楊州 徽商의 문화적 욕구와 그림시장에 미친 영향

Abstract

Huishang merchants played a large role in giving birth to a specific group of Yangzhou-based painters who molded a groundbreaking transformation in the Chinese art scene in the 18thcentury. The purpose of this study is to determine how the cultural aspirations, tastes, and economic influence of huishang merchants affected the 18thcentury Chinese art market. To this end, this study first surveys the literature on the cultural identity and economic tendencies and activities of huishang merchants. This study then makes comparative analyses of artworks that are associated with these merchants. Huishang is a term that refers to merchants from Anhui, a region to the south of the Yangtze River. They were well-known for their wealth and fortune. These merchants, from one of the most learned states of China, shared a strong belief in jia er hao ru (賈而好儒—a way of life that emphasizes hard work in both commerce and learning). The unique identity of huishang merchants— who belonged to the merchant class that was generally disdained upon in the Confucian order at the time, but who were also accomplished intellectuals—stems from the distinctive culture and sentiment of Anhui. These merchants from the same region were also noted for the strong ties and connections they cultivated with one another. They therefore traded not only such specialties of Anhui as salt, rice, and tea, but also the paintings and stationeries produced in their hometown. Because of their learning, huishang merchants had a good eye for paintings and artworks and, together, rose as a major group player in the Chinese art market, actively collecting paintings and antiques in the middle to late Ming period. The overwhelming influence of huishang merchants on art, based on the massive fortune they had amassed from trade and commerce, was especially visible in Anhui and the neighboring region of Yangzhou. Huishang merchants were part of the Yangzhou economy as early as the 16thcentury. Beginning in the early Qing period, they began to invest the huge amounts of money they had earned from salt trade into local cultural projects and artists, shaping the mainstream painting style in the region and giving rise to the Yangzhou painters. It was the huishang merchants who revolutionized the painting market by turning paintings in literary artists’ styles that were formerly thought of as exclusive property of the learned upper classes, into popular mass market products. The commercialization of artworks from Yangzhou painters led to the rise of unconventional phenomena, such as the disclosure of, and negotiation over, the prices of artworks. Huishang merchants’ love of their hometown led to the natural transmission of the liberal style of Anhui-based painters to Yangzhou. Anhuians’ reverence for products of learning and their good eye for paintings also served an important role in fostering a culture of collecting and appreciating art works in Yangzhou. Huishang merchants also had a knack for the novel and the eccentric. This tendency of theirs fuelled the boom of the art market catering to popular andmass tastes, prompting painters to develop unique and creative styles of expression.