Zheng Banqiao was known for bamboo painting, calligraphy, and poetry. His works often combine images, inscribed poems, and brush writing, letting bamboo express personal experiences and ideas.
He was an important member of the Yangzhou painters and also served as an official. His artistic style was closely connected with urban markets, collecting, and scholarly friendships.
The artist and his public career
Zheng Xie ( pinyin:), courtesy name Kerou, art name Banqiao or Banqiao Daoren, commonly known as Zheng Banqiao, was a Chinese official, painter and calligrapher of the Qing dynasty. He began life in poverty, but rose in the imperial examination system to become a magistrate in Shandong. However, after 12 years, he became critical of the life of an official as he refused to ingratiate himself with senior officials. When he was reportedly criticized for building a shelter for the poor, he resigned. After that, he expressed himself in art and became one of the Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou. He was noted for his drawing of orchids, bamboo, and stones. In 1748 he briefly resumed an official career as "official calligrapher and painter" for the Qianlong Emperor.
Zheng was also a calligrapher who created a new calligraphy style influenced by his orchid drawings. Added to this, he had an interest in literature and poetry. He preferred to write about ordinary people in a natural style.
Bamboo, brushwork, and poetry
Works of bamboo painting, usually in ink, are a recognized genre of East Asian painting. In a work of bamboo painting in ink, a skilled artist and calligrapher will paint a bamboo stalk or group of stalks with leaves. The contrast between the foreground and background, and between the varying textures represented by the stalks and the leaves, gave scope to the painter to demonstrate his or her mastery with an inkpot and a brush.
The bamboo painter often inscribes a poem that accompanies the painting and further elucidates the motif. The poem is often an integral part of the work as a whole. A viewer of the work can compare the calligraphy of the poem with the calligraphy of the painting, as both are typically inscribed with the same brush and reflect a similar mood and state of awareness.
A standard primer on classical East Asian bamboo painting is Hu Zhengyan's "Ten Bamboo Studio Manual of Painting and Calligraphy" (1633), with woodblock print illustrations. Because of the volume of bamboo works painted over time, the production of a work of ink bamboo became one of the standard subjects to which an East Asian student could be set in a competitive examination.
From the days of their common origin, Chinese painting and Chinese writing have been allied arts. They use the same equipment and share aims, techniques, and standards. Ever since the beginning, bamboo has been written and also been painted in the same manner, in other words, a work depicting bamboo is both a painting and a piece of calligraphy. There are so-called “bamboo painters” who all their lives paint only bamboo. The bamboo is strong, upright, and dependable. He may bend with the wind, the storm and the rain, but he never breaks. He is a true gentleman of courage and endurance (Ju 1989).
The bamboo plant came under close observation by many East Asians because of its persistence and vegetative productivity. The plant was especially appreciated by men and women educated in the tradition of Confucius. It came to be seen as an exemplar of moral force, and appreciating the bamboo was seen as an act of self-cultivation. It was said of the ink bamboo painter Wen Tong that "there are whole bamboos in his heart".