Concept(s) of authenticity in Yuan Dynasty painting and calligraphy: from Qian Xuan to Huang Gongwang

In the field of Chinese painting and calligraphy, the topics of authenticity in a connoisseural sense as well as of copying practices have been essential ever since. This talk will go beyond authenticity as material genuineness and will focus on concepts of artistic, moral and personal authenticity as expressed through Yuan dynasty painting, calligraphy and attached or recorded colophons. It will discuss four artworks in the context of the Wei-Jin hermeneutical model of intent versus trace and show that Yuan scholars strongly suggested that an artist should strive for understanding and penetrating original principles in order to recreate the spirit of an earlier work instead of reproducing it, declare an artwork to express an artist's personal authenticity or pictorially express the necessity to seek the ability and authority to separate true intentions from mere outer forms or superficial outward appearances.