ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the Kangxi Emperor’s version of the Pictures of Tilling and Weaving while discussing and the motivations behind their formal appearance and his interest in reviving them. This genre was traditionally invested with notions about the magnitude of the Chinese agrarian heritage and is augmented with references to the classical theory of government. Kangxi understood that the genre served to legitimize a monarch who valued agricultural labor. He commissioned a new pictorialization of the Pictures of Tilling and Weaving, instructing his court artist to render the scene with linear perspective – an artistic practice that Jesuits had introduced to the court. Kangxi was particularly partial to Jesuit knowledge, because he used their mathematics to produce a proper calendar earlier in his life while he was still a prince and under regents. In dynastic China, the setting of a proper calendar was an imperial prerogative. Kangxi, applying Jesuit knowledge, successfully determined the start of the agricultural season, and his calendar, in competition with other contenders, vaulted him to the throne. Given this background, Kangxi’s Imperially Commissioned Pictures of Tilling and Weaving function to articulate his appropriation of non-Manchu agricultural heritage that was formally aligned with Western studies. In short, Kangxi promoted a new vision of agriculture and society that is a testimony of his sagious knowledge. He had the paintings duplicated into woodblock prints that were distributed to family, officials, and the favored members of the public. Moreover, he wrote a new suite of poems for the Imperially Commissioned Pictures of Tilling and Weaving to assert the brilliance of his reign, providing a literary venue to further indicate his powerful legacy. The chapter ends by demonstrating that, in these poems, Kangxi regarded himself as Hou Ji – a revered, legendary figure who was attributed with founding agriculture.
