Li Gonglin

Chinese government official and literati painter in the late Northern Song Dynasty. His pen name was Bo Shi. He was from Shuzhou (Shucheng, Anhui Province). He passed the Jinshi examination in 1070 (the 3rd year of the Xinning era) and rose from a local official to the rank of Chaofeng Lang (7th rank). In 1100 (the 3rd year of the Yuan Fu era), he retired from his post due to a numbness illness and retired to Mount Longmian near his hometown, where he took on the name Longmian Koshi and devoted himself to painting. He studied the books and famous paintings he collected, and improved his calligraphy. He also studied the brushwork of famous painters from the Jin and Song dynasties, such as Gu Kaizhi and Lu Tanwei, and painted people, Taoist and Buddhist figures, horses, landscapes, flowers and birds, and antiques, and is particularly known for his white-painted horses. As a literati painter, he revived the white-painted style of depiction that had been used by professional painters, and opened up new possibilities. His original copy of Five Horses Scroll was unfortunately destroyed in World War II. Many of his works have been passed down, but in Japan, his detailed colored arhat paintings, which differ from the Zengetsu style (a style of arhat painting founded by Zengetsu Daishi Kankyu, characterized by bizarre facial features and unrealistic clothing patterns), are called the Li Longmian style, and he is considered to be the originator of this style.

[Shinya Hoshiyama]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

中国、北宋(ほくそう)後期の官僚、文人画家。字(あざな)は伯時(はくじ)。舒州(じょしゅう)（安徽(あんき)省舒城）の人。1070年（煕寧3）の進士に合格し、官は地方官から朝奉郎(ちょうほうろう)（正七品）に至ったが、1100年（元符3）痺(しびれ)の病のため退官し、故郷に近い竜眠(りゅうみん)山に隠棲(いんせい)して竜眠居士と号し、作画に専念した。収集した法書・名画を学び、書をよくし、画(え)は顧愷之(こがいし)、陸探微(りくたんび)など晋宋(しんそう)以来の名家の筆法を広く研究して、人物道釈、馬、山水、花鳥、古器物を描き、とくに白画（白描画）の馬で知られる。文人画家として、職業画家の描写形式であった白画を復興して新生面を開いた。真跡『五馬図巻』は惜しくも第二次世界大戦で焼失した。伝承作品は多いが、わが国では禅月様（禅月大師貫休が創始した羅漢画の図様で、怪奇な容貌(ようぼう)と非現実的な衣文(えもん)を特徴とする）と異なる精細な着色羅漢図を李竜眠様とよび、その創始者としていた。

［星山晋也］

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