Manual of Painting, Opening Volume

Preface IV

I and Yanzhang Shen Xin (courtesy name Yanzhang), the primary artist and editor of these later volumes., brought together by a period of continuous rain, stayed indoors to focus our efforts on drafting and copying these works. I marveled at how he never attempted to hide his humble and rustic nature. We have shared a deep and special bond of friendship for several decades.

From the very beginning until now, we have remained unchanged in spirit. Yet, if one were to ask our names today, they would see that our white hair has already completely fallen out A poetic expression indicating that both the author and the artist have grown old during their long years of collaboration.. Together, we revisited our old threads of work, searching through various collections to finally compile and settle the contents of this book.

We have chosen to still title it the Mustard Seed Garden Manual of Painting. This is done entirely to follow the historical standard of Luo Changyuan Luo Mi (courtesy name Changyuan), a Southern Song dynasty scholar famous for his historiographical work, the Lushi. The author is comparing the rigor of this manual to Luo's historical records., also known as Luo Mi of Guangling, whose writings are firmly established in the annals of history.