Szilágyi András (szerk.): Ars Decorativa 23. (Budapest, 2004)

Mária FERENCZY: Door Gods. Art and Craftsmanship in the various styles of Chinese New Year Pictures

NOTES 1 The custom still existed in the recent past. It was not customary to remove pictures fixed on the doors; in the 1980s, in autumn I saw their weather-beaten remains on the doors of peasant cottages. 2 The technique of wood-block printing has been known in China for more than a thousand years. As early as in the ir

h-13'

h centuries, large numbers of printed books were produced; even the most complicated technique of colour block printing had been invented by the mid17'" century. - To produce a picture, several artists and masters had to cooperate: one of them designed the depiction (with a brush), another one carved the wood-blocks and yet another one printed the lines (that is, the contours) in Chinese ink. In case of colour printing, a wood-block was prepared for each colour and the working process was performed repeatedly. When hand-painting was employed, the colours were applied by yet another person (or other persons). 1 The subject matter of the pictures was not limited to depictions with the function of keeping off demons. Soon it was augmented with pictures to invite good fortune and, later, with representations of short stories and plays worthy of the festival. They make it possible for us to get to know the customs, beliefs, the popular conception of the universe and the popular taste prevalent in last period of the traditional Chinese world (mainly the second half of the 19

,h century and the first half of the 20"

1 century), as well as innumerable details of material culture. Since theatre-bills, political posters and pictures of propaganda evolved on the basis of this practice, several experts prefer the comprehensive term "popular prints". 4 Presently, there are monographs of history of art, history of religion and cultural anthropology (ethnology) that analyze the known collections. The material to be examined will considerably increase; for instance, the Chinese National Library has but recently embarked on arranging its remarkable collection of New Year pictures. (Information kindly provided by Li Jining and Yin Chunmin, research workers at the Rare Books and Special Collections Department of the Chinese National Library.) 5 Our Museum houses items dating back to the 1910s. They were brought to Budapest by prisoners of World War I who came home with difficulty from Siberia via Manchuria and could bring but pieces like these as cheap souvenirs. These items are published in Ferenczy, M., 1991. 6 According to Goodrich, A. 1991, p. 41, in the 1930s the grey, narrow alleys of Peking begin to blossom, as it were, when at or about New Year's Eve the coloured pictures were fixed on the doors. This lets us draw the consequence that these pictures were quite prevalent. 7 The Emperor was the Son of Heaven and, according to Chinese folk religion, he had the power to appoint (or remove) gods of lower position in the heavenly hierarchy. * The uncertainty of names is well exemplified by the fact that in several depictions the generals simply have no name. In the case of our examples, the same figure may bear the names Shen Tu or Yuqi Gong, as well as Yu Lei or Qin Qiong; occasionally, similar figures were given the names of famous historical persons (e. g. pictures Nos. 14/a-b: according to Wang, 1992, No. 138, it is the founder of the Song dynasty depicted in the picture, cf. note 21). - Most probably, Derk Bodde is right in stating that names in fact bear no significance (Tun Li-Chen, 1965, p. 100). 9 Inv. numbers: 62.391 and 62.392; size: 106 cm x 47 cm; restored. '" Presently, Yangliuqing is a suburb of Tianjin; formerly, it was the biggest centre for the production of New Year pictures in the vicinity of the capital, with workshops run by joint families. Its range of activity covered whole villages. The pictures are characterised by rich and lively designs, vivid and bright colours, and, in most cases, meticulous hand-painting. We can also trace relations to the literate (that is, genre) painting and the sophisticated wood-print illustrations of books characteristic of the capital. " See Mianzhu, 1990, No. 5-6. The strokes of brush applied on the woodprint basis with a thick brush effect an extraordinarily dynamic and pictorial image that lacks details. As the editors say (pp. 1, 15), such pictures were produced in the last afternoon of the year, letting the masters get extra income. - It is possible that this practice was not extraordinary but its products were not appreciated as much as pictures with minute details, and, consequently, they are published less often. 12 My intention was to select pictures that give information even in black-and-white reproductions of small size. Besides the occasional lack of sources, this is why not all styles and centres for the production of New Year pictures are represented. - In those cases, where the publications that I used as sources did not date the pictures, I did not make attempts to do so. 13 Further pieces that show remarkable similarity are, for instance: Tun Li-Chen, 1965, on the endpaper ("The Gate God, Yü Lei or Hu Ching-te" and "The Gate God, Shen tu or Ch'in Ch'iung); CHPP, 1988, Nos. 25-26; Dittrich, 1984, p. 41. Other examples of slightly different style: Prunner, 1973, on the cover; Dittrich, 1984, pp. 43, 45, 51. '"Inv. numbers: 91.33.1 and 91.33.2; size: 60cmx40cm. 13 This difference in colouring implies that the two pictures were not produced simultaneously but belong to two series. This fact sheds light on the practice: the process of block printing and hand-painting were performed to produce large series. 16 Reproduction, Yangliuqing, N. d.. Nos. 8, 9.1 must use the term "reproduction" in two senses. On the one hand, I use it to imply that 1 did not have the opportunity to see the original of this picture (and those discussed below), that is, I saw the published reproductions; on the other hand, the term denotes that the pictures may have been printed with a surviving old block or else with an exact replica (reproduction) of an old block. 17 Reproduction, Bo Songnian, 1995, Nos. 1-2: "Palace guard gate god". IS Of the numerous associated pictures let me select the