First Masterpiece of Chinese Painting

First Masterpiece of Chinese Painting: The Admonitions Scroll by Shane McCausland, 139 pages

In the aftermath of the Boxer Rebellion, an officer from the Bengal Lancers approached the experts at the British Museum seeking someone who could repair an old scroll he claimed to have received as a gift from a high-born Chinese lady.  Recognizing the value of the object, the Museum proceeded to purchase it at a very reasonable price.  The scroll, the Admonitions of the Instructress to the Court Ladies, contains the text of the poem of that name, written in 292 AD by the courtier Zhang Hua as an admonishment to the Empress Jia, as well as ink paintings illustrating the themes of the poem.  The scroll, calligraphy as well as painting, was traditionally held to be the work of the classical genius Gu Kaizhi, but this is no longer believed to be true, with scholarly opinion divided on whether it is a copy of one of Gu's works or entirely unconnected to him.  Whatever its provenance, it is an undoubted masterpiece of Chinese art from the first millennium that has been held up as a model for both court women and Chinese painters for centuries.

If the beauty of the paintings are obvious to all, for most Westerners (and no doubt for most of today's Chinese) it will prove difficult to understand the Admonitions as a coherent whole, much less fully appreciate its historical value as a pedagogical tool and cultural exemplar.  Although necessarily only scratching the surface, Shane McCausland's short book at least lessens the difficulties.  Unfortunately. the color images of the scroll itself are somewhat muddy (other works, including later copies of the Admonitions, are better presented), but, as the author himself notes, there are much better reproductions readily available online.