Szilágyi András (szerk.): Ars Decorativa 14. (Budapest, 1994)

FAJCSÁK Györgyi: Luo-han-festmények a Hopp Ferenc Kelet-Ázsiai Művészeti Múzeum kínai gyűjteményéből

scroll belonging to the Ferenc Hopp Museum of Eastern Asiatic Arts reflect the style of the Ming literati (wen-ren) painting;

14 nevertheless the elongated head forms and grotesque gestures exaggerate extreme peculiarities of these figures. Fine and minute brushstrokes, delicately detailed scenes and accurate use of ink are typical in the picture. Only one inscription and two seals placed under the inscription refer to the artist. They mention three times the name of Ding Yunpeng ( 1547—

c. 1621 ), who was one of the best figure painters of the late Ming period. By reason of the first two characters of the inscription (di-zi), the work was supposed to be indentifiable as an early painting of the master; however, no other evidence could be found for this on the scroll. On the basis of comparison with those paintings of Ding Yunpeng known to the present author, our scroll can be indentified as a work painted by one of his pupils or followers who knew Ding Yun-peng's scrolls thoroughly, because their direct influences can be detected in many aspects such as in the composition, the placing of figures and attributes, the rich folds of garments, etc. Nevertheless facial expressions, ornaments of the costumes (medallions, hem patterns,

15 etc,) as well as animals also reflect the pictorial style of the beginning of the eighteenth century. Application of colours and possibly the use of silk were important characteristics of Ding Yun-peng's paintings. Our painting was painted using monochrome ink with finely detailed brushwork, and it is not probable that the artist wanted to colour it, although the lack of inscriptions could refer to the imperfection of the scroll as well. According to the present author's knowledge about the painting of Ding Yun-peng, this painting can be considered to be a work of one of his followers. In connection with use of such inscription and seals it can be mentioned that many Buddhist figure paintings were made using the inscription and name of Ding Yun-peng, even it the nineteenth century. Considering main features of our luo-han scroll, it very much reflected the traditions of the late Ming figure painting. On the basis of investigations into its style and comparisons of its analogies it reveals the world of the Qing court painting, and can therefore be dated to the end of the seventeenth century. III. The sixteen-leaf album in the Chinese Collection of the Ferenc Hopp Museum of Eastern Asiatic Arts is intended to show the popular Chinese Buddhist pantheon. Luo-han figures placed in figurai or landscape settings can be seen on twelve album-leaves; moreover Bu-dai (Maitreya), The Future Buddha, Bodhisattva Guan-yin (Avalokitesvara), Bodhisattva Wen-shu (Manjusri), and Da-mo (Bodhidharma), the legendary founder of Chan Buddhism were depicted on the next four leaves of the album. (Inv. No.: 65.4.1-16) Every painting was painted on light brown colour (darkened) silk and mounted on thin paper. The sizes of the leaves were almost the same: 34/35 cm x 29 cm. Inscriptions or seals were not found on the paintings. On the basis of a scrap of paper stuck on the back of one of our album-leaves, we know, that the album was sold in Japan; however, the text contains the name of a Beijing company too, concerning with the distribution of historical and artistic objects in China. The added Japanese label mentioned a sixteen-leaf album entitled "Company of Immortals" (In Chinese: qun xian), so it can be supposed to have more leaves in the album before. Series of album- leaves became one of the most popular genres for Chinese painters in the seventeenth century. The album format is to be found from the end of the Song period onwards, but the book-like sequence of closely-related, but still individual album-leaves became a flexible pictorial medium principally through the activity of the literati painters who were very keen on literature and