In memory of Cao Xueqin , a literary master who wrote A Dream of Red Mansions , "Red Mansions In Dreams -- Exhibition of Hand-Painted Pictures from A Dream of Red Mansions painted by Sun Wen of the Qing Dynasty (1616-1911)," was held at the National Museum on September 1-22, around the 240th anniversary of Cao's death. Top scholars and experts on A Dream of Red Mansions also attended the exhibition.

According to the experts, the huge-scale hand-painted album, which has been sealed up for 45 years, features 230 pictures. It is the largest painting collection on A Dream of Red Mansions and an important resource for the research on this great literary work as well as the history of Chinese painting .

Mysterious album unveiled

The 230-picture album has 24 volumes with creamy yellow covers. Except for one volume with blank pages, each of the other 23 has 10 pictures, each 43.3 cm long and 76.5 cm wide. Mounted on the Cambridge blue glossy damask, the pictures are well preserved, vividly in their original bright shining colors.

The most striking feature upon opening the album is the panorama of the Grand Garden containing all the sceneries of the garden. From the second page onwards, the pictures vividly and concretely narrate the story of A Dream of Red Mansions in chapters, such as "Daiyu Steps into the Jia Family", "The First Meeting Between Baoyu and Daiyu", "Yuanchun Goes Home to Visit Her Family", "Daiyu Buries Fallen Flowers", "Four Beauties Enjoy Fishing" and "Grandma Liu Strolls in the Grand Garden", etc.

The first 80 chapters have 154 pictures in total while the remaining 40 chapters, 76. Some chapters have more than one picture, with couplets as captions. Chapter 17 has the most pictures of all -- 16 in total -- reflecting a beautiful and elegant grand garden from different angles.

In terms of artistic value, the 230 pictures almost contain all the contents of painting, from the landscape and figures, to trees and flowers, to pavilions and towers, to birds and animals, to bridges and sedan chairs , and to apparitions and immortals, etc, centering on the main scenarios and leading roles. The figures in the album number over 3,700. Realism is adopted in the pictures, emphasizing facial descriptions, endowing the figures with animation. The young women in the picture, with their crescent eyebrows, thin eyes, rosebud mouths, sylphlike shapes, long necks and fragile shoulders, give the impression of slender, gentle, lovely and extremely delicate ladies. Their fineries, baldrics and flowers are not only prominently painted, but also dyed with golden paint, giving prominence to the image's magnificence. The chains of mountains and rocks in the lake were painted in azurite, mineral green or ochre, forming a harmonious contrast with the warm colors of the fineries and flowers. The pictures are very striking and take on a bright and elegant air. The painting of pavilions and towers has absorbed western style and skill in terms of design of close and distant views, and the light and shade of the arches, pillars, window lattices and porticos.

The painter was not only very familiar with the content of the novel but also had some unique insight on the issue. The mountains, stones and trees were painted like apparitions as if covetously eyeing the childlike women, which reflected the artist's cognition that "the Grand Garden is not a paradise but is full of crises and traps".

Given the elaborate scenarios, refined painting skills and great length, the album is a rare representative among artworks with the same theme from the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).

Identity unknown

Each picture in the whole album was meticulously painted with great ingenuity. According to some experts, the pictures with features of folk paintings must be the works of an outstanding folk limner. Textual research indicates that it took 20 years or so to finish such a huge picture album, equaling the time and efforts Cao Xueqin spent on creating A Dream of Red Mansions.
The only written record in the album that indicates the painter's identity is an inscription in one picture as "73-year-old Run Zhai, Sun Wen" with seals of "Sun Wen" and "Sun Xiaozhou", who was found neither in the painting's history nor the chorography. Research indicates that Sun Wen was born in Fengrun in North China's Hebei Province in 1818 and the pictures were painted between 1867 and 1903, and finished when he was 73. The whole album was mainly conceived and drawn by Sun Wen with Sun Xiaozhou.

There are few records of the history and handing-down of the hand-painted album except that it was transferred to the Lvshun Museum in Dalian of North China's Liaoning Province in July 1959 by the Shanghai Institute for Conservation of Cultural Relics. Since then it was sealed up until its rediscovery in the 1970s, although little attention was aroused.

Rebirth of the album

The experts at the Lvshun Museum said the hand-painted album of 230 fine brushwork paintings was collected at the museum as first-class national cultural relics. Attracting more recognition from the public has been the main task at the museum for years.

Liu Guangtang, curator of the Lvshun Museum who has engaged in research on the album for more than 10 years, introduced that the first 80 chapters of A Dream of Red Mansions were written by Cao Xunqin and the remaining 40 chapters were attributed to Gao Er, who published the combined version in 1792. Consequently, the painting styles of the two parts are also different. The number of the figures in the album numbers over 3,700, which the painter endowed with his own understanding of the original work. Being Sun Wen's only work known so far makes the album more than precious. It is not only the important material for research on the folk painting of the Qing Dynasty, but also provides new contents into the research on A Dream of Red Mansions.

Liu added that the Lvshun Museum has always aspired to exhibit the album, however, it is difficult to hold an exhibition due to sunlight and humidity which would harm the pictures. Now, the pictures are preserved in 24 slipcovers respectively.

"The best way is to make the pictures into photo albums for more people to enjoy. But we haven't enough competencies to do it now, " Liu said.

Around the 240th anniversary of Cao Xueqin's death, the "Exhibition of Hand-Painted Pictures of A Dream of Red Mansions Painted by Sun Wen of the Qing Dynasty" was held at the Lvshun Museum on July 1-August 20, and is open at the National Museum on September 1-22; synchronously, its chromatic hardcover album will be printed and published by the Writers Publishing House. The national treasure finally discloses its mysterious veil after 45 years.

Aesthetic and historical treasure

A Dream of Red Mansions is a masterpiece of Chinese classical literature. Therefore, from the mid-18th century, various artworks have adapted it as a theme, including various New Year pictures , prints, picture books and embroideries. The hand-painted album of Sun Wen is seldom seen among artworks with the same theme and is also an artwork that few people know.

Even experts and scholars on A Dream of Red Mansions, including Zhou Ruchang and Feng Qiyong, masters on A Dream of Red Mansions, have not had a chance to view the original hand-painted album. Some have never even heard of it before.

Feng Qiyong, who had just viewed the photos, said that from an aesthetic angle, the album boasts tremendous value because it is the aesthetics appraise on A Dream of Red Mansions.

Liu said that all original pictures have been screened into photos, some of which have been appreciated by Zhou Ruchang. A fine antique catalog will be published during the exhibition, where, for each picture, Zhou Ruchang has composed a poem featuring seven syllables per line for the first 80 chapters and five syllables per line for the remaining 40 chapters.

Researchers in the National Museum noted that the artworks have a high artistic value because they were created in accordance with the scenarios, the figures and the architectural characteristics described in the original novel, which provides rare evidence into research on A Dream of Red Mansions.
"This is a cultural treasure of Dalian, providing a new research carrier for studying A Dream of Red Mansions as well as folk painting of the late Qing Dynasty…" Liang Guizhi was thrilled after visiting the exhibition in Lvshun. He is a professor at Liaoning Normal University who has been engaged in research on A Dream of Red Mansions for more than 30 years.

Enigmatical riddle

The painting style of the pictures took an abrupt turn between the 80th and 81st chapter, as if indicating the first 80 chapters and the remaining 40 were written by different people. Liu Guangtang regards this as an intended arrangement by the artist.

But why is there one blank volume? According to an analysis of the original chapters in the novel, the original album should have 240 pages or 240 pictures, but now only 230 pages remain. Where are the lost 10 pages and what are they?

"It is still an enigmatic riddle," Liu said.