The Iconography Tradition in Intergeneational Communication of Chinese Paintings

" Intergenerational communication” is a unique phenomenon in the process of inheriting ancient Chinese paintings: the collectors discuss and comment on the works of previous generations through inscriptions, and respond to the experience of previous viewers.Therefore, ancient paintings have become the medium of a delayed dialogue between people of different ages. A survey of many inscriptions shows that ancient viewers were often keen on the interpretation of the pictorial records−to establish the connection between the picture and the classical literature, and to dig into the meaning behind the work. However, viewers of different ages and social classes sometimes interpret the meaning of the same painting quite differently. This paper makes a systematic study of the iconography tradition in the intergenerational transmission of Chinese paintings, investigates how the viewers construct a specific discourse pattern through inscriptions, and tries to reveal the competition of deep power relations behind the different and even contradictory interpretation of the paintings.