The representation of filial piety in the Yuan-dynasty handscroll Four stories of filial piety

Abstract

Xiao 孝 (filial piety), as the one of the core concepts of Confucianism, has held profound significance in Chinese society throughout history. However, the idea of filial piety is not static, instead, it is ever-changing and dynamic. Many Chinese artworks engage with this subject, and the Yuan-dynasty 元 (1271-1368) handscroll painting Si Xiao Tu 四孝圖 (Four Stories of Filial Piety) is one of them. Presently collected in the Taipei National Palace Museum, the pictures of the handscroll render four stories of filial piety. In its current arrangement, it begins with the narrative of the wife of Wang Wuzi 王武⼦ of the Tang dynasty 唐 (618-907), and then Lu Ji 陸績 of the Three Kingdoms period 三國 (220-280), Wang Xiang 王祥 of the Jin dynasty 晉 (266-420) , and, at the end, Cao E 曹娥 of the Eastern Han dynasty 東漢 (25-220). Although the depiction of filial stories can be found in previous funerary art, artworks on this subject is rare to be put in silk materials. The examination of this handscroll, thus, is meaningful in studying what this new form of presentation may have conveyed new messages to its historical audience. This may assist us in investigating the development of the concept of filial piety and its pictorial traditions, especially under the Mongol governance in the Yuan era. In particular, it helps us to understand how Chinese literati endured difficulties in repositioning themselves when facing the shifts of bureaucrat system. Focusing on the representation of body and pain, I will also try to reconstruct the formation and function of this handscroll at the time when it was produced.