Ancient stone-carved portraits survive vicissitudes
Print Edition
ON the walls in the southern corridor of Zuibai Pond Park, 30 stone carvings depicting portraits of 91 ancient artists have weathered wars and political upheaval in the past century.
Preservation efforts have kept the artwork clean and relatively undamaged.
“Many Songjiang people have contributed to protecting the carvings, and they are the real heroes,” said Cheng Zhiqiang, deputy director of the Songjiang Historical Records Office.
The portraits include artists such as Dong Qichang (1555-1636), Chen Jiru (1558-1639) and Chen Zilong (1608-47).
They were originally painted on paper by Songjiang-native Xu Zhang during the reign of the Qianlong Emperor (1711-99) and then transcribed into carvings on stone slabs during the Guangxu Emperor’s Reign (1871-1908). They were carved on a wall of the Old Songjiang School.
Rescue campaign
In 1937, the Battle of Shanghai against the Japanese began, Old Songjiang School was destroyed, but the carvings escaped serious damage.
In 1941, residents in Songjiang began a campaign to rescue old paintings, calligraphy works and stone carvings from wartime destruction.
The 30 stone carvings were found and minor repairs were made. They were then moved to the wall in Zuibai Pond Park.
“Today when we look at the carvings, we can clearly see some traces of repair work,” Cheng said. “From the preface, we know about the preservation project 70 years ago, but the author of the preface is unknown. It remains a mystery why the name was removed.”
The preface does tell us that carver Qiu Jiting and calligrapher Zhu Guangci were involved in the project.
The stone carvings also survived the cultural revolution (1966-67), a decade-long political struggle that destroyed countless precious antiques and ancient artworks.
Surviving the upheavals
The painter Xu Zhenshi, whose alma mater was adjacent to Zuibai Pond Park, often visited the site when he was learning painting from artist Zhou Hongsheng.
“Each time I walked along that corridor, I was enchanted by the carvings,” Xu said. “Zhou even made some rubbings from the carvings for me to copy at home.”
The carvings were at risk of destruction by Red Guards who was told to demolish the “Four Olds:” namely, old customs, culture, habits, and ideas.
“Protecting the carvings without being discovered became the top priority for us,” Xu said.
He and other artists constructed a wooden frame over the wall and glued to it the popular big-character posters used to attack people accused of being reactionaries.
“The 30 stone carvings were cleverly disguised as a notice board, which escaped the Red Guards’ notice and survived until today,” Xu said.
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