effacement. He lived in Zhou for a long time but left on seeing that the state was in decline. When he reached the border, Yin Xi, the director of the border crossing, said to him, "Since you are going into seclusion, I urge you to write a book for my sake." So, Laozi wrote one in two parts to discuss the meaning of the Dao and its virtue in 5,000 characters. Thereafter, he left and his whereabouts was unknown. Incidentally, Laolaizi, contemporaneous with Confucius, has also been said to be a native of Chu who wrote 15 titles on the application of the Dao. He is said to have lived over 160 or even 200 years, prolonging his life by cultivating the Dao. When Confucius had been dead for 129 years, Dan, the grand historian of Zhou, said during an audience with Duke Xian of Qin, "In the beginning, Qin and Zhou were one but split up after 500 years. Seventy years after the split, hegemony emerged." Opinions have been divided if this Dan was in fact Laozi and no one knows for sure. Laozi was a gentleman in seclusion. His son Zong was a general of the state of Wei and was enfeoffed with Duan'gan. Zong's son was Zhu, whose son was Gong. Gong's great-great-grandson was Xia, who was an official in the court of Emperor Wen of Han. Xia's son Jie lived in Qi since he was Grand Mentor to Liu Ang, Prince of Jiaoxi. Followers of Laozi shun Confucianism and those of Confucianism, Laozi, Is this what is meant by "People on disparate roads do not consult each other"? Laozi did nothing and the people were transformed; he kept still and the people were reformed. The Double Ninth Festival of the guihai year (1923). A copy of Zhao Mengfu's Laozi by Yu Ming of Wuxing. Biography inscribed by Xu Zonghao (1880-1957), Shixue Jushi, of Piling. [Seals]: Shixue, Xu Zonghao yin, 1 illegible
[Translation by Tina Liem in The Rustic Studio Collection of Chinese Paintings 陋室齋藏中國繪畫, Hong Kong: Rustic Studio Collection, 2019, cat. no. 5, p. 23.]
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