Ma Shouzhen

1548–1604), also known by her courtesy name Ma Xianglan (Chinese: 馬湘蘭, meaning "Orchid of the Xiang River") and pen name Yuejiao ("Lunar Beauty"), was a Chinese courtesan and artist born in Nanjing during the late Ming dynasty (1550–1644). She was a renowned painter, poet, and composer. She received the name Xianglan because her most favored paintings were of orchids.

Ma was born in Nanjing. Not much information about her early life is known. At the age of 15, Ma Shouzhen formally assumed the position of Yiji. Her first known painting is also from this year. Before this, she may have received education from a proprietor who owned her during her childhood.

Ma lived in the entertainment district along the Qinhuai River, where she was one of the Eight Beauties of Qinhuai. As a matriarch in Yiji society, she encouraged the education and training of Yijis in the arts. In order to maintain her reputation as an elite Yiji, she only allowed educated men or young student lords within her residence. She was known as a knight-errant, as she gave many gifts to young men and was cavalier with her money.

During the late Ming dynasty, elite Yijis challenged the gender stereotypes of Confucian values. In contrast to the women of the gentry, who were often discouraged from cultivating talent lest it undermine their virtue as wives and mothers, Yijis were educated in painting, poetry, and music. In addition, they owned property and participated in the public scene.

Ma's first patron, Pen Niang, was a student of Wen Zhengming. After his death when she was eighteen, she took on the new patron Wang Zhideng, a poet, and developed a talent for writing poetry.

As Yiji matriarch, she befriended many poets and intellects such as Peng Nian (1505–1566), Zhou Tianqiu (1514–1595), Xu Wei (1521–1593), Xue Mingyi (late 16th century), and Wang Zhideng (1535–1612). The poets would write poems inspired by her or for her, describing Ma as beautiful with a warm and welcoming personality. During their visits, Ma Shouzhen joined them in making paintings, poems, and plays. She also hosted parties on her multi-leveled house-boat with the literati as her guests.

Ma died peacefully in her residence in Nanjing in 1604. As a courtesan who had desired to enter a gentry family, Ma was often ridiculed, continuing after her death.

Ma Shouzhen and Wang Zhideng were sexual and business partners. They shared a loving relationship with one another, and there are instances in which the two openly expressed their affection for each other.

Wang wrote an account of their meeting. He recounted that they met when Ma was sued by a young literatus for bad treatment. The court clerk went to arrest her as Wang was visiting, and made a deal for her freedom for his calligraphy. Ma fell in love and proposed to Wang, but he refused, reporting he did not want to take advantage of the situation.

Ma and Wang wrote letters to each other, and Ma often sent gifts to Wang Zhideng and to his wife.

Ma and Wang collaborated in several paintings and poem. One of their famous collaborations was Narcissus and Rock, which consists of two images and a poem. When Ma published her poems in 1591, Wang included a preface for them.

Ma and Wang's relationship may have been the basis for the 1597 opera Bailianqun (White Silk Skirt), which ridiculed a sexually active older couple. The play was quickly banned due to being immoral, but the book gained popularity. However, some modern scholars believe that Ma and Wang were not actually the inspiration for the play.

On one occasion, Ma took her house-boat to Suzhou. Wang recollected that this was in celebration for his 70th birthday (though scholar Zhao Mi notes this as unlikely due to the commercial requirements of a theatrical tour). Not long after this, Ma fell ill. Though her letters to Wang begging him to visit her survive, it is unknown if he did so. Wang wrote twelve eulogies of Ma after her death as well as a biography, Maji zhuan (Biography of Courtesan Ma).

Painting

Ma Shouzhen fashioned herself as a talented painter in the Wen circle and Wu School. Clients came from as far as Thailand to purchase her work. As a painter, Ma Shouzhen is well known for landscapes, orchids, and bamboo imagery combined with calligraphy. Her brush work is delicate, and the images have either colors lightly applied or monochromatic ink. Her preferred painting formats include fan, hand-scrolls, and hanging scrolls. Ma was known for using the double outline technique, in which the edges of her leaves and blossoms are outlined with thin lines. This approach can be traced to Zhao Mengjian, who influenced Ma's work. Her paintings of bamboo were in the style of Guan Daosheng. The only paintings by Ma Shouzhen that survive today are her ink landscapes, orchids, and bamboo. Since she was a social person, many of her paintings may have been given away at parties.

Because of her fame, Ma's paintings were often copied.

Theater

Along with painting, Ma was skilled in writing poetry and composing dramas, however, some of her dramas have been lost over time. Ma was involved in the theater as a performer, troupe owner, and playwright. She was the only female troupe owner in late Ming theatre. She is the only recorded courtesan to run a troupe as a stable business in ming qing theater. This work included presenting onstage, tutoring performers, and touring with her troupe, which was known for northern plays.

Ma also was the author of at least one play, Sansheng ji (Story of Three Lives). The play is an adaptation of A Southern Song (1127-1279), a play about a student betraying his courtesan lover. As courtesan theatre was infrequently highlighted in Ming theatre, some male dramatists believed The Story of three Lives had been ghostwritten. The play is about love and betrayal in three lives. In the first, Wang Kui betrays courtesan Guiying, who had supported his study, by marrying another after. In the second life, the courtesan Su Qing (Guiying) abandons student Feng Kui (Wang Kui). In their third life, they repay their debt of love and marry.

Poetry

Ma published her first collection of poetry in 1591, with an introduction by Wang Zhideng.

Patronage

Ma also served as a patron of the arts. She funded Liang Chenyu's Hongxian nü (Lady Hongxian) in return for Liang writing poems for her.

Ma's life was recorded by Wang Zhideng. Within fifty years of her death, Qian Qianyi documented Wang's version of Ma's life in his poetry. Wang Duanshu (b. 1621) praised Ma in a collection of female poets.

In 1994, a crater on Venus was named after Ma.

• Orchid and Bamboo, (fan) ink on golden paper, in the Palace Museum Collection
• Orchid, Bamboo, and Rock, (fan) ink on golden paper, in the Palace Museum Collection
• Orchid, Bamboo, and Rock, (hand-scroll) ink on golden paper, in the Palace Museum Collection
• Orchid and Rock, (hanging scroll) ink on paper, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art Online Collection
• Hanging scroll with bamboo and orchids on a rock, ink on paper, in the Rijksmuseum Collection

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  Ma Shouzhen, Orchid and Rock, 1572, Metropolitan Museum of Art
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  Ma Shouzhen, Orchid, 1604, Yale University Art Gallery
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  Ma Shouzhen, Orchid and Bamboo, Minneapolis Institute of Art