The Peircean order of signification and its encoding system in Chinese landscape painting

Abstract

AbstractApplying Peirce’s semiotics to the study of art history, this essay explores the order of signification in the Peircean theory and the visual order in Chinese landscape painting. Since the purpose of Chinese landscape painting is not simply to represent the beauty of scenery but to encode and manifest the philosophy of Tao, then, the author argues that the establishment of the encoding mechanism in Chinese landscape painting signifies the origination, development, and establishment of this genre in Chinese art history. In this essay, the Peircean order of signification is described as a T-shaped structure, consisting of a horizontal dimension of signs (icon, index, and symbol) while and a vertical dimension of the signification process (representamen, interpretant, and object). Correspondingly, the visual order in Chinese landscape painting is also described as a T-shaped structure as well: the horizontal dimension at the formal level consists of three signs (mountain path, flowing water, and floating air, the three constitute a compound sign), while the vertical dimension at the ideological level consists of three concepts (the way in nature, the metaphysical Way of nature, and the Tao). The significance of this order is found in re-interpreting the formation of landscape painting in Chinese art history.