Illustrations of the Mulian Story and the Tradition of Narrative Painting in China (Tenth–Fifteenth Centuries)

Abstract

The story of Mulian rescuing his mother’s soul from hell was featured in numerous pictorial versions of different formats in China. They could take the form of multi-scene handscrolls, illustrations in manuscripts and editions, and separate scenes in devotional religious art objects such as murals and reliefs. The Mulian subject was of primary importance in the popularization of Buddhist ideas among different layers of society. The earliest extant pictorial versions of this story in China (tenth century) were related to Buddhist storytelling with the use of visual devices. Illustrations appeared in several written versions of the Mulian story that were circulated among different layers of society in China in the twelfth through fifteenth centuries. These illustrated versions showed different degrees of elaboration, spread among common folk and the imperial courts of the Yuan and Ming dynasties. In this article I explore the functions of the narrative illustrations of the Mulian story in various social contexts. These functions were quite varied in case of most art objects analyzed here: pictures in woodblock editions and manuscripts augmented the textual part and also made them appealing to the lay readers.