The Daoist Symbolism of
Immortality in Shen Zhou's
Watching the Mid-Autumn Moon at
Bamboo Villa
CHUN-YI LEE

The Ming artist Shen Zhou (1427-1509), regarded as the founder of
Wumen Huapai (the Wu School of Painting) and one of the most important poet-painters in Chinese art history, executed several paintings
related to the occasion of a literary gathering held at his Youzhu Zhuang
(Bamboo Villa) in Changzhou ( toda y's Suzhou, Jiangsu Province) on
the eve of the Mid-Autumn Festival. The most famous one is a handscroll, entitled Watching the Mid-Autumn Moon in the collection of the
Museum of Fine Arts in Boston (figure 1), which has been ilustratedin a
number of books on Chinese art and is discussed at length by
Richard Edw ard s in his The Field of Stones: A Study of the Art of Shen Chou
of 1962. 1 In addition to the Boston scroll, two similar paintings are in
Chinese collections, one previously in the Beijing Palace Museum and
one in the Tianjin Art Muse um. 2
There is another handscroll of the same theme attributed to Shen
Zhou, entitled Watching the Mid-Autumn Moon at Bamboo Villa, which
was pu rcha sed in 1996 in New York by the collectors Roy and Marilyn
Papp in Phoenix.' The handscroll includes a short painting depicting
the memorable gathering at the Mid-Autumn Festival (figure 2) anda
long poem composed and inscribed by the artist to give a supp lementary commemoration of the event (figure 3). Although some
scholarly research has been published by Howard Rogers in the Kaikodo
Journal of 1996 and by Ju-hsi Chou in the exh ibit ion catalog Journeys
on Paper and Silk: The Roy and Marilyn Papp Collection of Chinese Painting

of 1998, the Papp scroll is sti ll litt le -know n to the fie ld of Chinese a rt. 4
The a im of this a rt icle is to examine the handscroll, focusing on the
Daoist symbolism of the painting which revea ls the a rt ist 's fervent
quest for immortality. By employing a method synthesizing icono49

MYRIAD POINTS OF VIEW

Figure 1. Shen Zhou (1427- 1509 ) , Wa tching the Mid-Autumn M oon , dated 1489.
Handscroll, ink and colors on paper, painting: 30.5 x 134.5 cm.
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Special Chinese and Japanese Fund , 15.898.

graphic analysis and literary examination, the interpretation of this
extraordinary work gives a new dimension to the art and life of the
Ming master.
The painting in the Papp scroll is of modest dimensions, measuring
29.2 cm in height by 91.8 cm in width. In the middle of the composition,
three gentlemen are seated inside the Pingan Ting (Pavilion of Peace),
a simple thatched structure located on a gentle slope within Shen
Zhou's estate. They are watching the full moon on the upper left, celebrating the Mid-Autumn Festival. There are small stands of bamboo
rising stylishly on the right and beyond the pavilion flows a mild rive r,
over which a wooden bridge connects the terrace to an unknown land
covered by trees and rocks on the left. Despite the festive celebration of
the Mid-Autumn moon, the scene is dominated by feelings of sadness,
gloom iness, and emptiness, reflected in the poem colophon:
In my youth, I saw the Mid-Autumn moon,
As no different from any other moon.
In old age , I grew fond of it.
Loving the moon means also to love the fine
autumn feast.
50

THE DAOIST SYMBOLISM OF IMMORTALITY

How many more Mid-Autumn feasts can an old man enjoy?
In truth, time flows on and cannot be detained.
We know men come and go but not the moon.
The old moon shines on newcomers with
ind i ffe rence .
If there is wine in the pot then let us be merry;
And never refuse when the cup comes to you.
[Tonight] the moon is full and the friends are reunited.
When we part, the moon will also wane.
As my eyes have seen fewer old friends,
Throwing caution aside, I'd dally long under the moonlight.
I shall sing aloud Li Bai's Asking the Moon.
But my white hair startles me, robbing me of my youth.
If youth and white hair cannot be paired,
May my surging spirit drink up the ocean of wine
and the moon (reflected in it).
This old man has lived for sixty years of life!
Can I ask the Mid-Autumn [moon] to lend me forty more? '
Shen Zho u's recognition of mortality is expressed in the poem and it
changes the painting from a depiction of a happy reunion of friends
enjoying the Mid-Autumn moon to a melancholic scene dealing with
the issues of death - both the loss of departed friends and the transience of his own li fe .
51

MYRIAD POINTS OF VIEW

Figure 2 . Shen Zhou, Watching the Mid-Autumn Moon at Bamboo Villa, dated
1486. Handscroll, ink on paper, painting: 29.2 x 91.8 cm. The Roy and Marilyn

Papp Collect io n. Photo by Cra ig Smith, courtesy of Phoenix Art Museum

.

In the last lines of the poem, Shen Zhou indic ates that he was
about sixty when the memorable Mid-Autumn gathering was held at
his estate in Changz hou. 6 The age of Shen Zhou in this case provides us
with grounds for discussing his attitude towards life and death because
as people enter their twilight years, their sense of physical mortality
usually becomes much stronger. Death is a main theme in Western
art but it is seldom represented in Chinese painting, especially in the
wenren hua (literati painting). However, this theme is central in Chinese
poetry. As a poet-painter, Shen Zhou wrote many poems about his
concern for mortality in his later years. For instance, he lamented the
death of the Emperor Hongzhi (reigned 1488-1505) in a poem: "Being
a weak man eighty years of age, my death is imminent. Getting the
news, hardly can I bear my pain ...."7
Shen Zhou also inscribed
on aportrait of himself at the age of eighty: "These eighty years have
been

52

THE DAOIST SYMBOLISM OF IMMORTALITY

totally unproductive! Yet is death now onl y ne xt door to me." Added
to this poem is an inscription saying: "Life and death are a dream, [my
body in] the world is like dust." 8
Facing the transience of physical life and the inevitability of death ,
Shen Zhou , like most human beings , desperately yearned for health
and longevit y. His wishes for long life are evident in one of his four
seasons poems: "The mutability of things stir my thoughts now and
again. Eagerly I intend to follow the immortals. Worrying in advance
about the degeneration of my body, I envy the southern mountain,
whose greenness looks forever young. "9 In order to keep the b
y
d
o
healthy and preserve its harmonious functions, Shen Zhou regularly
practiced jingzuo (quiet sitt ing ) , especia lly at midn ight. In his Night
Sitting of 149 2, now in the National Palace Museum in Taipei (figure 4 ) ,
he recorded the experience of attaining a state of outward quiescence
and inward repose through quiet sitting and meditation under the
moonlight. The long inscription on the painting notes:

53

MYRIAD POINTS OF VIEW

J.1 t .'9 f.... A? 4--tlJ :f.u,fl 1
t J_ iAi 'ltt.J.'.. t f.
:fi:1if 4i.Wf
,t ,f -:iJ" -t -1 t, :1k-i ..ft Ji.
) J.-tf'{t 1ij
,t

if...&.iJJ k1-t:t[ ii 17 fl\ :1--rli i\;.l! ft ,f;'f .t......-#l
,<._ '4 rIJ .
.J!!.
:"( ,tl,-:l_,t._"-Jj: fl I !J 11 Ri 1' :'¥[ (l" -!: ,<..i i!_" J. f,) 4
..,_

:f { ft

Af Ul

i ;t

*

.4 1t.:f

-! 1;

f ti!_ it ,._ -!' 'f -t tt.1 1:.:;: ·

fr ,itj /4, 1 .<# .,. ,t t

:

t. .r :11 R Rf•1 :f . -A·

Figure 3. Shen Zhou, Watching the Mid-Autumn Moon at Bamboo Villa,
dated 1486. Handscroll, ink on paper, calligraphy: 2 9 . 2 x 1006.5 cm.
The Roy and Marilyn Papp Collection. Photo by Craig Smith,
courtesy of Phoenix Art Museum.

On a cold night sleep is very sweet. I woke in the middle of the
night, my mind clear and unt roubled , and as I was unable to go
to sleep again, I put on my clothes and sat facing my flickering
lamp.... How great is the strength to be gained sitting in the night.
Thus, cleansing the mind, waiting alone through the long watches
by the light of a candle becomes the basis of an inner peace and of
an understanding of things. This, surely, will I attain .' 0
Shen Zhou's practice of jingzuo at midnight intended not only to
purify his mind but, most importantly, to strengthen his body to extend
his life span. He wrote in his Night Sitting in Hot Autumn: "Streams of
stars are falling on the horizon, and the night is passing away. I sit
long enough, that my mind is detached from human affairs. In fear of
aging as reflected in mir rors, I try to find ways to escape...." 11 This idea
of health practice springs from Daoist concepts of yangsheng (longevity
techniques) that direct the practitioner to meditate and regulate the
qi (vita I
energy) of the body at the hour of zi (n
pm to 1 am)." In
the Daoist text Taishang lingbao wufu xu (Explanation of the Five Talismans of Numinous Treas ure), it says: "The taking in of the essence of
the moon is done to nourish one's kid ney- root, that gray hair can be
turned black. It is good for one to meditate at midnight.. .."13 The quest
for

prolongation

of

life

remained

Shen

Zhou's

main reason for

practicingjingzuo, as shown in his Night Sitting in Early Autumn:

54

THE DAOIST SYMBOLISM OF IMMORTALITY

Figure 4. Shen Zhou,
Night Sitting, dated 1492.
Hanging scroll, ink and
colors on paper, 84.8 x
21.8 cm. National Palace
Museum, Taipei, Ta iwan ,
Republic of China.

55

MYRIAD POINTS OF VIEW
The white hair is falling like leaves, I scratch my head in panic.
All earthly things are no different from me, and anyhow the
universe is full of life.
Which house isn ' t under the moon light; which tree doesn't
make the autumn sound?
How thankful I am to the pure land , the crane is singing in my
cou rt ya rd. 14
In playful landscape paintings and poems, th e crane remains one of
Shen Zhou's favorite mot if s, charged with beautiful suggestions about
his desire for long life. Once he wrote for a daoshi (Daoist priest):
Green pine is a wooden friend, and white crane an immortal
courser.
These two have pure heart s, you can rely on their issues of
longevity.
The one who grows pines and rides cranes, treating life like little
games.
Longing for their bri llia nce, I sit and breathe the qi of heaven
and eart h.15
Not only did Shen Zhou practice jingzuo and do Daoist breathing
exercises, he also befriended Daoist priests and visited their temples
frequently. One of the priests , named Fang Zhiqing (died 1495) was
his life-long friend. Shen Zhou shows an excessive admiration for his
free and unfettered lifestyle in some poems, like the lines he composed in 1475: "Joy f ully he follows the immortals, traveling along
the east of the river.... He persuaded me to pursue the ultimate Dao,
whose abstruseness and silence are in tu ne to Heaven. I intend to
learn but acknowledge its intricacy, and my decrepit face turns red
without cause... ." 16 Although Shen Zhou could ha rd ly free his mind
from eart h ly concerns, in particular family respo nsibilities , to follow
his friend to become a priest, he nonethe le s s eagerly searched for a
tra nscende nta l life and considered himself a daoren (Daoist adept). He
wrote in one of his poems: "Being a Daoist adept, my thought is as pure
as water when I wake up. Leaning against a tall pine tree, I leisurely

count the homebound cra nes." 11
Shen Zhou sometimes even had
awild dream of becoming a Daoist immortal roaming in sylphdom on
a divine crane, which is indicated in a poem inscribed on a painting:

THE DAOIST SYMBOLISM OF IMMORTALITY
"Be ing an immortal on the crane in my previous incarnation, I was
punished to live on earth for a thousand years...."18
On a small painting in the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art (figure 5),
Shen Zhou depicts himself as a recluse scholar, accompanied by a crane
on his boat and welcomed by a pine tree in the foreground. According
to Michael Sullivan, the artist seemed to trave l home after visiting
the land of the im mort als .19 The crane, as an archetypical emblem of
Daoist immortality, is best described in the Xianghe jing (Text on the
Physiognomy of the Crane) of the Tang Dynasty:
It is a yang bird yet roams in the yin world. It goes through various
stages of transformation and takes one thousand and six hundred
years to complete its final transformation. Its wh ite feathered body
indicates the bird 's pure and clean nature. The red crown on its
head indicates that its calling reaches heaven . Its longevity is immeasurable... .They are the senior leader of birds and vehicle for
the im mort a ls.20

Figure 5. Shen Zhou, Scholar and Crane Returning Home. Album leaf
(one of six) mounted as a ha nd sc roll, ink on paper, 38.7 x 60.2 cm.
The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri.
Purchase: Nelson Trust, 46 -51/3 . Photo by Robert Newcombe.

57

MYRIAD POINTS OF VIEW
As Richard Edwards has pointed out, the crane is to be seen again
and again in Shen Zhou's paintings. In the Mid-Autumn handscroll in
Boston, as well as in the Tianjin one, this "immortal guest" was invited
to join the memorable literary gathering in the art ist 's Youzhu Zh uang. 21
The crane's appearances in domestic scenes are commonplace in Ming
literati paintings, like those created by the Wumen painters from
Changzhou, because the auspicious bird had its wintering grounds
in the Jiangsu area and had been raised and trained as a favorite
pet among scholars since ancient times_22 Its association with Daoist
immortality concepts is of great importance in understanding Shen
Zhou's art; however, this aspect has attracted little scholarly discussion
in the past. As Edward H. Schafer has observed, most westerners, until
recently, have regarded Daoism as superstition due to the influence
of the Qing rulers' revulsion against the native religion .23 The major
role of Daoist thought in Shen Zh ou's artistic creation, which offers a
source of imaginative themes, an ideal of transcendental spirit, and a
religious salvation of human mortality, is elucidated here for the first
time.
Like the Boston and the Tianjin scrolls, Watching the Mid -Autumn
Moon at Bamboo Villa in the Roy and Marilyn Papp Collection in
Phoenix is closely attached to Daoist immortality concepts. At the
end of the colophon in the Papp scroll, Shen Zhou signed as "Baishi
Weng " (White Stone Old Man ), an assumed name he started to use at fiftyeigh t. 24 This name, both literally and metaphorically related to hisfamous
sobriquet Shitian (field of stones), is distinctly inspired by the Daoist
immortal Baishi Sheng (Master White Stone ) , who decocted white
stones and used them as food for th e sake of longev it y.25 In the Taishang
lingbao wufu xu, an incantation recites:
The white stones, hard and rocky, are rolling on and on,
The gushing spring, bubbling and pervasive , becomes a thick
juice.
Drink it and attain long lifeLongevity forever longer!26
On an album leaf now in th e University Art Museum of Berkeley ,
the Daoist preoccupation with the magical and medical properties
of stones is demonstrated by Zhu Chang (circa 1620-1680), a sc hol arpainter active in the Suzhou region in the early Qing Dynasty. A
quatrain was written on the painting:
58

THE DAOIST SYMBOLISM OF IMMORTALITY

A lofty gentleman sits among the boulders;
Wind in the pines blows on nat u re 's pipes.
The cinnabar [pill] finished, heaven and earth expand;
Decocting stones, he nourishes his longev i ty. 27
Although Shen Zhou might not have followed the very dietetic
regimen, he was sufficiently infatuated by this Daoist idea that at least
four of his leisure seals were inscribed "Zh ush i Ting" which literally
means "Decocting Stones Pavilion." 28 The hidden import of the names
Baishi Weng and Shitian is also suggested in his Rhyme of Decocting
Stones: "See how the ground phosphate rock from Taishan can be
drunk, the cinnabar pellet from Fuling can be eaten .... If the Daoist
priest instructs me about the secret practices, I will cultivate the field
of stones for him ."29
Shen Zhou's vehement desire for prolongation of life is substantiated
in the case of the Papp scrol l by the identification of one special motif.
The object in the central figu re 's right hand, in spite of its almost imperceptible size and shape, is of paramount importance in deciphering
the painting (figure 6). Howard Rogers has suggested that the motif is

Figure

6. Detail

59

of

figure 2.

MYRIAD POINTS OF VIEW

a wine cup for toasting the full moon, probably with the literary reference to Shen Zhou's colophon .30 This assumption, however, becomes
dubious upon closer examination of the image, whose outline in fact
has a grass-like plant form. It is also unlikely that the central figure is
holding a cup in salute to the moon without the active participation
of his two partners. In light of Shen Zh ou's Daoist inclination and his
preoccupation with longevity, a new interpretation of the motif is
presented here. As a replacement for the crane in many of the artist's
paintings, Shen Zhou pictured himself in the Papp scroll as the central
figure holding in his right hand a potent lingzhi. Evidence for the new
interpretation of this symbolic motif is examined below.
In contrast to the two profile faces of the anonymous men directed
to the Mid-Autumn moon, the head of the central figure , with a
sketchy depiction of eyes and nose, appears distracted from the lovely
night scenery and turns outwards to give a subtle glance at the viewer.
This fronta I pose with a potential eye-engagement establishes a vi rtually continuous space as well as a psychic intercourse between the
sitter and the beholder. The rendering of the frontal figure in pictoria 1
a rt , according to Meyer Shapiro, is parallel to the grammatical form
of the first person, the role of "I" in speech with its complementary
"you. " It is therefore appropriate for such figures to be symbols or carriers of a specific message. 31 In the case of the Papp scroll, Shen Zhou
ingeniously poses himself as a frontal figure with his head slightly
turn ed , suggesting an eye-engagement with the viewer so as to draw
our attention to the symbolism of the lingzhi in his right hand and to
communicate some sense of his personal situation.
The lingzhi , known by the scientific name Ganoderma lucidum, is a
woody fungus deep brown in color with a lacquer-like sheen that grows
at the roots of trees in temperate zones (figure 7). This marvelous plant
has been a symbol of happy omen for thousands of yea rs in China,
bespeaking good fortune, great health, longevity , and even immortality." According to the Soushen ji (In Search of the Supernatural)
of the Eastern Jin period, the legendary Pengzu lived to be seven
hundred years old by consuming the cinnamon lingzhi.33 The idea of
the supernatu ral fungus with miraculous potency was first recorded
in the Li ji (The Book of Rites) of th e late Zhou or early Han per iods, in
which zhi is listed as a ritual food of empe rors." In the Shiji (Records
of the Grand Historian) of the Western Han period, Sima Qian (circa 145circa 90 BCE) noted the appearance of an auspicious fungoid plant
60

THE DAOIST SYMBOLISM OF IMMORTALITY

Figure 7. A tw in -lea fe d !ingzhi . Source: R. Gordon Wasson. Soma: Divine
Mushroom of Imm ortality. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanov ich , 1972 , plate 14.

MYRIAD POINTS OF VIEW

with nine stalks and leaves in an inner pavilion of the Ganquan Gong
(Palace of Sweet Springs ) , which was identified with the magic plant
zhi by the Emperor Wu. 35 The Eastern Han historian Ban Gu (32-9)
recorded the emperor's ode for the occasion and he himself wrote a
poem about this mystic fungus by using the term lingzhi:
Lingzhi grows with the settling dew ,
The sign of the three virtues, happy omen's picture fulfilled.
It prolongs lives and glorifies the capital.
It accompanies the Emperor on h igh , image of the Sky!
Image of the sun and the moon, it throws out bursts of light! 36

For the magical powers of the f u ngus , the Shennong bencao Jing
(Shennong's Materia Medica) of the Han Dynasty lists six kinds of
lingzhi among the shangyao (s uperior drugs) that have the effects of
making the body lighter, preventing old age, and attaining immortality.37
Both Shihuangdi (The First Emperor of the Qin , reigned 221-209
BCE) of the Qin Dynasty and the Emperor Wu are said to have sent
their necromancers to the Eastern Sea to search for the mystic fungus.
Although none of the expeditions proved fruitful, the idea of the
divine plant of immortality still fascinated many Chinese people in
ancient times. It was the Daoists who captured this lingzhi concept
and exploited it in their writings with whimsical imaginations. From
the Daoist source Shizhou Ji (Notes on Ten Continents) attributed
to Dongfang Shuo, the magic fungus not only prolongs life but also
revives the dead. 38 In another Daoist text Baopu zi (The Master Who
Embraces Simplicity) of the Eastern Jin period , Ge Hong (283-343)
provides a detailed description of various kinds of lingzhi, including
types identified as rock, wood, herb, flesh, and very small, whose
ingestion in powdered form confers longevity and deathlessness to
varying degrees. 39 The Taishang lingbao zhicao pin (The Classification of
the Supreme Numinous Treasure Fungi), an even more comprehensive
collection of 127 varieties of lingzhi with annotations and illustra tions ,
was published as part of the Zhengtong daozang (Daoist Canon of the
Zhengtong Reign) in 1445, and it became a popular catalog of the
divine plant of immortali ty.40 By the Ming Dynasty, the beliefs in the
miraculous potency of the magic fungus had been so deeply embedded
in Chinese culture that the lingzhi became a cliche in contemporary
writings and conversation.
62

THE DAOIST SYMBOLISM OF IMMORTALITY

Figure 8. Shen Zbou,
Lingzhi, Orchids, and
Magnolia, dated 1478.

Hanging scroll, ink and
colors on paper, 135.1 x
55.8 cm. National Palace
Museum , Taip ei, Taiwan,
Republic of China.

...,i•''

Shen Zhou, who fervently pursued longevity through cultivation of
life , was also mesmerized by the immortality concept of lingzhi . He once
recorded the discovery of the flesh lingzhi in his time:
On a cloudy day in the winter of yihai year, the mountain was
under construction. At the Leying Pond, an object was dug out of
the ground which looked like a baby's ruddy arm. After the object
was thrown away, an expert said that it was a sacred flesh lingzhi
which could extend human life indefinitely. What a pity! 41
Shen Zhou's keen interest in the magic plant is also expressed in
his poetry and painting. He wrote in a poem : "Look at the herbs in
front of the courtyard, how lively they are! I taste the lingzhi on the
rock, it's full of fragrance. Embracing the Dao, I wish to live as long
as the sky and earth." 42 In Shen Zhou's Lingzhi, Orchids, and Magnoliain the
National Palace Museum (figure 8), the three auspicious plants

MYRIAD POINTS OF VIEW
grow on a slope, with a Taihu shi situated in between. Together they
convey the artist's wish for long life. As an attribute that allies Shen
Zhou with Daoist immortality, the stone is always paired with lingzhi
in his painting. They form a rebus for "shiling" which signifies a "long
life like the stone" since the first syllable of the word /ingzhi is homophonous with "age."
The /ingzhi, a symbol of happy augury, has been endlessly represented in various art forms in China, from painting to carving, from
porcelain to embroidery, and from bronze mirrors to furniture. One
of the earliest examples of lingzhi in the history of Chinese pictorial
art is a first-century woven silk excavated in Noin-ula in 1924-1925.
The repeated design of the paradisiacal motif in the textile includes
a pair of jagged crags surmounted by two downward-peering birds,
a feathery plant derived from the Mesopotamian "Tree of Life ," and
a clumsy "poached-egg" form which is identified with the lingzhi by
some scho lars. 43 This magic fungus, rendered in a configuration of nine
stalks attached by flattened leaves, probably relates to the account of
the divine plant found in the Emperor Wu's palace. The so-called "zhi
jiujing" (/ingzhi with nine stalks) was a popular theme among artists in
traditional China, as embodied in the design of a Ming ink-cake made
by Cheng Jun fang (1573-after 1619), which is in the collection of the
Tokugawa Art Museu m.44
The iconography of lingzhi in association with the Daoist cult of
longevity can be traced back to the Han Dynasty when the belief in immortality was popularized. On an Eastern-Han stone coffer found in
Chengdu, two half-naked figures, assumed to be immortals with little
wings on their arms, are rowdily playing liubo, a popular board game
during the Han period . Behind them on the right is the divine plant
lingzhi, cultivated as food for the im mort a ls.45 For the Daoists , lingzhi is
an elixir of immortality and it can be found in the legendary Isles of the
Blest or in the sacred mountains. Ge Hong describes in his Baopuzi:
"These are all mountains which have gods of their own. Sometimes
earth genii are to be found there too. Magic fungi and herbs grow
here. They are good places in which to sit out war and catastrophe, not
merely to prepare med icines." 46 Fascinated by the idea of the magic
fungus, many Chinese painters have created fantastic pictures of the
Daoist adept gathering lingzhi in the mountains , such as Shen Zhou 's
The Bottle-Gourd Immortal in the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art (figure
9). The artist's inscription on the painting is:

THE DAO IST SYMBOLISM OF IMMORTALITY

Figure 9. Shen Zhou,
Bottle-Gourd lmmortal,

dated 1501. Hanging
scroll, ink and colors
on paper, 59.7 x 26.7
cm . The Nelson-Atkins
Museum of Art,
Kansas City, Missouri.
Purchase: Nelson
Trust, 47-69.

65

MYRIAD POINTS OF VIEW

This carefree immortal makes his home on
Penglai Isle and Fanghu Mountain;
Thatch-headed, hair a mess, a jolly face is always his.
You see how he is endowed with understanding so broad and
content;
It is the bottle gourd-there he preserves his vitality prist ine!

47

A hanging scroll of the Liao Dynasty, found in a Buddhist pagoda in
Shangxi province in 1974, also shows an herb immortal in search of
the magic fungus, holding one like a prize between the thumb and
forefinger. The figure, walking bare-foot down a hillside with a whole
set of equipment-pickax, double gourd, dragon-head staff, wicker
backpack, and straw hat-is probably the Daoist immortal Magu (Hemp
Lady) .48 Her id ent ity can be attested by a Yuan painting in the Museum
of Fine Arts, Boston, in which Magu, with her typical topknot, is also
dressed in a jacket of leaves and a rawhide cape while the lingzhi is
placed inside her basket. 49
According to some Daoist sources, Magu brewed a special wine
from lingzhi for Xiwangmu in celebration of the anniversary of her
birt h.50 It was therefore customary to present a portrait of the immortal to an old woman as a birthday gift in traditional China . Shen
Zhou made a composition of this kind in 1482.51 On the painting, now
in the Tianjin Art Museum, the artist's uncle Shen Zhen (1400-after
1482) inscribed the lin es: "Madame Lu is eighty this year. With a ruddy
complexion, her body is still strong.. .. Holding the banquet by the
Yao Lake and singing overnight, Ma Gu should be invited as guest of
honor." In fact Shen Zhou did many poems and paintings to celebrate
the birthdays of his friends, using images of lingzhi , white stone, crane,
bamboo, or pine to express good wishes for longevity. He composed a
poem entitled Purple Lingzhi and White Stone for Han Hu 's Birthday: "The
hard land knows the nature of stones , and the auspicious sky believes
the efficacy of lingzhi...." 52 In a painting dedicated to Zhu Qi in the
Zhejiang Art Museum collection, Shen Zhou even transformed himself
into a crane, presenting a lingzhi as a birthday gift to his friend seated
under the pine trees. 53
The symbolism of a crane holding in its beak a lingzhi is full of
literar y allusions. For insta nce, the Shizhouji recounts that during the
Qin Dynasty some mystic birds appeared carrying lingzhi in their bills.
When the magic fungus was dropped on the faces of the dead , they

66

THE DAOIST SYMBOLISM OF IMMORTALITY

sprang again to life. 54 The Daoists ' int e rest in the visual representation of
these auspicious symbols is manifested on a nineteenth-century
daopao (Daoist priest's robe ) . Woven in the red silk ground of the robe,
the large roundel design contains the motif of a crane with lingzhi
and sprigs of bamboo in its bea k.55
The lingzhi, crane, and
bamboo appear again in a hanging scroll by Shen Zhou in the
National Palace Museum in Taipei (figure 10). It was executed in
honor of the doctor Zhu Puan's birthday. Among all the symbols of
longevity represented in the painting, the sitter seems to be most
interested in the lingzhi at which he looks attentively.
The rendering of Zhu Puan , who is leaning at leisure on a mat,
reminds us of the figure in The Land of Immortals in the Cleveland
Museum of Art by Chen Ruyan (circa 1331-before 1371), the grandfather of Shen Zhou's first teacher Chen Kuan (1397-1473) .56 This Yuan
painting exemplifies the Daoist paradise ideal in an archetypical blue- andgreen , or jinbi (gold and verditer) style .57 Several formally atiredfigures
of benign appearance disport themselves against a background of
shadowy mountains amidst fantastic rocks and picturesque pines, teasing
the pet cranes, gathering the magic lingzhi, herding the sacred deer, or
riding a crane-like courser. Chen Ruyan's work should not have been
unfamiliar to Shen Zhou since both his son Chen Ji (1370- 1434) and his
grandson were teachers for the Shen fam ily, and this pain ting, though
presented to a military officer as a birthday gift, was later in the collection
of Chen Kuan .58 As Chu-tsing Li has suggested, Shen Zh ou's Lofty
Mount Lu, executed in 1467 in celebration of Chen Kuan's seventieth birt
hday, is a work influenced by both Wang Meng (1310-1385) and Chen
Ruyan .59
Unlike the painting by Chen Ruyan, in which lingzhi grow sporadically in the land of im mortals, Shen Zhou's Fields of th e Fungus of
Longevity (figure n),
a handscroll in the Palace Museum in Beijng,
gives a different picture of this magic f ungus . He reinterprets the legendary fields of lingzhi on the Mount Kunlun as a contemporary rural
farm where the divine plant of immortality is cultivated as if it were
an ordinary grain .6 0 The way Shen Zhou sketches the outlines of the
lingzhi, especially the sprouting ones in th is work, is identical to that
in his raised right hand in the Watching the Mid-Autumn Moon at Bamboo
Villa. The image of a scholar holding a fungus like a prize, as represented in the Papp scroll and in a painting by another Ming artist Chen
Hongshou (1598-1652) (figure 12), is a distinctive visual representation

MYRIAD POINTS OF VIEW

Figure 10 . Shen Zhou. Lingzhi and Crane. Undated, detail.
Hanging scroll, ink and colors on silk . 175.5 x 89.9 cm.
National Palace Muse u m, Ta ipe i, Ta iw a n, Republic of Ch in a .

68

THE DAOIST SYMBOLISM OF IMMORTALITY

Figure 11. Shen Zhou , Fields of the Fungus of Longevity, dated 1493, detail.
Handscroll, ink and colors on paper , painting: 31.5 x 156 cm.
The Palace Museum , Beijing.

of the quest for immortality that derives from the iconographic tradition of the herb gatherer, as pictured in the Liao painting of Magu.
There is little doubt that the so-called caizhi tu (picture of gathering
lingzhi) had been a popular theme among Chinese painters by the tenth
century. According to the Xuanhe huapu (Xuanhe painting catalog),
the Southern Tang painter Gu Deqian (active circa 960-circa 975) did
two figure paintings of the lingzhi gathere r.61 Although these works
do not survive, the iconography of the theme is well-preserved in the
Sancai tuhui (Tripartite Picture Assembly), a Ming encyclopedia of arts
and crafts that Wang Qi (1565-1514) compiled from older illustrated
books, in which caizhi tu is listed as one of the most common themes
in painting. Another illustration in the same book also portrays the
Daoist immortal Leiyin Weng (Old Man Leiyin) finding a lingzhi with
the help of the sika deer (figure 13). 6 2
The elegant, if not feminine, way Leiyin Weng holds the lingzhi,
pinching the stalk lightly between his thumb and forefinger, is a gesture
of profound iconographic sign ificance. 63 This is the way women or
Buddhist figures present their floral attributes, as shown in the Goddess
Offering Flowers by the Song painter Liu Songnian ( circa 1150-after
1225) now in the National Palace Museum in Taipei. 6 4 Painters like Wu
Wei (1459-1508) of the early Ming period, however, preferred a more
manly and solemn approach to the representation of the lingzhi-h olde r.
In his Herb Immortal (figure 14), also in the National Palace Museum
collection, the figure draws back his arm near his chest and grips the

MYRIAD POINTS OF VIEW

Figure 12. Attributed
to Chen Hongsbou
(1598-1652 ) . Sage

Cont emplat ing Lingzh i,
undated. Hanging
scroll, ink on paper,
103 x 48.5 cm. Weng
Wan-go Collection,
New Hampshire.
Photo courtesy of the
collector.

magic fungus with both fingers while gazing ahead in contemplation.
This gesture is often seen in the depiction of Daoist immortals or Buddhist deities holding the ruyi (as you wish) scepter. Another painting
by Wu Wei in the same museum, entitled Immortal of the Northern Sea,
shows that a lingzhi-shaped ruyi scepter is carried in a closed-form
gesture by the Daoist legendary figure Ruo Shi of the Qin Dynast y.65
Shen Zhou shows his great interest in Wu Wei's painting and its Daoist
subject by inscribing a poem on it: "Do you know the immortal of

the Northern Sea? He rides on the sacred tortoise and eats clams....
Holding his breath by the Daoist longevity technique, the immortal
has passed nine thousand years...."

70

THE DAOIST SYMBOLISM OF IMMORTALITY
The scepter, origina lly used as a tanbing (discussion stick) by
orators or monks, became associated with lingzhi and its Daoist longevity symbolism after the Tang Dynasty.•• Most of the Ming and Qing
ruyi scepters were carved in the standard shape of lingzhi and were
believed to have magical powers to grant wishes. The similarity of their
shapes sometimes makes it difficult to identify these two motifs in later
Chinese painting. In a portrait of Qian long (reigned 1735-1796) (figure
15) , the Qing emperor is dressed like a Daoist priest, and the object in
his right hand can either be a ruyi scepter or a lingzhi. 67 Ruyi scepters
were treasured by Chinese wenren as auspicious playthings during the
Ming and Qing periods. In scholars' studios, they were frequently placed
in ping (vases) on an (tables), which make the rebus for pingan ruyi,
symbolizing peace and fulfilled wishes. 68

Figure 13. Illustration
of Leiyin Weng from
Sancai tuhui, 1715.

Woodblock-printed
book, ink on paper, 20.8
x 13.2 cm. Source: John
A. Goodall. Heaven and
Eart h : A/bum Leaves from
a Ming Encyclopedia.

Boulder: Shambhala,
1979, 161.

71

MYRIAD POINTS OF VIEW

For the formal resemblance between ruyi scepter and lingzhi, the
rendering of the magic plant in a vase undoubtedly suggests the same
symbolic meaning, like that depicted in an anonymous painting in the
Freer Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. 69 The long inscription about
Daoist longevity on this Ming painting attests to the symbolism of
lingzhi in the vase. Another obvious case is a handscroll on the Daoist
theme of longevity by Xie Shichen (1487-circa 1560) of the Ming Dynasty now in the Museum Rietberg in Zurich. The Ming painter, who
is said to have followed the idea of Shen Zhou, creates a wonderland
with reference to an ancient poem entitled Qi Ao (Banks of the River
Qi). On the terrace by the river, a sika deer is presenting a lingzhi to a
seated scholar, who places a vase of magic fungi on the table to exhibit
his wishes for peace and long life. 70
In Watching the Mid-Autumn Moon at Bamboo Villa in the Roy and
Marilyn Papp Collection, Shen Zhou might have played on the same
rebus by placing the figures in the Pingan Ting and posing himself as

:n.,.
t

lfi

Figure 14. Wu Wei
(1459-1508), Herb Immortal.
Hanging scroll, ink
on silk , 58.3 x 26.6 cm.
National Palace Museum,
Ta ipei , Taiwan, Republic
of

China.

72

Figure 15. Attributed to
Lang Shining. Hongli, the
Future Qian/ong Emperor,
Gathering Fungus, dated

1734. Hanging scroll, ink
on paper, 204 x 133 cm . The
Palace Museum, Beijing.

a lingzhi-holde r.11 Metaphorically allied to the blessing pingan ruyi and
typologically associated with the pictures of the Daoist immortal. the
Papp scroll is by no means an improvisation but, rather, a well-thoughtout work, rich in content, deep in emotion, and specific in time. Shen
Zhou leaves out the more obvious emblems in this personal creation
and invests the "snapshot" of the specific Mid-Autumn gathering with
the hidden Daoist symbolism, whose subtlety and understatement are
in perfect conformity with the Chinese wenren hua ideal. Veiled behind
a simple and lucid composition, the intriguing symbol of lingzhi is of
prime importance in the Papp scroll. Like the famous discussion of a
man tipping his hat in its iconological context by Erwin Pano fsky, 72
the identification of the central figure holding a lingzhi leads to the
interpretative level of intrinsic meaning, revealing not only the artist's
attitude towards life and death but also the Weltanschauung of Chinese
wenren in the Ming Dynasty-a passionate desire for immortality.

73

MYRIAD POINTS OF VIEW

Notes
Unless otherwise indicated, all translations of Chinese sources are my own.
1. For the discussions of the Boston scroll in English publications, see Osvald

Siren, Chinese Paintings in American Collections, volume 5 (Paris and Brusse ls:
G. van Oest, 1928), 86, plate 164; Hugo Munsterberg, A Short History of
Chinese Art (New York: Philosophical Library , 1949 ) , 177, plate 47; Richard
Edwards and Tseng Hsien-chi, "Shen Chou at the Boston Museum,"
Archives of the Chinese Art Society of America 8 (1954): 31-45, plate 1; James
Ca h i ll, Chinese Painting (Geneva: Skira, 1960 ), 128-129, plate 66; Richard
Edwards, The Field of Stones: A Study of the Art of Shen Chou ( Wash in gton, DC:
2.

Smithsonian Institution, 1962), 26-31, plate 14.
The Be ijing scroll was formerly in the Palace Museum collection and its
present whereabouts is unknown. It is listed in Zhongguo gudai shuhua
jianding zu, editor. Zhongguo gudai shuhua tumu, volume 1 (Beijing: Wenwu
Chubanshe, 1986), 7, plate 1/012. The Tianjin scroll, who se authenticity is
doubted, is li sted in Tianjin Art Museum , Tianjinshi Yishu Bowuguan Canhua
Ji, volume 2 ( Be ijing: Wenwu Chubanshe, 1963) , 13 -18.

3. According to the New York dealer and schola r, Howard Rogers, the Papp
scroll was previously owned by a Ch i nese collecto r in Beijing.
4. Howard Rogers , "Shen Chou ( 14 27-1509 )," Kaikodo Journal 6 (1996): 18-21, 209210; Ju-hsi Chou, Journeys on Paper and Silk: The Roy and Marilyn Papp Collection of

Chine se Painting (Phoenix: Phoenix Art Muse um , 1998) , 18-21. Despite these

publications, many new books on Shen Zhou still have not included
handscroll.

this

5. Translation from Ju-hsi Chou, with a change of wording in t he title of the
handscroll lrom "enjoying" to "watching." Journe ys on Paper and Silk, 20.
6. A discussion on the phrase "Laofu laoji liushi nian" in the poem, which
i nd icates the age of Shen Zhou when the literary gathering was he ld, is
offered by Ju-hsi Chou, Journeys on Paper and Silk, 18.
7. Shen Zhou, Shitian Shixuan (1781; reprint, Shanghai: Shanghai Guj i

Chubanshe, 1987), 624.
8. Quoted from Richard Vinograd with changes, Boundari es of the Self Chinese
Portr aits 1600-1900 (New Yo rk: Cambridge University Press , 1992 ) , 28-29 .
9. Shen Zhou, Shitian Xiansheng Ji (1615; repr int , Taipei: Guoli Zhongyang
Tushuguan, 1968), 214.
10. Translation from Edwa rds , The Field of Stones, 57.
11. Shen , Shitian Shixuan, 567.

74

THE DAOIST SYMBOLISM OF IMMORTALITY
12. For a discussion of Daoist meditation practices and breathing exercises

in the Ming Dynasty, see Liu Ts'un -ya n, "Tao ist Se lf-Cult ivation in Ming
Thought ," in Self and Society in Ming Thought, Wm. Theodore de Bary, editor
(New York: Columb ia University Press, 1970), 293-297.
13. Translation from Liu, "Taoist Self -Cul tivat io n," 294 .
14. Shen, Shitian Shixuan , 567.
15. Shen Zhou, Shitian Gao (1506; reprint, Shanghai: Shangha

i Gu ji Chubanshe,

1987), 520.
16. Shen , Shitian Xiansheng Ji, 199-200.
17. Shen Zhou, Shitian Xiansheng Shichao (1644; re pr i nt, Tainan: Zhuangyan

Wenhua, 1997), 116.
18. Shen , Shitian Shixuan, 689.
19. Michael Sullivan, The Arts of China ( revised edition, Be rkeley and Los

Ange les: University of Ca li forn ia Press, 1973 ), 195 .
20. Translation from Song Houmei, "Images of the Crane in Chin e se Paint in g,"

Oriental Art 44.3 (1998 ), 14.
21. Edwards, The Field of Stones, 23-25.
22. Edward H. Schafer, "Th e Crane of Mao Shan," in Tantric and Taoist Studies:

In Honour of R. A. Stein, volume

2,

Michae l Strickmann, edito r ( Bru ssels:

In st itu t Beige des Hautes Etudes Ch inoises, 1983), 379.
23. Edward H. Schafer, Mirages on the Sea of Time: The Taoist Poetry of Ts'ao T'ang
(Berkeley and Los Angeles : University of Ca l if orn ia Press, 1985), 2-3 .
24. Jian g Zh ao -shen, Wen Zh engming yu Suzhou huatan (Taip ei: National Palace

Museum, 1977), 21.
25. Lionel Giles, tra nsla tor, A Gallery of Chinese Immortals ( Lond on: John

Murray, 1948), 7-8, 18.
26. Tra nslat io n from Livia Kohn, editor, The Taoist Experience: An Anthology

( Al bany : State University of New York, 199 3), 149.
27. Tra nslati on from Scarlett Jang, "Zhu Chang and an Unidentified Master,"

in Shadows of Mt. Huang: Chinese Painting and Printing of the Anhui School,
James Ca hi ll, editor ( Berke ley: University Art Museum, Berkeley, 1981),
89. The quatrain clearly indicates the pa i ntin g's relation to Daoist alchemy.

However, Scarlett Jang believes that th e stove is used to heat wine or
tea-water and the poem is irrelevant to the picture.
28. For these four leisure sea ls, see Victoria Contag and Wang Ch i-ch ie n, Seals

of Chinese Painters and Collectors of the Ming and Ching Periods (1940 ; revised,

with an int rod uction by James Ca hill , Hong Kong: Hong Kong University
Press, 1966 ), 167, 659; Zhuang Yan and others, Jin Tang yilai shuhuaijia
jianshangjia kuanyin pu, volum e 2 (Hong Kong: Yiwen Chuba nshe, 1991). 133.

75

MYRIAD POINTS OF VIEW
29. Shen, Shitian Shixuan, 725.
30. Rogers, "'Shen Chou," 18.
31. Meyer Shapiro also points out that in many pictures of the frontal figure
the head is turned slightly, which is exactly the case of the centra l figure
in the Phoenix scroll. Words and Pictures: On the Literal and the Symbolic in the
Illustration of a Text (The Hague: Mouton, 1973), 38-39.
32. The origin of the symbolism of lingzhi is uncertain. Michael Sullivan
regards it as indigenous to China while R. Gordon Wasson believes that the
fungal symbolism came from India and was a literary reflection of soma.
Michael Sullivan, The Birth of Landscape Painting in China (Berkeley and Los
Angeles : University of California Press, 1962), 178-180; R. Gordon Wasson,
Soma: Divine Mushroom of Immortality (New York: Harcourt, Brace & World,

1968), 80-81.
33. For the tales about Pengzu, see Kenneth J. DeWoskin and J. I. Crump, Jr.,
translators, In Search of the Supernatural: The Written Record (Stanford:
Stanford University Press, 1996), 2-3.
34. Wasson, Soma, 82.
35. Burton Watson, translator, Record of the Grand Historian of China , volume 2
(New York: Colombia Un iversity Press, 1961), 63.
36. Translation from Wasson, Soma, 89.
37. Sun Xingyan and Sun Fengy i, editors, Shennong ben cao Jing (1891; reprint,
Taipei: Taiwan Zhonghua Shuju, 1976), 23.
38. Kohn, The Taoist Experience, 49.
39. James R. Ware, Alchemy, Medicine, Religion in the China of AD 320: TheNei
P'ien of Ko Hung (Pao-p·u Tzu) (Cambridge: The MIT Press, 1966), 179-185.
40. Zh eng tong Daozang, volume 57 (1444-1445; reprint, Taipei: Xinwenfeng
Chubanshe, 1988), 543-575.
41. Shen Zhou, Shitianweng Kezuo Xinwen (Shanghai: Shanghai Guji
Chubanshe, 1995), 165.
42. Shen , Shitian Xiansheng Ji, 483.
43. Both William Willetts and Michael Sull ivan accept the identification of the
lingzhi , and Gordon Wasson even suggests that the bird in the textile is the
crane. William Willetts, Chinese Art, volume 1 (Harmondsworth: Penguin
Books, 1958), 290-292; Michael Su ll ivan, The Birth of Landscape Painting in
Chin a, 52-54; and Wasson, Soma , 89-92.
44. See Kogoku: Old Carbon Ink-sticks in the Togugawa Ari Museum (Kyoto:
Shidosha, 1991), plate 245.
45. Michael Sulliva n, The Birth of Landscape Painting in Chin a, 68, plate 86.
46. Ware, Alchemy, M edicine, Religion in the China of AD 320, 94.

THE DAOIST SYMBOLISM OF IMMORTALITY
47. Trans lat ion from Marc F. Wilson, Eight Dynasties of Chinese Painting: The

Collection of the Nelson Gallery-Atkins Museum, Kansas City, and the Cleveland
Museum of Art ( Cle vela nd: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1980), 190.
48. See Susan Nelson, "Revisiting the Eastern Fence: Tao Qian's

Chrysanthemums," The Art Bulletin 133.3 (2001): 448.
49. A brief account of th is painting is given by Wu Tung, Tales from the Land of

Dragons:

1000

Years of Chinese Painting (Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, 1997),

232.
50. Cheng Yin, editor, Zhongguoshenxian huaxiangJi (Shanghai: Shanghai Guji

Chubanshe, 1996) , 261.
51. Shan Guoqiang, ed itor, Shen zhou Jingping Ji (Beijing: Renmin Meishu

Chuba ns he), plate 9.
52. . Shen , Shitian Shixuan, 643.
53. See Shan, Shen Zhou Jingping Ji, plate 50.
54. Kohn, The Taoist Experience, 49.
55. Stephen Little, Daoism and the Arts of China (Chicago: The Art Institute of

Chicago, 2000), 198, plate 51.
56. See Wai-kam Ho, Sherman E. Lee, Laurence Sickman and Marc F. Wil son,

Eight Dynasties of Chinese Painting, 139-140, plate 114 .
57. The qinglu or Jinbi style that Chen Ruyan applied in his Land of the

Immortals was originally developed by Li Sixun (65 1-716 ) and his son in

the Tang Dynasty . This painting style became specifically devoted to the
representation of Daoist paradise scenes and the very minerals of pigments
were ingredients cherished by the alchem ists. See Claud ia Brown, "Ch'en
Ju-yen and Late Yuan Painting in Suchou" (Ph.D. dissertation, University
of Ka nsas, 1985), 145-150.
58. Chen Ji was the teacher of Shen Zhou's father and uncle, and the painting

Land of the Immortals was given to Pan Yuanming (died 1382), a military

chief under whom Chen Ruyan served . See Brown, "Ch'en Ju-yen and Late
Yuan Painting in Suchou, " 78-79, 184, 237.
59. Chu-tsing Li, "Shen Zhou zaonian de fazban," in Wumen huapai

yanJiu,

Gugong Bowuyuan, editor ( Be iji ng: Zijincheng Chubanshe, 1993) , 201-20 2.
60. For the le genda ry fields of lingzhi fungus, see William F. Mayers, Chinese
Reader's Manual (1874; reprint, Shanghai: American Presbyterian Press,
1910), 116-117.
61. Xuanhe huapu (1120; reprint, Taipei: Shijie Shuju, 1962), 130.
62. Cheng, Zhongguo shenxian huaxiang Ji, 112.
63. The gesture of holding flowers or lingzhi and its symbolic meanings in
Chinese pic to ria l art is explored by Susan E. Nelson in her two articles.

77

MYRIAD POINTS OF VIEW
"Tao Yuanming's Sashes: Or, the Gendering of Immortality," Ars Orienta/is
29 (1999): 15-27; "Revisiting the Eastern Fence," 447-449.
64. Zhongguo chuanshi renwuhua, volume 1 (Beijing: Beijing Shudian, 2004), 88.
65. Masterpieces of Chinese Figure Painting in the National Palace Museum (Taipei:
National Palace Museum, 1973), 148-149, plate 35.
66. See Stephen Little, Spirit Stones of China (Ch icago: The Art Institute of
Chicago, 1999), 85.
67. Richard Vinograd identifies the motif as lingzhi; however, it looks like a ruyi
scepter as well. Boundaries of the Self 71.
68. The rebus pingan ruyi has been discussed by several scholars . Edouard
Chava n nes, The 5 Happinesses: Symbolism in Chinese Popular Art, Elaine
Spaulding Atwood, translator (New York & Tokyo: Weatherhill, 1973) , 19;
Fang Jing Pei and others, Treasures of the Chinese Scholar (New York & Tokyo:
Weatherhi ll, 1997), 137.
69. Thomas Law ton, Chinese Figure Painting (Washington DC: Freer Gallery of
A rt, 1973), 161.
70. For a discussion of Xie Shichen's handscroll, see Chu-tsing Li. A Thousand
Peaks and Myriad Ravines: Chinese Paintings in the Charles A. Drenowatz
Collection (Ascona: Artibus Asiae Pub li shers , 1974), 19-22.

71. In many of Shen Zhou's poems, he wrote about his Youzhu Zhuang. Since
none of his poems mentions the existence of the Pingan Ting, the structure
in the Papp scroll is probably fabricated by the artist to play on the rebus
Pingan ruyi.

72. On the iconological level of int erpretat ion, Erwin Panofsky illustrates that
the man who tips his hat is re-enacting a gesture dating from the Middle
Ages, when a knight in armor would remove his helmet to signify peaceful
intentions. Studies in Iconology: Humanistic Themes in the Art of the Renaissance
(New Yo rk : Oxford University Press, 1939), 3-4.