Yan Liben (c. 600–673) was a Tang dynasty painter who we can point to as a genuine Tang artefact creative. Liben was sandwiched between the archetypal artwork figures of Gu Kaizhi (345-406 CE) and Zhou Fang (730-800 CE) during a time of greater acceptance of foreign influnces from Mahayana Buddhism and the incorporation of female divinity figures in art.[1][7] This particular Bijin or Meiren post examines the Buddhist Guan Yin connection to the ruling elite known to us as the Rouged Bijin who employed Buddhism, such as Wu Zetian to enact the creation of the Drunken Lotus Beauties of Zhou Fang. Liben is our intermediary guide throughout the Sui and early Tang Dynasty into the creation of Chinese Tang Beauty Standards into distinctively feminine lead and codified outer Mei, in a shift away from earlier Inner Mei beauty standards found in the patriarchal Metaphorical Beauty of the Lotus and Tacit Bijin. This saw a rise in feminine stories, poetry, roles and the importance of feminine aesthetic as a result, leading to the Golden Age of Classical Chinese Art which so inspired the Onna-E of Heian Japan.
I deeply apologise to myself for not meeting my own schedule, but as usual, life decided to get in the way.
Art Theory on the Meiren
Art Scholars and Chinese Aestheticians held deeply patriarchal notions of beauty. Whilst men and non-binary figures could be considered beauties, to espouse this publicly would have have a big no-no. Instead beauty was said to only morally acceptable as Dai Mei, or Great Beauty from the Inside influenced by the Dao (Way) teachings. This being the Lotus Bijin who nonetheless was codified as a beauty, and this was translated into the poetry and Yuefu of the Han Dynasty in the Male version of reality. In actual reality, female beauty was cunningly hidden and celebrated in the Yuefu and everyday discourse (see Ye Xian for example). We known this because of evidence like Han burial tomb murals which whilst espousing these pious inner beauty mantras, rather heavily display visibly flamboyant outer beauty in sporadic feminine and male images to display their tomb owners wealth and taste.
However with exposure to outside influence and cultures (such as Buddhism) over the course of centuries beginning in the Han through to the Sui, these ideals began to change and developed into the Drunk Lotus Meiren type. The Drunken Lotus was a beauty who was enabled to exist as the power dynamics of the Tang leaned heavily into the female, drawing on the influence of Yuefu, Gongti and everyday styles of espousing beauty ideals to create the Tang beauty ideal immortalised by the later standards of Zhou Fang of plump, rounded red Chinese women and men.[2] Liben's works situates itself in the early transitory phase of the Tang and is therefore of interest to us of what proto-Meiren beauty standards would be for that time at the height of the golden age of Classical Chinese Art.
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Palace Figure painter
Liben is primarily known for his 13 emperor scroll and then the Lingyan Pavilion. In this capacity, he was known primarily in his lifetime for portrait and figure painting. Many of his figures were historical figures. Supposedly much of his work has been speculated to revolve around celestial and prophetic themes related to Chinese mysticism and Tang understanding of the cosmos. One of his works is found in the Mogao caves for example, which famously is known for its burial figures and for our purposes, Meiren.[1]
These portraits were often life size, but not life-like. Whilst women at the timer were still considered property to be bought and sold, they most certainly held sway over 'men' who were mostly only capable of 'boy stuff'.[2] Increasingly, this meant depicting figures such as gods of war attendants as female, and appropriating the tales of female figures in foreign cultures and religions such as Yasodhara to express the 'boy stuff' women were capable of, and most often just did.[2] It was in the 5th century about that the testosterone wore off long enough for stability to come about, enabling the arts to enter an age of flourishing which would become the golden age of Chinese art.[1]
Liben was a heavily involved palace official. His family grew up in Chang'an surrounded by the best the current emperor had to offer in Art. The entire Liben family had artistic bents, mostly with a focus on architecture. Liben's early years were spent in the service of the Emperor working with his elder brother on palace architectural commissions, heavily involving tombs which may have influenced his themes focusing on the afterlife and heaven and the stars in his later years. The bent of his beauties is both a conundrum of the feminine, masculine and androgynous. His work may particularly understood of his early work, as being informed by the Metaphorical Beauty standards of Kaizhi, but comes with the caveat of being made during a time most of his audience and patrons may have been female.[1]
Guan Yin
Many examples of female figures are extant by Liben, but this is the Bijin series so I have focused on his Guan Yin depiction. Guan Yin is a Bodhisattva associated with compassion. It is believed in Mahayana Buddhism, which is practised in China, Tibet, Vietnam and Cambodia, that Guan Yin is a highly influential Bodhisattva, or one who has abstained from Buddhahood to teach enlightenment throughout Samsara to widen the Sangha. Guan Yin is said to place the dying into the heart of a lotus and send them on to the Western Pure Land (Sukhāvatī). Guan Yin or Avalokitasvara (a borrowing from Sanskrit into Traditional Chinese) is depicted as female in East Asian Buddhism, in Japan as Kannon and Korea as Gwaneum. The Chinese translation roughly connotes 'The One who Perceives the Cries of Beings in need of Help' to describe the Bodhisattva role Guan Yin carries in the Lotus Sutra, Chapter 25 as bearer of humans to the Pure Land at the Tenth Bhumi (state of consciousness, closest one to Buddhahood).[4] The famous Mantra, Aum mani padme hum (Praise to the jewel in the lotus) refers to Guan Yin's work in this capacity.[3]
It is said that in certain cannon, Guan Yin attained Buddhahood before Gautama (the popular one) and stayed back just to let others also attain enlightenment, which is were the compassion element of Guan Yin's character traits come in. Other texts describe incarnations as the Great Protector of all sentient beings and Great Contemplator.[3] Indian sites of Buddhahood are said to be Mount Potalaka, in Chinese Buddhism it is said that Guan Yin reached enlightenment around Mount Putuo where Liben's Guan Yin lies in situ.[3][4] Guan Yin as understood in Liben's time certainly was what we today know as genderfluid.[4] The Lotus sutra, then a relatively new introduction to a new religion for many given the introduction of Buddhism in 150 CE to China from India/Nepal made Guan Yin a popular figure among men and women, particularly the elites of Sui Dynasty Imperial China.[4]
Liben's Guan Yin is most likely male oriented as a beauty and it is interesting in this sense that Guan Yin is depicted in such a way. Liben's depiction has the trademark characteristics of a moral enlightened figure, long earlobes, elaborate headdress and focused eyes which look upon those in suffering. The more interesting aspect of Liben's mural is that of the decorative beauty standard elements. The many flying ribbons are highly linked to the Gui Yi (flying ribbon swallow tail style) popular in dynasties gone by and the rotund silhouette and half exposed chest. This more androgynous figure belies an understanding of the compassion of both masculine and feminine wiles, beset in Chinese beauty standards. And what looks like a pot belly, but equally is probably something more than that. Indeed it points to the link that in ode to the ruling female elites of the time; Wu Zetian (624-705 CE) for example; Liben's Guan Yin may have links to female Tibetan Buddhist figures such as Pāṇḍaravāsinī (पाण्डरवासिनी) an incarnation of a Vidyārājñī (Wisdom Queen) from 500 CE.[4][5]
In this way, we may understand Guan Yin as being revered by her female Chinese Buddhist devotees as a leader in the new understanding of female participation and almost emancipation of female liberty and embodied power. In this way, Liben's Guan Yin is not just a beautiful adrogynous figure, but a moral figure who bestows compassionate forgiveness upon the feminine, a byway allegory for the forgiveness of the feminine for the fragile male ego of the time to enable a greater overtaking and space for the feminine to exist in public. In other words, Guan Yin was a stand-in figure of beauty and a precursor or proto-Meiren figure which female devotees and patrons could lavish their adorations upon to develop their pent up frustations, wordly desires and needs whilst being safely assumed to be forgiven and developing their ethical and moral endeavours. A sort of safe space mixed with a confession box for the early Drunk Lotus Beauty, bored Imperial Chinese housewife type.
Indeed Guan Yin in the hands of Liben becomes virtually feminine coded, given a sort of 'S-shape' which almost looks like a woman with a pregnant belly, hidden chest and attire worn mostly by women at the time.[7] Indeed it has been noted that from the this time, as evidenced by Liben's stele, Guan Yin was often depicted as feminine in that they often began depicting Guan Yin holding a willow branch to bolster the connotation of birth and rebirth, forgiveness and compassion with Guan Yin.[7] This combined with the flowing ribbons, jewels and fleshy face standard for women from Gongti poetry lead contemporary Chinese art critics to note Libens leaning to the feminine, a far cry from Kaizhis benevolvent women types which upheld the matron and aggressive stereotypes. The S shaped silhouette was introduced and with it came the influx of Zetian and feminine beauty standards as being in vogue.[7]
This gave rise to the popularity of offshoots of Bodhisattva Meiren figurine's and heroes affiliated with local pilgrimage sites which Guan Yin was said to have blessed, giving birth to their affiliated local heroines in the area. In this way we can clearly understand the motivations for Liben to paint a woman like figure in his stele. The Bodhisattva was uniquely made feminine coded in China to reflect the patronage of a female Emperor, who supposedly passionately watched down upon worldly beings and fostered their rebirth. Guan Yin was an androgynous beauty who surpassed the Inner Beauty and was a sort of Beauty Incarnate. A beauty who existed to spread beauty in the world.[8]
Bodhisattva Bijin
In context therefore, we can see how the evolution of Chinese Buddhist devotees understand Guan Yin to be a goddess of mercy and compassion. As an omniscient Bodhisattva, they are clearly a figure who women could certainly call upon in times of despair, fear and uncertainty to forgive their worldly material transgressions. Indeed Buddhist undertakings were often picked up by the Rouged Bijin in a bid to have a moral shield with which to battle the Metaphorical Damei of Kaizhi's Benevolent Women types. These were midway roles undertaken in the emancipation of beauty standards during the time of the push for outer beauty seen in the explicit work of Zhou Fang, in comparison to the moral work of Liben whose beauties often followed the beauty standards of the Gongti and Yuefu beauties of the day, e.g. Ye Xian, Xi Shi types who men may have ascribed to Inner beauty types, even if they worked as spies, protagonists and sex workers.[2] Instead Liben records for us the evolving acceptance of outer feminine beauty which the Tang roundly celebrated and which was given a moral gloss in the guise of Buddhism and other foreign influences to provide the basis for the creation of these mostly venerative and aesthetic images of beauty and bodily pleasures in sites and images like Liben's Guan Yin at Mount Putuo.[6][7]
Bibliography
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yan_Liben
[2] See Bijin #20.
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avalokite%C5%9Bvara
[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guanyin
[5] https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/pandaravasini
[6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Putuo
[7] Ambiguity of the Gender of Avalokiteśvara in the Sui-Tang period: A Comparative Study of India & China, Huang Lele, 2021, Volume 1, Number 1, Online, pp.31-42, Journal of History, Art and Archaeology, Academic Research Foundations India | See https://arfjournals.com/image/57413_4_huang.pdf
[8] Kuan yin ; The Chinese transformation of Avalokitesvara, Chün-fang Yü, 2001, pp.291-296
Bijin Series Timeline
11th century BCE
- The Ruqun becomes a formal garment in China (1045 BCE); Ruqun Mei
8th century BCE
- Chinese clothing becomes highly hierarchical (770 BCE)
3rd century BCE
Xi Shi (flourished c201-900CE); The (Drunken) Lotus Bijin
2cnd century BCE
- The Han Dynasty
1st century BCE
Wang Zhaojun (active 38 - 31 BCE) Intermediary Bijin
0000 Current Era
1st century
- Han Tomb portraiture begins as an extension of Confucian Ancestor Worship; first Han aesthetic scholars dictate how East Asian composition and art ethics begin
- Isometric becomes the standard for East Asian Composition (c.100); Dahuting Tomb Murals
- Ban Zhao introduces Imperial Court to her Lessons for Women (c106); - Women play major roles in the powerplay of running of China consistently until 1000 CE, i influencing Beauty standards
- Buddhism is introduced to China (150 CE)
- Qiyun Shengdong begins to make figures more plump and Bijin-like (c.150) but still pious
Diao Chan (192CE); The Outer Bijin
2cnd century
- Yuefu folk ballads inspire desirable beauty standards of pining women ; Tacit Bijin
4th century
Gu Kaizhi (active 364-406); Metaphorical Beauty
- Buddhism is introduced to Korea (c.372)
- Chinese Artists begin to make aesthetic beauties in ethereal religious roles of heavenly Nymphs
- Luo River Nymph Tale Scroll (c.400)
- Womens clothing emphasized the waist as the Guiyi (Swallow-Tail Flying Ribbons) style (c.400)
- Wise and Benevolent Women (c.400)
5th century
- Chinese Art becomes decadent; Imperial Culture begins to see more expression in religious statues (c450)
- Longmen Grotto Boddhisattvas (471)
6th century
Xu Ling; (active 537-583); Terrace Meiren
7th century
- Tang Dynasty Art (618-908)
- Rouged Bijin (600-699 CE) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Paintings_of_the_Tang_Dynasty
Yan Liben (active 642-673); Bodhisattva Bijin
Wu Zetian (active 665-705); The Great Tang Art Patron [Coming Soon]
Asuka Bijin (c.699); The Wa Bijin
8th century
- Princess Yongtai's Veneration Murals (701) [Coming Soon]
- Introduction of Chinese Tang Dynasty clothing (710)
- Sumizuri-e (710)
Yang Yuhuan Guifei (719-756); [Coming Soon] East Asian Supermodel Bijin https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/275768522.pdf https://factsanddetails.com/china/cat2/4sub9/entry-5437.html#chapter-5
- Astana Cemetery (c.700-750) [Coming Soon]
Zhang Xuan (active 720-755); [Coming Soon]
- What is now Classical Chinese Art forms
- An Lushun Rebellion (757)
Zhou Fang (active 766-805) ; Qiyun Bijin
- Emakimono Golden Age (799-1400)
9th century
- Buddhist Bijin [Coming Soon] https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Paintings_of_the_Tang_Dynasty#/media/File:Noble_Ladies_Worshiping_Buddha.jpg + https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mogao_Caves#/media/File:Anonymous-Bodhisattva_Leading_the_Way.jpg
- Gongti Revival https://www.jstor.org/stable/495525?seq=2#metadata_info_tab_contents
10th century
-End of Tang Art (907)
13th century
- Heimin painters; 1200-1850; Town Beauty
15th century
- Fuzokuga Painting schools; Kano (1450-1868) and Tosa (1330-1690)
Tang Yin (active 1490-1524); Chinese Beauties [Coming Soon] https://www.comuseum.com/painting/masters/tang-yin/
16 century
- Nanbanjin Art (1550-1630)
- Wamono style begins under Chanoyu teachings (c1550-1580)
- Byobu Screens (1580-1670)
- End of Sengoku Jidai brings Stabilisation policy (1590-1615)
17th century
- Land to Currency based Economy Shift (1601-1655)
- Early Kabuki Culture (1603-1673) ; Yakusha-e or Actor Prints
- Machi-Eshi Art ( 1610 - 1710) ; The Town Beauty
- Sumptuary legislation in reaction to the wealth of the merchant classes (1604-1685)
- Regulation of export and imports of foreign trade in silk and cotton (1615-1685)
Iwasa Matabei (active 1617-1650) ; Yamato-e Bijin
The Hikone Screen (c.1624-1644) [Coming Soon]
- Sankin-Kotai (1635-1642) creates mass Urbanisation
- Popular culture and print media production moves from Kyoto to Edo (1635-1650); Kiyohara Yukinobu (1650-1682) ; Manji Classical Beauty
- Shikomi-e (1650-1670) and Kakemono-e which promote Androgynous Beauties;
Iwasa Katsushige (active 1650-1673) ; Kojin Bijin
- Mass Urbanisation instigates the rise of Chonin Cottage Industry Printing (1660-1690) ; rise of the Kabunakama Guilds and decline of the Samurai
- Kanazoshi Books (1660-1700); Koshokubon Genre (1659?-1661)
- Shunga (1660-1722); Abuna-e
Kanbun Master/School (active during 1661-1673) ; Maiko Bijin
- Hinagata Bon (1666 - 1850)
- Ukiyo Monogatari is published by Asai Ryoi (1666)
Yoshida Hanbei (active 1664-1689) ; Toned-Down Bijin
- Asobi/Suijin Dress Manuals (1660-1700)
- Ukiyo-e Art (1670-1900)
Hishikawa Moronobu (active 1672-1694) ; Wakashu Bijin
- Early Bijin-ga begin to appear as Kakemono (c.1672)
- Rise of the Komin-Chonin Relationship (1675-1725)
- The transit point from Kosode to modern Kimono (1680); Furisode, Wider Obi
- The Genroku Osaka Bijin (1680 - 1700) ; Yuezen Hiinakata
Fu Derong (active c.1675-1722) ; [Coming Soon] https://archive.org/details/viewsfromjadeter00weid/page/111/mode/1up?view=theater
Sugimura Jihei (active 1681-1703) ; Technicolour Bijin
- The Amorous Tales are published by Ihara Saikaku (1682-1687)
Hishikawa Morofusa (active 1684-1704) [Coming Soon]
- The Beginning of the Genroku Era (1688-1704)
- The rise of the Komin and Yuujo as mainstream popular culture (1688-1880)
- The consolidation of the Bijinga genre as mainstream pop culture
- The rise of the Torii school (1688-1799)
- Tan-E (1688-1710)
Miyazaki Yuzen (active 1688-1736) ; Genroku Komin and Wamono Bijin
Torii Kiyonobu (active 1688 - 1729) : Commercial Bijin
Furuyama Moromasa (active 1695-1748)
18th century
Nishikawa Sukenobu (active 1700-1750) [Coming Soon]
Kaigetsudo Ando (active 1700-1736) ; Broadstroke Bijin
Okumura Masanobu (active 1701-1764)
Kaigetsudo Doshin (active 1704-1716) [Coming Soon]
Baioken Eishun (active 1710-1755) [Coming Soon]
Kaigetsudo Anchi (active 1714-1716) [Coming Soon]
Yamazaki Joryu (active 1716-1744) [Coming Soon] | https://www.jstor.org/stable/25790976?seq=5
1717 Kyoho Reforms
Miyagawa Choshun (active 1718-1753) [Coming Soon]
Miyagawa Issho (active 1718-1780) [Coming Soon]
Nishimura Shigenaga (active 1719-1756) [Coming Soon]
Matsuno Chikanobu (active 1720-1729) [Coming Soon]
- Beni-E (1720-1743)
Torii Kiyonobu II (active 1725-1760) [Coming Soon]
- Uki-E (1735-1760)
Kawamata Tsuneyuki (active 1736-1744) [Coming Soon]
Kitao Shigemasa (1739-1820)
Miyagawa Shunsui (active from 1740-1769) [Coming Soon]
Benizuri-E (1744-1760)
Ishikawa Toyonobu (active 1745-1785) [Coming Soon]
Tsukioka Settei (active 1753-1787) [Coming Soon]
Torii Kiyonaga (active 1756-1787) [Coming Soon]
Shunsho Katsukawa (active 1760-1793) [Coming Soon]
Utagawa Toyoharu (active 1763-1814) [Coming Soon]
Suzuki Harunobu (active 1764-1770) [Coming Soon]
- Nishiki-E (1765-1850)
Torii Kiyonaga (active 1765-1815) [Coming Soon]
Kitao Shigemasa (active 1765-1820) [Coming Soon]
Maruyama Okyo (active 1766-1795) [Coming Soon]
Kitagawa Utamaro (active 1770-1806) [Coming Soon]
Kubo Shunman (active 1774-1820) [Coming Soon]
Tsutaya Juzaburo (active 1774-1797) [Coming Soon]
Utagawa Kunimasa (active from 1780-1810) [Coming Soon]
Tanehiko Takitei (active 1783-1842) [Coming Soon]
Katsukawa Shuncho (active 1783-1795) [Coming Soon]
Choubunsai Eishi (active 1784-1829) [Coming Soon]
Eishosai Choki (active 1786-1808) [Coming Soon]
Rekisentei Eiri (active 1789-1801) [Coming Soon] [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Ukiyo-e_paintings#/media/File:Rekisentei_Eiri_-_'800),_Beauty_in_a_White_Kimono',_c._1800.jpg]
Sakurai Seppo (active 1790-1824) [Coming Soon]
Chokosai Eisho (active 1792-1799) [Coming Soon]
Kunimaru Utagawa (active 1794-1829) [Coming Soon]
Utagawa Toyokuni II (active 1794 - 1835) [Coming Soon]
Ryūryūkyo Shinsai (active 1799-1823) [Coming Soon]
19th century
Teisai Hokuba (active 1800-1844) [Coming Soon]
Totoya Hokkei (active 1800-1850) [Coming Soon]
Utagawa Kunisada Toyokuni III (active 1800-1865) [Coming Soon]
Urakusai Nagahide (active from 1804) [Coming Soon]
Kitagawa Tsukimaro (active 1804 - 1836)
Kikukawa Eizan (active 1806-1867) [Coming Soon]
Keisai Eisen (active 1808-1848) [Coming Soon]
Utagawa Kuniyoshi (active 1810-1861) [Coming Soon]
Utagawa Hiroshige (active 1811-1858) [Coming Soon]
Yanagawa Shigenobu (active 1818-1832) [Coming Soon]
Katsushika Oi (active 1824-1866) [Coming Soon]
Hirai Renzan (active 1838ー？) [Coming Soon]
Utagawa Kunisada II (active 1844-1880) [Coming Soon]
Yamada Otokawa (active 1845) [Coming Soon] | 山田音羽子 https://www.jstor.org/stable/25790976?seq=10
Toyohara Kunichika (active 1847-1900) [Coming Soon]
Kano Hogai (active 1848-1888) [Coming Soon]
Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (active 1850-1892) [Coming Soon]
Noguchi Shohin (active c1860-1917) [Coming Soon]
Toyohara Chikanobu (active 1875-1912) [Coming Soon]
Uemura Shoen (active 1887-1949) [Coming Soon]
Kiyokata Kaburaki (active 1891-1972) [Coming Soon]
Goyo Hashiguchi (active 1899-1921) [Coming Soon]
20th century
Yumeji Takehisa (active 1905-1934) [Coming Soon]
Torii Kotondo (active 1915-1976) [Coming Soon]
Hisako Kajiwara (active 1918-1988) [Coming Soon] https://www.roningallery.com/artists/kajiwara-hisako | https://www.jstor.org/stable/25790976
Yamakawa Shūhō (active 1927-1944) [Coming Soon]
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