Objective After being rebuilt by the famous garden rockery artist Zhang Ran, Wang Xi's Yi Garden became an outstanding representative of private gardens in Beijing in the early Qing Dynasty, which is of important research value. However, whether the garden depicted in Jiao Bingzhen's Painting of Yi Garden (pronounced as "Yi Yuan Tu" in Chinese, hereinafter referred to as the "Painting") is Wang Xi's Yi Garden is still inconclusive. Although the Painting was strongly recommended by the late garden historian Chen Congzhou as early as 40 years ago, it has not attracted enough attention from researchers. Until a definitive answer is obtained, the research on the Yi Garden can neither rashly use nor decisively discard any information provided by the Painting, which is a pity and needs to be further explored.
Methods This research hypothesizes that the garden depicted in the Painting is most likely Wang Xi's Yi Garden. Firstly, the research adopts the method from "Shi Yuan Xue" (Quellenkunde, a discipline aiming to trace the origin of historical materials) to search for possible direct or indirect relationships between Jiao Bingzhen (creator of the Painting), Huang Yuanzhi (author of the poems attached to the Painting), and Wang Xi (owner of the garden), in order to evaluate the possibility that the Painting was created for Wang Xi. Secondly, the research adopts the comparative analysis method to compare the scenes depicted in the Painting with the records in other documents to explore whether there is any coincidence between them.
Results Based on the study of relevant historical materials and the comparative analysis of relevant scenes, it can be confirmed that the garden depicted in the Painting is exactly Wang Xi's Yi Garden. Huang Yuanzhi worked as a transcriber in the History Bureau (史馆) in his early years, whose life period was somehow overlapped with that of Wang Xi in charge of the Bureau then, and they should have had some contacts at that time. When Huang Yuanzhi returned to Beijing and served in the Imperial Clan Court (宗人府), he had the opportunity to follow the Manchurian prince who was then the head of the Imperial Clan Court to visit the Wang Xi's Yi Garden and inscribe poems for the Painting. The sixth poem Yang Ting (仰亭) in the Painting uses the word "Dou Nan" (斗南) to imply that the owner of the garden is a prime minister, which can confirm that the person must be Wang Xi. Several scenes in the Painting can also be found in Wang Xi's self-written Chronology and various visitors' poems. The formal name of the hall of the Yi Garden mentioned in the Chronology is "Han Bi Tang" (涵碧堂), not the commonly thought "Xi Chong Tang" (席宠堂), which is actually in the mansion, not the garden. The "Zhi Shuang Xuan" (致爽轩) in the Painting is the same building as the "Mu Zhai" (慕斋) mentioned by Wang Maolin and others, which used to be the library of Wang Xi's father, Wang Chongjian. After Chongjian's death, Wang Xi added a plaque called "Mu Zhai" in memory of him. Another building in the Painting, "Xiang Quan Ting" (响泉亭), a flowing cup pavilion, can also be found in Zhang Ying's notes. Such evidence further confirms the research hypothesis.
Conclusion Compared with Feng Pu's "Wan Liu Tang" (万柳堂), which was also rebuilt by Zhang Ran, Wang Xi's Yi Garden is fortunate because its painting and written records coexist to this day. We are even more fortunate that after the disappearance of Yi Garden's physical scenery, we can still "put pictures on the left and texts on the right" (左图右书) to appreciate its peerless brilliance.
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