Introduction

Members of the nobility, royalty, and imperial family have been important collectors of art and objects in China throughout the ages. This exhibition serves as an introduction to the renowned collection of paintings that once belonged to the family of Mu Ying, a major figure in the early Ming dynasty and the Yunnan area in China's far southwest.

Mu Ying (1345-1392), founder of the famous Mu clan, was a member of the Hui nationality who hailed from Feng-yang in Anhwei Province. Orphaned as a youth, he was adopted by the founding emperor of the Ming dynasty, T'ai-tsu (Chu Yuan-chang, 1328-1398). Later, Mu was placed in charge of the areas of Szechwan and Tibet, and he succeeded in expanding the borders of the Ming dynasty further southwest by hundreds of kilometers. He was rewarded in 1377 by being enfeoffed as "Marquis Conquering the Western Regions". With success in pacifying the Yunnan area, Mu Ying remained there in charge of developing the Ming southwestern frontier. After his death, his title was promoted to that of "Prince of Yunnan". His descendants thereupon inherited the post of defending the Yunnan area, assuming the rank "Duke of Yunnan".

It is said that the major Ming painter Tai Chin (1388-1462), after being forced to flee the court due to scandal, heard that the Duke of Yunnan (Mu Ying's second son, Mu Sheng [1368-1439]) was quite fond of painting. Tai consequently went to seek his patronage. Mu Ying's third son, Mu Ang (1379-1445), also enjoyed poetry and prose, keeping in frequent contact with scholars and members of art circles. In fact, he collected the works of 21 early Ming poets who resided in the Yunnan area and edited them into a book entitled "Pearls Lost in the Sea". It contained more than fifty poems of praise originally inscribed on paintings, which were most likely in the Mu family collection. Mu Lin (1430-1457, style name T'ing-chang), the eldest grandson of Mu Ang, also excelled at poetry, prose, and painting. In Yunnan, he was considered a Confucian scholar and was the most famous collector of the clan.

Concerning "the princely clan who conquered the western regions", Wang Shih-chen (1526-1590), the great Ming connoisseur and collector of painting and calligraphy, wrote the following: "The Mu clan owned gems and treasures that filled their vaults in a way that rivaled the collection of the imperial family." The statement is not surprising, since the Mu clan was directly related to the founding emperor. In addition to receiving gifts from the court, the Mu clan also used its wealth and connoisseurship to amass a famous collection of Sung and Yuan dynasty album leaves and handscrolls, revealing a taste for the aesthetics of "integrating poetry and painting" as found in Sung court art and literati painting. Such works on exhibit as "Kuo Tzu-i Receiving Homage from the Uighurs" attributed to Li Kung-lin (1049-1106) and Wang Chen-p'eng's (ca. 1280-1329) "Dragon Boat Regatta" all were once part of the Yuan and Ming court collections that came into the hands of the Mu clan.

The Mu collection seal reading "May sons and grandsons of the Prince of Yunnan treasure this for eternity" bears the rank bestowed upon Mu Ying by the emperor and serves as a reminder to future generations of ancestral achievements. Other seals include "Clan of the Prince of Yunnan", "Painting and calligraphy seal of the Prince of Yunnan household", and "Mu Lin, T'ing-chang". The exquisite collection of the Mu clan, though dispersed later in the Ming dynasty, has long received the attention of connoisseurs and scholars in Chinese art. This exhibition represents a selection of paintings in the National Palace Museum that once formed part of the Mu collection in Yunnan during the Ming dynasty.