The increasing tensions between China and Japan mirrored by a beautiful monkey

The two texts below have been found on the website of the National Museum of Japan. They refers to a monkey attributed to the chinese artist Mao Song. The piece is currently on show in the exhibition dedicated to the history of Chinese painting at the V&A. Apparently they are plain description of the artwork, but reading carefully you will notice that both of them underline the role of Japan in the production of the artwork’s value. Curiously the monkey “is said to be a Japanese monkey, rather than a Chinese kind” and, thanks to its intellectuals, Japan “at present is home to the richest collections of Chinese paintings and calligraphy”. China would probably disagree.

 

 

“This picture of a monkey has a superb expression, which is more than simple realism, and is known as one of the finest works among the many paintings in the Song dynasty. The monkey painted here is said to be a Japanese monkey, rather than a Chinese kind. The expression of the fur, painted in India ink and gold dust, is extremely fine and natural. The widespread rumor that it was painted by Mao Song, a painter in the Imperial Painting Academy of the Chinese Southern Song dynasty, is believed to have been started by Kanô Tanyû, but is not well grounded. Its noble origin involves being donated to Kakunyo of the Manju temple by Takeda Shingen”.

 

 

“Manuscript scrolls brought from Tang China to Japan during the Heian period include works which had been once discarded and reused on their reverse sides. These include examples of ancient texts which no longer survive in China, some of which are now designated as National Treasures in recognition of their importance. Paintings of the Song and Yuan dynasties, meanwhile, were imported to Japan from the Kamakura period, together with Zen Buddhism. They were displayed to suit Japanese tastes in teahouses and shoin-style drawing rooms. Works such as those in albums were remounted into hanging scrolls to accommodate Japanese ways of viewing, and have been cherished thus until the present day. Many of the paintings of this kind have become rare and invaluable in China.

 

From the early 20th century during the Meiji period, Japanese intellectuals who held the traditional aesthetics of the Chinese literati as ideal began to collect classical masterworks in China. Consequently, Japan at present is home to the richest collections of Chinese paintings and calligraphy”.

July 26, 2015