Resumen de Experiential readings and the grand view: "Mount Jizu" by Huang Xiangjian (1609-1673)
Some Chinese artists exploited the spatial and temporal potential of the handscroll format by moving beyond traditional linear readings to experiential readings. Huang Xiangjian, for example, in 1656 composed a pictorial ascent of Mount Jizu in Yunnan Province that lent itself to such a constructed experience. Its reception combined a knowledgeable reading of the artist’s picture and inscription with viewers’ ability to visualize the mountain’s polyvalent topography in full from the summit. This transformative experience culminates in a daguan, or “grand view”: an elevated, panoramic prospect metaphorically implying the comprehensive understanding of certain enlightened individuals.
