Even as studies have begun to illuminate the lives of Song dynasty women, scholars have largely overlooked their participation in the realm of visual culture, as noted in Hui-shu Lee's authoritative (and beautifully illustrated) book (p. 4). Empresses, Art, and Agency in Song Dynasty China sensibly focuses on several imperial consorts and their sponsorship of painting, sculpture, and architecture, but the author also delves into the women's calligraphy and considers how they viewed paintings. Along the way, she writes about female agency and subjectivity, patriarchal values, the elision of women's achievements from the historical narrative (pp. 9–10), and gendered modes of representation, including the expression of women's interiority (p. 21) and men's exteriority (p. 228). Her assessment of the historical record as “both biased and grossly incomplete” (p. 15) is persuasive, and it clarifies how visual culture can complicate our understanding of Song imperial women.
One of the strengths of...
