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Lot Essay
The Multiple Significance of Ren Xiong’s
Drinking Cards with Illustrations of Daoist Immortals
Ren Xiong (1823-1857) scholar name Weichang, sobriquet Xiangpu, was a native of Xiaoshan, Zhejian province. He was a prolific artist who revolutionised traditional Chinese painting within his abbreviated career. As the founding leader of the Shanghai School of Chinese Painting, Ren championed a new mode of painting, which humbled the elitism of Chinese literati painters and celebrated the subject’s character and emotions, as exemplified in his Self-Portrait (c. 1856)– now held at the Palace Museum in Beijing, China.
However, when Ren began studying portraiture, the local village master became outraged by the young boy’s temerity in painting court people with a bald forehead and a raised foot, which was an extremely informal pose. In 1846, Ren shed the constraints of his dull hometown and travelled to neighbouring cities that had a more thriving cultural scene. Restless and eager to join the elevated artistic circles, Ren became acquainted with scholar-patron Zhou Xian (1820-1875) in 1848. Zhou was impressed by Ren’s talent in chanting and composing poetry and subsequently invited the young artist to stay at his studio, known as the Fanhu Thatched Cottage. For the next three years, Ren made numerous copies of Tang and Song paintings and studied the works of late-Ming master Chen Hongshou (1598-1652), who was a major stylistic influence on Ren’s figure paintings. By 1850, Ren encountered his second major patron Yao Xie (1805-1864), a famous Qing Dynasty poet and calligrapher who also welcomed Ren into his residence in Ningbo, Dameishanguan (Great Plum Mountain Hall). For about two months, the two began collaborating on one of Ren’s most important works: the 120-leaf Album after the Poems by Yao Xie. According to Ren the collaboration was a perfect harmony.
In the years leading up to his death in 1857, Ren had become a very popular painter. In collaboration with contemporary woodblock carvers like Cai Zhou (n. d.), he worked on four series of woodcut printed books, including Drinking Cards with Illustrations of Daoist Immortals, Portraits and Biographies of Illustrious Forebears from Yuyue, Portraits and Biographies of Ancient Masters, and Portraits and Biographies of Swordsmen. Ren’s inspiration behind the creation of Drinking Cards with Illustrations of Daoist Immortals stemmed from Chen Hongshou, who in the early seventeenth-century created his own set of woodblock-printed drinking cards – Water Margin Leaves. These cards were a mixed media work which combined the gambling rules of Chinese playing cards and drinking games with ancient history and folklore. They were multi-purpose playing cards that served to amuse guests with wit and humour at festive gatherings.
Ren’s Drinking Cards with Illustrations of Daoist Immortals is the last surviving masterpiece of the artist’s original drinking cards series. Bespoke cards for the tangbing (flat bread usually eaten in a feast following a birth) banquet celebrating the manyue (occasion of being one month old) of his son, Ren Yu (1854-1901), the artist created forty sets of drinking cards based on his forty-eight striking illustrations of immortals with a brief poetic inscription and an instruction to drink wine. Among the scenes is Xu Feiqiong – a female Daoist immortal who brought Xu Hun, a Tang Dynasty poet, up to see the immortals enjoying a night of drinking and banqueting through his dreams (See Top Right image of the next page). Ren took inspiration from this story, which can be found in Extensive Records of the Taiping Era, and wrote the following inscription: “The wind blows over the sound of voices. Those who have the same surname, each drink two cups.” What an amusing way to make guests drink more wine! The liveliness of Ren’s drinking cards derives from the entertaining relationship between text and image; his artistic mastery over creating fine, yet dramatic brushstrokes; and the depiction of bold and zesty characters.
Ren’s early death makes his works extremely rare and precious. After several reproductions, the original woodblocks of this lot was later found in Japan. This original album was first collected by Mr. Liu Jiu’an (1915-1999), who was a great connoisseur and member of the State Committee on Authentication in China. Eventually the album was acquired by Dr. S. Y. Yip under the mentorship and advice of Mr. Liu. In essence, Drinking Cards with Illustrations of Daoist Immortals represents not only a rich blend of Chinese culture, painting and poetry, but also a beautiful story about friendship and connoisseurship between Mr. Liu and Dr. Yip.
Drinking Cards with Illustrations of Daoist Immortals
Ren Xiong (1823-1857) scholar name Weichang, sobriquet Xiangpu, was a native of Xiaoshan, Zhejian province. He was a prolific artist who revolutionised traditional Chinese painting within his abbreviated career. As the founding leader of the Shanghai School of Chinese Painting, Ren championed a new mode of painting, which humbled the elitism of Chinese literati painters and celebrated the subject’s character and emotions, as exemplified in his Self-Portrait (c. 1856)– now held at the Palace Museum in Beijing, China.
However, when Ren began studying portraiture, the local village master became outraged by the young boy’s temerity in painting court people with a bald forehead and a raised foot, which was an extremely informal pose. In 1846, Ren shed the constraints of his dull hometown and travelled to neighbouring cities that had a more thriving cultural scene. Restless and eager to join the elevated artistic circles, Ren became acquainted with scholar-patron Zhou Xian (1820-1875) in 1848. Zhou was impressed by Ren’s talent in chanting and composing poetry and subsequently invited the young artist to stay at his studio, known as the Fanhu Thatched Cottage. For the next three years, Ren made numerous copies of Tang and Song paintings and studied the works of late-Ming master Chen Hongshou (1598-1652), who was a major stylistic influence on Ren’s figure paintings. By 1850, Ren encountered his second major patron Yao Xie (1805-1864), a famous Qing Dynasty poet and calligrapher who also welcomed Ren into his residence in Ningbo, Dameishanguan (Great Plum Mountain Hall). For about two months, the two began collaborating on one of Ren’s most important works: the 120-leaf Album after the Poems by Yao Xie. According to Ren the collaboration was a perfect harmony.
In the years leading up to his death in 1857, Ren had become a very popular painter. In collaboration with contemporary woodblock carvers like Cai Zhou (n. d.), he worked on four series of woodcut printed books, including Drinking Cards with Illustrations of Daoist Immortals, Portraits and Biographies of Illustrious Forebears from Yuyue, Portraits and Biographies of Ancient Masters, and Portraits and Biographies of Swordsmen. Ren’s inspiration behind the creation of Drinking Cards with Illustrations of Daoist Immortals stemmed from Chen Hongshou, who in the early seventeenth-century created his own set of woodblock-printed drinking cards – Water Margin Leaves. These cards were a mixed media work which combined the gambling rules of Chinese playing cards and drinking games with ancient history and folklore. They were multi-purpose playing cards that served to amuse guests with wit and humour at festive gatherings.
Ren’s Drinking Cards with Illustrations of Daoist Immortals is the last surviving masterpiece of the artist’s original drinking cards series. Bespoke cards for the tangbing (flat bread usually eaten in a feast following a birth) banquet celebrating the manyue (occasion of being one month old) of his son, Ren Yu (1854-1901), the artist created forty sets of drinking cards based on his forty-eight striking illustrations of immortals with a brief poetic inscription and an instruction to drink wine. Among the scenes is Xu Feiqiong – a female Daoist immortal who brought Xu Hun, a Tang Dynasty poet, up to see the immortals enjoying a night of drinking and banqueting through his dreams (See Top Right image of the next page). Ren took inspiration from this story, which can be found in Extensive Records of the Taiping Era, and wrote the following inscription: “The wind blows over the sound of voices. Those who have the same surname, each drink two cups.” What an amusing way to make guests drink more wine! The liveliness of Ren’s drinking cards derives from the entertaining relationship between text and image; his artistic mastery over creating fine, yet dramatic brushstrokes; and the depiction of bold and zesty characters.
Ren’s early death makes his works extremely rare and precious. After several reproductions, the original woodblocks of this lot was later found in Japan. This original album was first collected by Mr. Liu Jiu’an (1915-1999), who was a great connoisseur and member of the State Committee on Authentication in China. Eventually the album was acquired by Dr. S. Y. Yip under the mentorship and advice of Mr. Liu. In essence, Drinking Cards with Illustrations of Daoist Immortals represents not only a rich blend of Chinese culture, painting and poetry, but also a beautiful story about friendship and connoisseurship between Mr. Liu and Dr. Yip.