十九世紀前半的畫家並非如向來所認為的那般消極，一無求新求變的企圖，如張崟便是一例。他於1827年為江蘇巡撫陶澍所繪製的《京口三山圖卷》，詳實描寫了家鄉鎮江的名勝京口三山，有別於擬古虛構一路的山水作風，而展現出強烈的現實感。其於實景的表現，不僅繼承了側重詩情畫意的勝景圖傳統，又結合了側重地理形勢的輿地圖式山水，所賴不單是直觀的視覺經驗，亦靠思辨性的地學知識以為根砥。透過此種對京口三山險要江山形勢的具體鋪陳，本圖有效凸顯了該地做為江防要塞與河運樞紐的肅殺形像，而與畫主陶澍實事求是的精神與經世濟民的使命感相得益彰。這種務實入世的態度正是道光新經世學風的主要特質，同時亦代表了鴉片戰爭前知識分子企圖起衰救弊的自發力量，可視為同光年間維新運動的前奏。

The Chinese painter of the first half of the 19th century has commonly been viewed as a creatively passive individual lacking all sense of artistic purpose. This article attempts to take a close and critical look at this image by taking Chang Yin (1761-1829) as an example, whose work emerges forcefully as representative material in the case. Chang Yin's handscroll Chin-k'ou san-shan t'u, executed in 1827 for the Provincial Governor of Kiangsi, T'ao Shu (1779-1839), presents the viewer with a detailed and faithful description of actual scenery of his hometown province, the “Three Mountains of the Chen-chiang River Delta” (chin-k'ou san-shan). The very strong sense of realism that speaks through this handscroll painting, is markedly different from the fictitious imagery represented in archaistic landscape painting. In its description of actual Chen-chiang scenery, there is ample reference to the lyric tradition of topographical painting, as well as to the tradition of cartographic painting. The painter clearly not only resorts to direct observation, but also bases himself upon systematic knowledge of the actual geography of the region. The image of the Chen-chiang river delta as a strategic river fortress and key center of river transport that unfolds with the painting, perfectly matches the spirit of realism and sense of political duty that inspired its patron, T'ao Shu. This was an attitude that not only characterized the New Statecraft School of the Tao-kuang period (1821-1850), but also the intelligentsia of pre-Opium War China in general, a spirit that was in a sense a forerunner of the late Ch'ing Reform Movement.

張崟; 京口三山圖; 陶澍; 經世之學

Chang Yin; Chin-k'ou sail-shall t'u; T'ao Shu; Statecraft School