An Artist and His Patrons: Qin Player Yang Jijing and the Cultural Elite in Early Sixteenth Century Suzhou

Abstract

When talking about the dynamic relationship between the qin and the Chinese literati, art historian James Watt argues that the literati’s embrace of the qin was genuine enough in the medieval period, and the intellectual and qin player were one. By the 16th century 'it was no longer enough to be a musician; one had to lay claim to literatus status before the artistic achievement could be recognized.' It became 'a matter of having to associate with 'lofty people' in order to gain any recognition at all—and,for that matter, a living.' We reexamine this conjunction through the prism of Yang Jijing (d. 1530 CE), a professional qin player, doyen of the cultural elite, and resident of Suzhou, the largest and most prosperous city of Ming Dynasty China. In 1528, retired scholar-official Wen Zhengming dedicated his painting Jiaoshi mingqin tu (Playing the Oin amidst Banana Plants and Rocks) to Yang Jijing. An unusual scroll in many respects, it quotes a lengthy fu poem, Rhapsody on Oin, by ancient literatus and qin player Ji Kang (223-62 CE), with Yang Jijing depicted below the text. Yet who was Yang Jijing? What had he done to deserve such an elegant gift? Through analysis of this painting and three other portraits of Yang Jijing that survive, we explore the period’s qin players and how they earned a living in an increasingly commercial world.