Study On Pictorial Ideas And Methods Of Literati Gardens In Late Ming And Early Qing Dynasties

The late Ming and early Qing dynasties(1573-1722)were one of the most active periods of the practice and ideas of gardens in Chinese history.From the reign of Ming emperor Wanli to Qing Kangxi,a large number of literati gardens,outstanding garden makers and critical garden treatises sprung up.During this 150-year period,the ideas and methods of Chinses gardens have undergone significant changes related to’literati paintings’,which made a profound impact on the upcoming development of traditional Chinese garden and architecture.Based on critically reviewing the historical texts,paintings and gardens,this thesis examines the pictorial ideas and methods of literati gardens in late Ming and early Qing dynasties through the following four perspectives:’the characteristics of phenomenon’,’the constitution of garden theory’,’the discourse of appraisal’ and ’the methods of construction’.This research,deeply and systematically,pushed forward the research of the history of Chinese gardens in Ming&Qing Dynasty,updated the cognition of the relationship between Chinese Classical gardens and paintings,and made contributions in the methodology of the study of garden history.As far as ’the characteristics of phenomenon’ are concerned,this thesis pointed out that,the ’pictorial ideas and methods’ in literati gardens in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties showed the generality in the spread of ideas,and the practicality in garden making,in which the relevant theories of literati paintings have generally become an important part of the professional knowledge of garden makers.As far as ’the constitution of garden theory ’ is concerned,this thesis examined the objective factors and subjective intentions in the construction of ’pictorial ideas and methods’ from three aspects:the group of traditional literati,the group of garden makers and physical materials of garden,and then indicated that it was precisely by means of many cross-class contacts and book publishing activities,the experience and knowledge of garden had been able to get rid of the difference of south and north region,royal and private gardens,and to form a general consensus of ’pictorial ideas and methods’ of garden during the late Ming and early Qing dynasties.Concerning ’the discourse of appraisal’,this thesis systematically discussed the four appraisal modes of gardens with pictorial ideas and methods’ that existed in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties,and made a detailed analysis of many typical sentence and key words commonly used by literati in the appreciation of ’pictorial ideas and methods’ in gardens during this period.In terms of "the methods of construction",this thesis focused on discussing the representative gardens in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties,defining ’yellow rocks-Zhedai cun(brushstrokes like iron bands)-painting styles of Jing&Guan or Ni Zan’ and ’mountain formed by soil and rocks or cliff mountain-Pima cun(brushstrokes like sackeloth)-painting style of Huang Gongwang’ as two most common ways to apply the ’literati paintings’ in gardens.This thesis furtherly made a conclusion of the historical characteristics,influence and the nature of the emergence of ’pictorial ideas and methods’ in late Ming and early Qing dynasties.It was pointed out by this research for the first time,that the pictorial conscious of literati gardens in this period was actually one kind of theoretical construction of garden knowledge in ancient China by traditional scholars,painters and garden makers.The systematicness,the continuity and the initiative reflected in which,made its outstanding value and significance in both history of Chinese garden and architecture.The thesis includes more than 180,000 words,more than 100 illustrations and 5 charts.