The late Song-dynasty monk Fachang Muqi is elevated in our minds today in large part because of the stamp of approval accorded his paintings after their arrival in Japan. Some would have come as early as the late 13th century, along with Chan Buddhist monks fleeing their homeland in the wake of the Mongol invasion. The influx of such works continued during the following centuries. Among the blue-ribbon winners is a painting known as the Six Persimmons (fig. 1), which epitomizes the simplicity and reserve, the subtly and calm which were characteristics extolled by savants in Japan. We are so taken by what has become an iconic image that we forget that it was likely part of a mundane lineup of fruits and vegetables in handscroll format that Japanese connoisseurs in their wisdom divided into seductive individual paintings to be hung in tea-room settings. Less well-known and acclaimed but related in technique, austerity and visual impact are images of religious figures created by Muqi such as the monk here holding a bow. With a few brushstrokes and a bit of ink, as in the case of the persimmons, a complete figure is manifested.
The solitary figure is isolated, remote, and at rest against a blank, empty ground. The composition is completed by an inscription written above by a fellow monk. Many such individuals had moved to Hangzhou, as did Muqi in around 1231, to stay a step ahead of the Mongols. Among these refugees was the eminent Chan Buddhist prelate Wuchun Shifan (1177-1249), Muqi’s teacher in Buddhism. Muqi was able to associate with further well-known monks who like Muqi himself resided in temples in the Hangzhou environs. Included among them was Xutang Zhiyu (1185-1269), a most distinguished cleric, who inscribed the present painting. A number of Xutang’s works survive, including those in the Tokyo National Museum which do bear a close stylistic similarity to the present work.1
Paintings with similar subject matter and executed in this stylistic idiom are either recorded or extant, some possibly by Muqi but the majority by followers—imitators of his style. They include a painting of “Bodhidharma,” who introduced Chan to China with an inscription by Wuchun Shifan; a painting of “Zheng Huangniu,” who mysteriously road backwards on a yellow ox, with a colophon by Shiqi Xinyue (d. 1254), and others. The bow with arrow here also in sight could be interpreted in a number of ways, perhaps signifying an attack on ignorance, or attaining enlightenment through a non-unusual activity or action, or perhaps bringing to mind an ancient Chan master who used a bow and arrow as a prompt in instructing his students. Resolutely unconventional by late Song standards, the paintings while interesting in subject matter are also simple in composition and might prove easy to overlook were it not for an occasional brilliancy in technique, as seen in the present Monk with Bow, and the authority gained from the colophons suggesting praise within the monastic community.2
1. For the Tokyo National Museum’s scrolls by Xutang Zhiyu and a discussion of his impressive career see https://emuseum.nich.go.jp/detail?langId=en&webView=&content_base_id=100222&content_part_id=0&content_pict_id=0 and https://emuseum.nich.go.jp/detail?langId=en&webView=0&content_base_id=100850&content_part_id=0&content_pict_id=0
2. An unpublished paper by Howard Rogers is a detailed discussion of the career and paintings of Muqi, presented at the Seattle Art Museum in 2014 at the 5th anniversary celebration of the Gardner Center of Asian Culture and Ideas.
Fig. 1. Muqi Fachang 法常牧谿, Six Persimmons. Ryōkō-in, Daitoku-ji, Kyoto, after: Comprehensive Illustrated Catalogue of Chinese Paintings, vol. 8, pl. 84.
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