BOOK REVIEWS
335
In brief, the contents of the writing on each composition of the first 10 leaves have been collectively identified by the author as prose written by seven well-known literary figures; T'ao Ch'ien (365-427), Po Ch'u-i (772-846), Liu Tsung-yüan (773-819), Wang Yu-ch'eng (954-1001), O-yang Hsiu (1007-1072), Su Shih (1036-1101) and Sung Lien (1310-1381).
The nature of those writings inscribed on the last two leaves of the same album seem quite different from the foregoing. The first inscriptions are all prose and their authors are historical figures; while those appearing on the last two leaves are poem and their authorship is obscure. The literary implications of the prose are all associated with a unified theme; life in the future is hard to know, thus it is more suitable to seek one's personal comfort by way of enjoying nature. In contrast, this theme in leaves 11 and 12 becomes very weak. Instead, remarkable fantastic literary allusions are demonstrated by the poets. After having differentiated the nature as well as the forms of inscriptions on the last two leaves from the first ten, Prof. Li concludes that those unidentifiable poems are most probably verses by Chin Nung himself. The reason that they have been written in an unrealistic manner is because the artist-poet was trying to use those poems to console himself for failing to pass the Po-hsüeh-hung-tz'u degree examination in Peking in 1736.
This conclusion is theoretically sound, yet it is not convincing; for the poems inscribed on 11 and 12 are not as easily unidentifiable as Prof. Li has claimed. Consequently, because of these poems the date of this album has to be changed. Therefore, the authenticity of this collection of 12 landscapes is also to be questioned.
In the mid-18th century, at Yang-chou, the richest economic center in China at that time,23 Ma Yueh-kuan (1688-1745) and his younger brother, Ma Yüan-lu (1687-1766?) were not only active as leading salt merchants but also as central figures in terms of their patronage towards literature and art. Amongst those who were closely affiliated to the Ma brothers, was a well-established poet, Li E (1692-1752). Although a native of Ch'ien-t'ang from Chekiang province, he happened to be the most important literary figure whenever he was in Yang-chou.
When
In the winter of 1748, the 13th year of the Ch'ien-lung era, Chin Nung was doing his extensive travels in the north, seven poets,