Wang Zhenpeng’s Baimiao and Its Reception

Wang Zhenpeng (ca. 1275-1330), the prestigious court painter of the Yuan, has been commonly regarded as an avant-courier in the development of the characteristic Yuan baimiao (plain drawing) style. This figure has been mythologized by numerous copies or fakes, and the most striking similarity between these paintings is their masterfully-controlled, dazzlingly-polished ink lines. However, through an investigation of Wang’s paintings and copies, this article shows that Wang Zhenpeng’s art is not exclusively ink monochrome and that he was also good at colored paintings. For example, the ink-outlined Vimalakirti and the Doctrine of Nonduality, one of Wang’s few reliably-attributed works, is only a preliminary sketch in preparation for a fully colored version for the Yuan emperor. This means that the extant Vimalakirti painting’s lack of color perhaps results from its “unfinishedness” rather than from the artist’s preference for an ink-outline style. Nevertheless, why did subsequent copyists frequently ignore Wang’s original, finished versions designed in color, but instead, place particular emphasis on uncolored fine lines? Were gold and pigments for heavy colors interpreted as a reflection of imperial needs and expectations? Was the baimiao style more commensurate with the orthodox literati taste? This article argues that the reception of Wang’s art, mainly reflected by his ink monochrome copies, strengthened the painter’s association with the popular baimiao style in the Yuan dynasty, and constructed an illusion of finishedness and completeness for most works in this style.