Reading The Memorial Stele

This work depicts a traditional tale about Cao Cao and Yang Xiu of the Wei dynasty and their efforts to read a memorial stele erected in honor of the Han dynasty figure Cao E. When the two passed by this stele, Yang immediately understood the meaning of the texts inscribed on the stele, while Cao Cao took longer to understand. The side of the stele shown in this painting is inscribed with a text that can be literally translated as, “Wang Xiao figures, Li Cheng trees and rocks.” This reflects the fact that the painter Wang Xiao excelled at the depiction of human figures, birds, and animals, while Li Cheng was renowned for his ability to depict spatial depth and acutely accurate trees and leaves. Li Cheng was born into a family related to the Tang imperial family, and disliked being considered a painter. This meant that very few works remain extant by Li Cheng. This dearth was already common as early as the Northern Song dynasty, when Mi Fu expounded his “no Li theory” that there were no extant works by Li at that time. Judging from the traces of slippage that occurred in the copying process, this work is thought to be a copy dating to the Yuan dynasty. In spite of this distance from the original, Li Cheng’s painting style remains in the use of earthen hillocks to create perspective and the crab claw-like rendering of the trees.