Admonitions Scroll

The tradition & historical record

The Admonitions Scroll is a Chinese narrative painting on silk that is traditionally ascribed to Gu Kaizhi (ca. 345 – ca. 406), but which modern scholarship regards as a 5th to 8th century work that may or may not be a copy of an original Jin dynasty (266–420) court painting by Gu. The full title of the painting is Admonitions of the Court Instructress (Chinese: 女史箴圖; pinyin: Nǚshǐ zhēn tú). It was painted to illustrate a poetic text written in 292 by the poet-official Zhang Hua (232–300). The text itself was composed to reprimand Empress Jia (257–300) and to provide advice to the women in the imperial court. The painting illustrates this text with scenes depicting anecdotes about exemplary behaviour of historical palace ladies, as well as with more general scenes showing aspects of life as a palace lady. The painting, which is now held at the British Museum in London, England, is one of the earliest extant examples of a Chinese handscroll painting, and is renowned as one of the most famous Chinese paintings in the world. The painting is first recorded during the latter part of the Northern Song (960–1127), when it was in the collection of Emperor Huizong of Song (r. 1100–1126). It passed through the hands of many collectors over the centuries, many of whom left their seals of ownership on the painting, and it eventually became a treasured possession of the Qianlong Emperor (r. 1735–1796). ¹

The Admonitions Scroll was painted to illustrate an eighty-line poetic text written in 292 by the Jin dynasty official, Zhang Hua (232–300). Zhang Hua wrote his Admonitions of the Instructress to the Court Ladies (Chinese: 女史箴; pinyin: Nǚshǐ Zhēn) as a didactic text aimed at Empress Jia (257–300), consort of Emperor Hui of Jin (r. 290–301), whose violent and immoral behaviour was outraging the court. It is not known when the first painting in illustration to Zhang Hua's text was made, but a lacquer screen painting from the tomb of a Northern Wei dynasty (386–535) official by the name of Sima Jinlong (司馬金龍, died 484), excavated in 1986, includes a panel illustrating the story of Lady Ban refusing to ride in the imperial litter, which corresponds to Scene 5 of the Admonitions Scroll. Although the text accompanying the lacquer painting is not from Zhang Hua's Admonitions, the painting does indicate that anecdotes recorded in Zhang Hua's text were used as subject matter for artists not long after Gu Kaizhi's death. It has been suggested that the original Admonitions Scroll may have been commissioned by the Jin dynasty imperial court in order to express the dismay of the court officials to the murder of Emperor Xiaowu of Jin (r. 372–396) by his consort, Lady Zhang (張貴人), who was never brought to justice. ¹

Although the painting was long thought to have been painted by Gu Kaizhi, the painting is not signed or sealed by the artist, and there is no record of Gu Kaizhi having painted such a painting in his biography or in any work which is contemporaneous with his life. The earliest mention of the painting is by the Song dynasty painter and poet Mi Fu (1051–1107), who records in his History of Painting (compiled 1103) that the Admonitions Scroll was in the collection of a palace eunuch by the name of Liu Youfang. Crucially, he also attributes the painting to Gu Kaizhi, but it is not clear whether this attribution was based on documentary evidence or whether this was simply his opinion based on the style of the painting. The next reference to the painting occurs in the Xuanhe Painting Manual, which is a catalogue of paintings in the collection of Emperor Huizong of Song (r. 1100–1126) that was compiled in 1120. The manual records the Admonitions Scroll as one of nine paintings in the imperial collection by Gu Kaizhi. This imperial authentication of the painting meant that no-one seriously doubted that the Admonitions Scroll was a work by Gu Kaizhi until modern times. The first suggestion that the painting was not an original Gu Kaizhi painting, but a Tang dynasty (618–907) copy, was made in a book written by Hu Jing (胡敬, 1769–1845) in 1816. However, it was not until the 20th century that art historians determined on stylistic grounds that the painting cannot have been produced during the Jin dynasty, and therefore cannot be an original work by Gu Kaizhi. However, there is considerable divergence of opinion between experts as to when and where the painting was made, and whether it is based on an earlier work by Gu Kaizhi or not. ¹

In addition to the scroll now held at the British Museum, a copy of the painting made during the Song dynasty is held at the Palace Museum in Beijing. This monochrome painting on paper is believed to have been copied from the British Museum scroll during the reign of Emperor Xiaozong of Song (r. 1162–1189). Unlike the British Museum copy, which is missing the first three scenes, the Palace Museum copy is complete in twelve scenes. However, as the first three scenes of the Palace Museum copy are not as detailed or complex as the other scenes on the scroll, it is possible that the British Museum scroll had already lost the three initial scenes by the time that it was copied in the 12th century, and thus the first three scenes may have been imaginative reconstructions by the court painter who made the Palace Museum copy. ¹

The scroll comprises nine scenes of the original twelve scenes that made up the painting attributed to Gu Kaizhi, and a number of appended items that used to be attached to it at either end. ¹

The British Museum copy of the painting has lost the three initial scenes at the right of the scroll, so the description of these scenes below is based on the Palace Museum copy, even though it is possible that these scenes are not copied from the original picture but are imaginative reconstructions. The twelve scenes of the scroll are ordered as follows: ¹

Scene 1 – an introductory scene; Scenes 2–5 – four scenes illustrating stories about the exemplary behaviour of famous palace ladies from history; Scene 6 – a mountain scene which separates the preceding scenes depicting anecdotes from the following scenes of palace life; Scenes 7–11 – five scenes that follow the life of a palace lady; Scene 12 – a concluding scene that shows the Court Instructress writing her admonitions. The corresponding quotation from Zhang Hua's text is placed to the right of each scene. ¹

The scroll before us fits into a tradition of didactic imagery established in the Han Dynasty and influenced by the great philosopher Confucius. When you read the text alongside the images, you realise that there's a deep message being communicated here. Confucius had the idea that everyone in society has a proper role and place, and if they follow that, then a very healthy and effective society is ensured. Now that message must have been especially important at the time that the poem that this scroll is based on was written, and at the time it was painted, because these were times of social chaos. ¹

The text above is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Admonitions Scroll”, available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 licence. ¹

Admonitions Scroll is painting by Gu Kaizhi, according to the structured record cited below. This entry was generated automatically from that record and has not yet been reviewed by a person familiar with the tradition. ²

The source record links this tradition to 8 external registers, which can be verified through the citation. ²