Structurally, handscrolls resemble the musical sonata form, with an introduction followed by the exposition of main themes, their development and recapitulation, and finally the coda. Novels and music both have chronological progressions with carefully modulated variety and complexity, and reading handscrolls provides parallel aesthetic and intellectual pleasures. As the eyes traverse a path circumscribed and guided by the artist, the gaze focuses now on objects close at hand, then on heights distant and profound as the scenes slowly unroll.
Oxford University's Ashmolean Museum collection of Chinese art contains a twelve and one-half foot long handscroll from the eighteenth century by Monk Shangjuei, also known as Mutsun, that can illustrate the intellectual pleasures and subtle nuances of "reading" this form of art. Normally, museums must display handscrolls in short sections, if not to full length, but both methods rob them of the mystery that would accompany a gradual unrolling.
Like the preparation for writing calligraphy, reading a handscroll requires selecting the appropriate environment. Beyond a pleasing, quiet location, good light and adequate time to finish the scroll in one sitting are necessary for optimal results. The viewer may well brew a pot of fragrant tea and light some incense to purify the room and elevate the spirits as he prepares to enjoy the artwork.
The viewing process involves more than a cursory looking at scenes, for collectors of handscrolls were inevitably cultured themselves. Traditionally, calligraphy has been at the heart of Chinese education, and connections between formal calligraphic expression and artistic styles are inseparable. As a result, a connoisseur can identify the subtle nuances of brush-strokes in a painting, and can attempt a retracing of the psycho-physiological states of the artist. The viewer's own abilities with the brush add to the appreciation of the whole scroll, for like a contemporary pianist playing a baroque concerto, reading a handscroll is a process of discovery and recreation.
Monk Shangjuei's 1703 handscroll is carefully wrapped in a protective cloth and is further guarded by a specially designed box. The title of this particular work runs along the length of the one-foot high ribbon-bound scroll: "Monk Mutsun's large handscroll of figures in landscape done in imitation of the colored style of Wen Po-jen." This cryptic sentence is pregnant with meaning for the collector, for Mutsun is well-known from an assortment of Ching Dynasty sources that tell of his study with the famous artist Wang Hui (1632-1717).
Wang Hui was one of the "Four Wangs" who coupled with Wu Li and Yun Shou-ping are renowned in Chinese history as the six great masters of Ching Dynasty art. His style was eclectic and demonstrated a phenomenal range of techniques that blended both the Northern and Southern Schools of painting. These "schools" were established by critics in the early seventeenth century to refer to the superb painting styles found during the Sung Dynasty (960-1279). Mutsun, like his teacher, was also noted both for his meticulous, highly skilled brushwork in the Northern style and the "spiritual resonance" prized by the Chan Buddhist-influenced painters of the Southern School.
The reference to painter Wen Po-jen (1502-1575) indicates that this painting falls into the category of "copying the masters." The process of individual artistic development-again there is a direct parallel with calligraphy-required years of imitating masters from the past. This gave the artist recognized models to emulate in an effort to refine technique, and also instructed him in the attitudes of mind concomitant with the actual painting process. In short, this a practice piece by Mutsun that copies the style of one of the most talented 16th century painters.
After the binding ribbons are untied, the viewer begins to unroll the scroll, which will be "read" from right to left as is all traditional Chinese writing. A calligraphic greeting in thick black ink now welcomes the connoisseur: "A glance reveals that he is a virtuous man (mu chi tao tsun)." This is a quotation from the 4th century B.C. Taoist scholar Chuang Tzu. Mutsun followed traditional practice by selecting a self-expressive phrase to indicate his personal aspirations. Often art collectors would ask a famous calligrapher to inscribe prized scrolls with special titles using an artist's favored quotation. In this case the title page was written by Mr. Hua—a now unknown calligrapher—and was commissioned by a collector named Chiang, who preferred the literary sobriquets of "Mad About Orchids" and "Dweller Midst fragrant Grasses." Although a long section of paper has been inserted for further colophons in praise of the painting, or to indicate ownership or a viewing experience, only Chiang's seals of ownership appear.
The eye now moves swiftly to the painting proper. Obviously the scroll was not always carefully stored because the first 18 inches have been somewhat damaged and the first 6 inches slightly darkened by exposure. Nevertheless, subsequent cleaning has restored its clarity, leaving clean paper and fresh colors. Large pine trees introduce the viewer to a path that leads through mountains and streams, a suitable atmosphere for scholars and monks. Mutsun's tree trunks reveal the "trembling brush technique" (chanpi), which cause the lines to swell and diminish in jerky cadences. In the background, a waterfall cascades from a great height and feeds a stream that rushes beneath a bridge of wooden planks supported by pole stilts.
A white-robed scholar, stylishly dressed in the billowing sleeved robes indicative of the Tang Dynasty (618-907), is crossing the bridge and admiring the frothy turbulence below. He is followed by a bearded attendant who carries a zither, sword, and a tea-brewing brazier suspended from the two ends of his shoulder-pole. It is customary for figures to proceed in the direction of the scroll's unrolling, so these right-facing subjects reverse the custom and serve to pique the viewer's curiosity about the Journey they have just taken.
In the background, rocks rise up beyond the frame of the painting, and carefully defined deciduous trees in the foreground counterpoint so-called "moss-dotting" that is fairly tightly applied along the contour lines of the rocks. This evokes the style of the Southern School masters that was copied by later artists to represent moist, humid southern scenes resplendent with lush grasses and soft earth. Here, Mutsun has adapted the technique to define rocks that are hard, barren, and essentially arid.
The path winds round a large promontory shored up by wooden supports and leads the viewer beyond a second water fall (not shown) to the next scene where two conversing scholars on horseback are approaching a temple compound. They are being followed by a young male attendant carrying a set of stacked lunch boxes suspended from a single pole. The figures are painted in a relatively supple and fluid naturalistic style and, when coupled with the surrounding cliffs, indicate a fusion of typical elements found in both the Northern and Southern Schools. A decided preference for density and mass over looseness and space fills the work with a constant tension, much like the drone in a musical continuo. The languid movement of the figures sets the pace of the viewer's slow unrolling of the scroll.
The next scene focuses on the temple compound. Two figures further personalize the atmosphere. This is especially true of the man cooling his feet in the restful currents of the stream. On the path above this relaxed character, a young monk wearing large wooden clogs and carrying boxes suspended from a long forked pole is hurrying by the temple's main gate partially visible through luxuriant trees.
The scene next switches rather dramatically from the middleground to a close-up perspective high in the peaks, providing a glimpse of what would ordinarily be beyond visibility: a secluded residence nestled among the rocks and surrounded by dense foliage. An open window reveals two scholars, one reading to the other. Again, the scene demonstrates a combination of painting techniques to represent rocks, pines, and deciduous trees.
The path divides at this point, with one branch climbing up into the mountains, while the other leads downward to the next scene, a large flat promontory of the sort beloved by poets. Here three Tang scholars talk animatedly among wonderfully etched trees that invite the viewer to pause and admire the scenery while waiting to be included in the conversation. By this time, as in a novel, the handscroll reader should be thoroughly engrossed in the slowing unwinding story.
Nearby await two possibilities for even longer periods of rest and contemplation. A small pavilion shelters a low table and stools for the ancient game of weichi (also known as go) with its promise of friendly competition with a friend for control of the board's territory. The area is in fact a high ledge with a magnificent vista over a precipitous cliff guarded by a low fence. Here two more scholars admire the chasm below as a boy attendant stands at a respectful distance.
Although this scene is low on the picture plane, it is actually high up in the clouds. Inkwash clouds separate the painting's main components, and effectively establish a sense of distance with regard to the mountains in the background while accentuating the feeling of great altitude. To the left, across the expanded space, the next mountainous outcropping of rock reveals an unwalled monastic compound complete with low gate building, main hall, and two flanking halls. To the left a pagoda's top three tiers are backed by a floating mist. No figures intrude upon the gathering silence.
The final scene drops once more to water level as the painting's final cascade plummets over numerous levels from a great height, finally yielding to the tranquillity of a broad, shallow stream bed. This is in considerable contrast to the animated water at the beginning of the scroll. Several boulders emerge from the waters, and over the lowest group a two-section wood plank bridge provides access to a sheltered grove suitable for quiet meditation, nestled close to the unending changes of the stream. Above, the artist's dedicatory inscription is writ ten in careful, graceful script. He has aligned the dedicatory passage into a neat, oblong block to accentuate the horizontality of the scene. This also avoids intruding into its overall calm.
The lines read: "In the ninth month of Autumn in the year kueiwei (1703), (I have painted this) in imitation of the brush method of Wen Wu-feng (another name for Wen Po-jen), and offer it to the Elderly Master Mian for correction." The artist signed his name in three ways—Pushizi, Mutsun, and Juei—and then affixed two of his seals. One of the seals is revealing, for it translates as "Monk with the Childlike Heart/Mind." This ties in well with a colophon in praise of the work that follows on a separate piece of paper. The content reminds the reader of the meditative qualities of Chinese Chan Buddhism that were so critical to the philosophical underpinnings of the Southern School of painting:
"The Six Canons (of painting) and 'energy resonance' are heaven-made and cannot be acquired through study. In this scroll the brush and ink are marvellous, the colors moist and harmonious, the spirit resonance is uniquely sublime. Spreading out the scroll by the window on a clear day, worries dissolve and with peace and calm one enters the realm of the highest vehicle in Chan (called Zen in Japan). Tungfou (the owner-connoisseur) obtained this scroll during a period of turbulence. The beginning and end have suffered slight damage, therefore it is being newly cleaned and remounted. The paper and ink are like new. It is truly worth treasuring and possessing! "
These sentiments encapsulate the whole aesthetic process of reading a handscroll. It is a private pleasure designed to elevate the mind and spirit, joining the artist's quest for refined style and technique with the minds and spirits of generations of viewers.