Garden
of the Master of the
Nets, located on Shiquan
Street in Suzhou city
with a total area of
0.54 hectares (5400 sqm),
is the smallest garden
in Suzhou - half the
size of Canglang
Pavilion and one-tenth
the size of Humble
Administrator’s Garden.
The garden was laid out
during the Song dynasty
(960-1279), abandoned,
and then restored in the
18th century as part of
the residence of a
retired official. It was
said that the official
announced that he’d had
enough of bureaucracy
and would rather be a
fishman. Hence its name.
Being the most exquisite
and the best-preserved
garden in all old
residential gardens in
Suzhou, the garden is
divided into three
parts. The eastern is
residential area -
originally with side
rooms for sedan-chair
lackeys, guest reception
and living quarters. The
central part is the main
garden and the western
part is an inner garden
where a courtyard
contains the Dianchun
Studio, the master’s
study.
Half surrounded by a
screen wall and two
alleyway side entrances,
the front door faces
south with hairpin-like
door ornaments above it.
This type of front door
showing owner’s rank at
the court has become
very rare now. After
entering the entrance
are sedan-chair hall,
grand reception hall and
a two-storey tower
sitting successively on
a north-south axis.
Constructed in
accordance with the
strict regulations of
feudalism, they are
magnificent buildings
with extraordinary
furnishing and interior
decoration. Every hall
has a door or walk-way
leading to the main
garden.
The main garden,
occupying about four
fifth of the total area
of the garden, is
situated northwest of
the residential area
with a pond in the
center. Comparing with
the normal architecture
in the east residential
area, the garden
architecture appear more
free and was suitable
for reading, painting,
viewing, resting,
sipping tea and holding
small banquets.
The pond, covering an
area of about 440 sqm,
has a tiny arch bridge
named Yinjing Bridge
(Leading to Quietude
Bridge) in its end. The
bridge, with a total
length of 212cm and
width of 29.5cm, is the
smallest arch bridge in
this garden.
To the west of the main
garden is the inner
garden, which covers an
area of 1 mu (about 667
square meters). Halls,
pavilions, springs,
plants, and verandas are
scattering here and
there in this garden,
fully embodying the
cream of the layout of
the Suzhou gardens.
Dianchun Studio, a
solitary courtyard in
this part, was perhaps
the fist Chinese garden
structure to have found
its way to the outside
world - Ming Hall, the
miniature model of this
courtyard was copied in
the Metropolitan Museum
of Art in New York City
in 1981 and the Pompidou
Center in Paris in 1982.
The most striking
feature of Garden of the
Master of the Nets is
its use of space. Small
as its size is, the
scale of the building is
large, but nothing
appears cramped. Based
on illusion, the garden
is full of change,
capturing the effect of
boundlessness, and
achieving a unity of
part and whole. The
Master-of-Nets Garden
serves to illustrate how
the few surpasses the
many and the small
exceeds the large. |