Commemorative Landscape Painting in China is a detailed and insightful essay on a type of occasional painting popular in later China. Anne de Coursey Clapp, a well-known and highly regarded scholar of Ming painting, makes a careful study of this genre, drawing upon the knowledge she has accumulated over a lifetime study of Ming painting. Originally presented as a lecture, the book follows the format of viewing a selection of works of art from a number of perspectives. Larger considerations include the artist, patron, style of art, social and political context and the function of the paintings in the literati society of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Chapter 1 begins with an introduction to early commemorative painting in the Song, when a familiar literary form acquired visual expression. Prior to this time commemorative paintings took the form of portraits, but during the Song, landscapes more obliquely portrayed the subject, while colophons described the accomplishments of the man. Clapp identifies three themes that were used for commemorative painting, all of which are placed in a landscape setting and allude to antiquity: there are parting pictures which transform the Tang dynasty literary genre into a pictorial equivalent; renderings of the subject's estate or studio which evoke the famous illustration of the villa of the Tang dynasty poet statesman and painter Wang Wei; and of literary gatherings of famous scholars that recall such events of the past as the meetings of the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove. Using such allusions, the works confer a scholarly heritage on the honouree. However, without the literary accompaniment, which venerates the subject and describes his accomplishments, the identity and character are unclear. Such biographical literati paintings establish a record of an individual's virtues and place him in an elevated community of peers. The artists were professionals who worked under the direction of their patrons, “who exercised their own taste in the choice of style and theme, specifying exactly what they wanted” (p. 38). Clapp considers these many aspects of early commemorative paintings in her analysis of several Song dynasty examples which provide biographical information about the subject, artist, the social and political circumstances that instigated its creation, and the significance it held for the small circle of viewers who could view and appreciate it.

Chapter two traces the later development of the format. In the late Yuan, the literary component increases in size, complexity, and number of authors. Still the inscriptions are largely concerned with cataloguing the various achievements of the subject, noting especially success in government service. The height of expression of commemorative paintings occurs in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries among scholars living in the Suzhou area, a centre of literati activity. The paintings become collaborative undertakings engaging a group of artists and writers who either decide to honour a recipient, or are enjoined to do so by the patron. Clapp shows how the style of landscape painting also evolves. In keeping with the antiquarian spirit of the works, artists employ ancient styles of painting like the “blue and green style” which adds additional layers of meaning. “Man began to figure largely, even exclusively, in the colophons, while the landscape began to acquire the mild tempered, withdrawn air conventionally ascribed to the scholar. The landscape setting actually enlarged in extent while the human figure diminished but at the same time it became a sounding board for human experience and sensibility” (p. 76).

Chapter 3 is dedicated to a discussion of biehao painting, analysing the phenomenon of selecting a name for oneself to mark a change in status, goals or lifestyle. This practice began in the fourteenth century and peaked in popularity in the fifteenth to sixteenth century. In finding pictorial equivalents for the biehao, the paintings, still eschewing actual physical likeness, draw a more revealing portrait of the inner character of the subject by employing allusions, metaphors, historical references and more. “The Hao painting is a problem in implication, allusion, insinuation, and personification, all literary devices for substituting a place-name for a person's name, an image for a virtue, whether for a trait of character, an historical personage for an ethical standard” (p. 79). In discussing the selective illustrations, here again Clapp provides an in-depth study of the pictorial narrative and style of the paintings and of the growing literary counterpart. She explains how together they express the character of the honouree, his relationship to the artists and writers, and the social/political circumstances surrounding the creation of the work. In the case of the subject commissioning the work, there is a detailed description of the motivation and function of the memorial. In sum, much is learned about the cultural values of Ming literati, their concern for reputation and the importance of social relationships.

This is a wonderful study. Its exacting research provides the reader with an insightful and detailed analysis of selected works of commemorative paintings. The illustrations are excellent. In addition to its erudition, this book is a most enjoyable read.