"The moon in the illustrations of the 人鏡陽秋 Renjing yangqiu (Ming Dynasty)" "La lune dans les illustrations du 人鏡陽秋 Renjing yangqiu (Dynastie Ming)" En Fr

Résumé En

The Renjing yangqiu 人鏡陽秋 (Annals to mirror men) includes 358 brief anecdotes with an edifying and self-righteous purpose drawn from the Classics and major historical works. This 22-chapter book was written by Wang Tingna (汪廷訥 born around 1550, himself present in the book by his brief comments after each anecdote under the name Wuwu jushi 無無居士, illustrated by Wang Geng 汪耕, engraved by Huang Yingzu 黃應組, published in 1600 in Beijing, and transmitted to the National Library of France after being purchased in 1720 by the Royal Library at the Foreign Missions Seminary in Beijing. Each anecdote is preceded by a double-page illustration, of the sketch type but of careful workmanship, with an iconography governed by codes, in particular variations on three peaks surrounded by water as a gauge of the sovereign’s power, and, more rarely, symbols revealing the influence of a woman by clouds or even the moon. In the context of the panel, we will focus on the meaning of the presence of the moon in these illustrations.