Currently not on view
Portrait of Zhu Xi,
after 1834 (stone); late 19th to first half of 20th century (rubbing)
Zhu Xi 朱熹, painter, inscriber, attributed to, 1130–1200
Chinese
Song dynasty, 960–1279
y1958-147
Information
Title
Portrait of Zhu Xi
Dates
after 1834 (stone); late 19th to first half of 20th century (rubbing)
Maker
Zhu Xi 朱熹 , painter, inscriber, attributed to
Medium
Hanging scroll; ink rubbing on paper
Dimensions
image: 101.8 x 56.7 cm. (40 1/16 x 22 5/16 in.)
121 x 61.9 cm. (47 5/8 x 24 3/8 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of George Rowley
Object Number
y1958-147
Place Made
Asia, China
Inscription
Title (seal script):
宋𡽪國文公朱晦菴先生遺像
" Portrait of master Zhu Hui’an, Huiguo Wengong of the Song dynasty"
Right:
Zhu Xi 朱熹 (1130-1200)
從容乎禮法之場，沉潛乎仁義之府。是予盖將有意焉，而力莫能與
也。佩先師之格言，奉前烈之餘矩。惟闇然而日脩，或庶幾乎斯語。
Summary:
Looking into a mirror, Zhu Xi opens by commenting that the face (surface) is the place for ceremonies and rituals (lifa 禮法), while human character and virtue are stationed deep down (below the surface). Only in knowing (zhi 知) this will life have meaning, but there is no action (xing 行) to make it come about. [Instead of] admiring the words of past teachers or accepting the rules of former achievements, it is only in the dim depths that one can daily cultivate oneself so as to be like his opening words. [see Notes-4]
Notes:
1. This text is recorded in many compilations of Zhu Xi’s writings. Sometimes under the title “Shuhua xiang zijing” 書畫象自警, for example in Zhu Xi 朱熹, Hui’an xiansheng Zhu Wengong wenji 晦庵先生朱文公文集, Sibu congkan ed. https://zh.wikisource.org/zh-hans/Page:Sibu_Congkan1097-朱熹-晦庵先生朱文公文集-50-40.djvu/23
Left, upper:
紹熙五年[1194]孟春良日，熹對鏡寫真,題以自警。
On an auspicious day of the first month in the 5th year of the Shaoxi reign, [Zhu] Xi, facing a mirror, made this likeness and inscribed it as a self-warning.
[Note: this line may be spurious, see Notes-2, below.
Left, lower:
板藏鼓山湧泉禪寺。
The [stone] board is stored at the Yongquan Si temple in the Gushan mountains.
Notes:
1. Yongquan Si 湧泉寺temple (also called Guoshi Guan 國師寺), is located on the Baiyunfeng 白雲峰peak of the Gushan 鼓山 mountains in Fuzhou city 福州, Fujian province.
Description
Full-length portrait of the Southern Song dynasty Neo-Confucian philosopher Zhu Xi 朱熹 (hao: Hui’an 晦菴, 1130-1200), wearing a robe and standing in a three-quarters pose moving to his left. Exposed on his right cheek by the ear are seven birthmarks. This corresponds to tales about how these marks formed a pattern resembling the Dipper, and how they were believed to foretell the child’s future literary and scholarly success. Across the top is a title in seal-script calligraphy that says that this is a posthumous portrait; however, the inscription at upper left seems to indicate that this is a self-portrait done with a mirror. This inscription is dated 1194 and bears Zhu Xi’s name, but it is a later addition. The two columns of calligraphy at right is a warning by Zhu Xi to himself concerning the difficulty in cultivating inner character which cannot be easily seen on the surface. These lines are also found in Zhu Xi’s writings under the title “Painted Portrait and Self-Warning” (Shuhua xiang zijing 書畫象自警) and came to be associated with a tradition of half-length portraits of Zhu Xi that were sometimes framed in a circle as if looking in a round mirror. At bottom left is a short inscription that notes that the pictorial stone from which this rubbing was taken was located in Yongquan Si 湧泉寺temple (also called Guoshi Guan 國師寺), which was located on the Baiyunfeng 白雲峰peak of the Gushan 鼓山 mountains in Fuzhou city 福州, Fujian province.
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