The Painting Scroll of "A Panorma of Landscape" Mounted Three Times and Exhibited

The information of the painting scroll of "A Panorama of Landscape" is almost complete, which can prove that the painting was indeed created by Wang Ximeng, a young painter in the Northern Song Dynasty. The scroll went through the complicated experience of mounting three times and entering the palace five times, especially with repairs involved in the last two mounting. 

In 1113, Emperor Huizong accepted Wang Ximeng's painting "A Panorama of Landscape" and had it mounted in a style similar to the "Xuanhe style." Cai Jing was granted the painting and wrote an inscription on the front partition. The scroll's front, tail and Cai's inscription were all damaged, likely due to numerous viewers' improper handling by using their fingers to scratch and open the scroll at both ends. These damages could not have been made by Cai Jing as he would not have treated a junior's painting in such a way. Who repeatedly viewed the painting? Cai Jing recorded Huizong's decree in his postscript: "Scholars of the world are only given the task of creating." This means the emperor wanted to use talented people from all over the world to do great things. On the one hand, Emperor Huizong praised Wang Ximeng; on the other, he asked Cai Jing to "Create", that is, to promote the painting method of the scroll, and asked the young painters in the palace to imitate the painting method. The painting had been passed through the hands of young court painters for a long time, so that the front and tail of the scroll were badly damaged, which is silent historical evidence. 

In 1126, Emperor Qinzong deposed Cai Jing, meaning that his property would be confiscated, therefore "A Panorma of Landscape" returned to the inner palace. The Jin people ended the Northern Song Dynasty and robbed the royal palace of the Northern Song's collection of books, paintings and curios, including this scroll. At the top of the scroll is a square seal in red, saying the "Book seal of the Duke of Longevity" (in white). Recently, based on the study of the seal of the Jin Dynasty by Mr. Wang Yaoting, a scholar in Taiwan, Ms. Lv Xiao wrote an article confirming that this is the collection seal of Gao Ruli, the right prime minister of the Shang Shu of the Jin Dynasty, who was awarded the "Duke of Longevity" in 1220 and died in 1224. The seal must have been added to the scroll between those four years, and he was obviously the owner at the time. 

After the death of Gao Ruli in 1224, the painting was spread to the Southern Song Dynasty and collected by Zhao Yun, Emperor Lizong, for the third time. At this time, the front and tail of the scroll had been weakened by viewers from the late Northern Song Dynasty to the Jin Dynasty, and the lower ends across the front partition were likely to be demounted and destrayed seriously. Emperor Lizong decreed to remount and restore this super long scroll, and set the "Jixi Dianbao" (in red) on the front and the tail respectively. In this way, the two ends of the scroll were basically complete. It's less likely that large sections were cut. 

It is worth noting that the Cai inscription has been moved to the end of the scroll and replaced with new materials. This is based on three reasons: first, the wear and tear on the Cai inscription is consistent with the development trend of the beginning of the scroll, and the use of inferior material in the front section makes it more susceptible to damage, making the Cai inscription extremely fragile (figure 1). Second, there is a circular red seal on the right side of the Cai inscription, with the other half on the beginning of the scroll, resembling the character "mu(沐)" and being cut off. Third, the Cai inscription mentions Emperor Huizong's evaluation of Wang Ximeng and the painting in multiple places, and it would be very disrespectful to have it placed at the end of the scroll. As Cai Jing was older than Wang Ximeng by 51 years, it is reasonable for the inscription to be placed at the front of the scroll. In Cai Jing's respectful inscription at the end of Emperor Huizong's painting "Returning by Boat in Snowy River" (now in the collection of the Palace Museum), he expressed his admiration (figure 2).

The replacement of Cai's inscription on the painting has a profound historical background. The "Six Traitors of the Capital" were despised by the society of the Southern Song Dynasty. According to Zhou Mi's "Record of Calligraphy and Painting at the Si Ling Tomb," ancient books and paintings with inscriptions by Emperor Xuanhe were removed and not used. Cao Xun was responsible for verifying them, and a list of famous paintings was compiled and presented to the emperor for review. Cai Jing's inscription was removed as well as those of other predecessors. Therefore, many of the paintings in the imperial palace have no inscriptions today. The origin and authenticity of these works are difficult to determine, which is regrettable. Even Emperor Huizong's inscriptions were removed. Therefore, if Cai Jing's inscription was removed, the painting would lose its "household registration." Thus, an intermediary approach was taken, and Cai Jing's inscription was moved to the end of the scroll so that it would not be so conspicuous when the scroll was opened. The damage to Cai Jing's inscription is obviously not related to the texture at the end of the scroll. They were not originally part of the same scroll. Ms. Cao Xingyuan's view in the "Exhibition Record" that it was moved from elsewhere is correct, but the key question is where it was moved from, who moved it, and why.  

After the Mongols ended the Southern Song Dynasty, the scroll was collected by Pu Guang, an eminent monk in Dadu (now Beijing). Pu Guang, whose secular name was Li, whose pseudonym was Xuanhui, and whose sobriquet was Xue'an, was from Datong. He became a monk in his early years and was mainly active from the Zhiyuan to the Huangqing period (1264-1313). He was skilled in calligraphy, especially large characters on signboards. After being recommended by Zhao Mengfu, he was probably admitted to the palace in 1298.

The inscription on the scroll reads: "In the seventh year of the Dade period (1303), Xue'an Pu Guang, Grand Academician of the Imperial Academy of Hanlin, respectfully inscribed this." The seal bears the characters "Xue'an"(in red) and "Pu Guang"(in white), with two other seals resembling signature marks. Huang Benji's postscript to Pu Guang's calligraphy on the Tea List of Wan'an Temple from the Qing dynasty notes that he was "appointed Grand Academician of the Imperial Academy of Hanlin during the Dachu period (1308-1311)", but it was merely an honorary position. According to Ling Lizhong, after comparing Pu Guang's postscript on the Fertility and Abundant Harvests painting from the Tang dynasty (owned by the Palace Museum), he believes they were written by the same person, just like what Tao Zongyi wrote in his Synopsis of Calligraphy History, Volume 7 stating "Pu Guang's small characters were also powerful." Therefore, Pu Guang's inscription is the original first-hand document, while what Huang Benji recorded is a transcribed document and may contain errors. It is possible that Pu Guang's appointment to Grand Academician of the Imperial Academy of Hanlin was five years earlier than previously believed. 

Reading postscripts of Song and Yuan paintings requires understanding of the linguistic context of the time. Pu Guang remarked that this "ingenious" work that "arranges the vastness of the universe" was a "small landscape painting", which was the term used by Northern Chinese painters, especially those of the Song dynasty, to describe the landscapes of the Jiangnan region (regions south of the Yangtze River). There were also other names for these paintings, such as "Jiangnan paintings". For example, Li Tang's panoramic view of the region, created during the Northern Song dynasty, was named the "Jiangshan Xiaojingtu" scroll (49.7 cm x 186.7 cm, housed in the "National Palace Museum" in Taipei). Pu Guang first saw this painting during his "year of studying" (at the age of 15) and had since viewed it "over a hundred times". It is evident that he did not originally own this painting but acquired it later, otherwise, how could he have viewed it so many times? According to the Buddhist precept of "the four empties", monks are not allowed to show off their wealth, and when a monk dies, all his property is given to the temple. Therefore, most monks do not record the details of their purchase and the emotions related to the acquisition of paintings and calligraphy, especially high-ranking monks like Pu Guang. After his death, the painting most likely became the property of a temple in Beijing, which meant that it would be difficult to circulate in the art market for a long time. Perhaps this clarifies the lack of collection information 300 years after Pu Guang’s death.

It was not until the late Ming and early Qing dynasties that the painting was acquired by collector Liang Qingbiao. Yang Xin believes that Liang Qingbiao "inscribed the outer label himself and stamped the Liang family collection mark on the front and back of the painting and on the interleaving paper several times". It is clear that Liang Qingbiao mounted the painting for the third time and titled it "Wang Ximeng's Panorama of Landscape". Pu Guang's postscript was written on two pieces of letter paper, with the signature on the second piece. The handwriting on both pieces was done by the same person, and there was an obvious bleeding effect. This effect would not have been possible on the tail-end after mounting. Pu Guang's postscript was probably inserted inside the scroll, and when Liang Qingbiao mounted it, he attached it to the back of the painting after Cai's inscription and removed the extra paper, leaving a seam between the two sheets of paper. 

Although the information regarding the individual named Wang Ximeng and his premature death dates back to the Northern Song dynasty, about 500 years prior to the Qing dynasty, it may not be entirely unfounded. After Wang Ximeng completed this painting, no other works with his distinctive style or any literature concerning him were found in the palace. In the Qing dynasty, Song Luo wrote "On Painting" and mentioned that "Wang Ximeng... created a landscape painting in bright colors... and died at the age of 20." Furthermore, Lv Xiao discovered an earlier work by Gu Fu, entitled "A Record of My Life's Observations", which predated Song's "On Painting". In this work, Gu Fu recorded what was said by a Beijing art dealer named Wang Jizhi, who mentioned that "Wang Ximeng... painted a landscape in unnatural blue-green colors." With the addition of the title given by Liang Qingbiao, the evidence from these three sources is consistent and suggests that Wang Ximeng was indeed the name of the artist who painted this work. Gu and Song's descriptions of the painting were rather abstract, and it is clear that Liang had not yet remounted the painting. However, when the work was first mounted in the Song dynasty, there must have been an accompanying old title label with the artist's name and an abstract description of the image. According to the customs of the Song dynasty, the painting would have been called "Wang Ximeng's landscape painting in bright colors." Sometimes, ancient people added small text under the title label on the outside of the scroll to record the artist's most important life events, such as favor, official title, and year of death. It is speculated here that Wang Ximeng's surname and premature death might be recorded on this label. If not, as Mr. Xiao Yanyi, a Palace Museum expert, stated, it is highly unlikely that someone like Song Luo would have fabricated such meaningless lies to aid in the production of a counterfeit work. After all, Song Luo was once praised by Emperor Kangxi as "the most incorrupt official in charge of inspection throughout the country." The possibility of Wang Ximeng's premature death exists, but it requires further investigation. 

It is widely known within the industry that many of Liang Qingbiao's collections were passed down to the inner palace of the Qing Dynasty after his death. The exact date that this painting entered the palace is not known, but it was likely before the compilation of the "Shiqu Baoji" in 1745. In 1923, the painting was stolen by Pu Yi and later acquired by antique dealer Jin Bosheng in the early 1950s. It was then transferred to the State Cultural Relics Bureau under the Ministry of Culture (now the National Cultural Heritage Administration) and eventually allocated to the Palace Museum in 1953. This marked the fifth time that "A Panorma of Landscape" had entered the palace, ultimately bringing an end to its tumultuous journey.