Selections

Oxen

• Li Tang, Song dynasty

     Li Tang (ca. 1049-1130), whose style name was Xigu, was a native of Heyang in Henan province. He entered the Imperial Painting Academy during the reign of Song dynasty emperor Huizong. During the Jianyan reign period (1127-1130) he was conferred the honorary title "Gentleman of Complete Loyalty" and resumed his post in the Imperial Painting Academy, where he was a Painter-in-Waiting.

     This painting depicts a shepherd boy lying astride an ox, its calf following close behind, lowing as it raises its head in a realistic portrayal of the affections between a mother and her offspring. Li used pale washes to outline the bodies of the oxen, and then used the brush's bristles to render the swirling patterns in the hair on their hides, as well as relief shading to accent their bellies. The combined effect of these techniques ably captured the oxen in both spirit and form. In the background, green grasses growing on level ground and a smattering of boulders and escarpments lend the painting southern China's signature aura of rural tranquility. This work was not marked with seals, but an accompanying inscription by Liang Qingbiao (1620-1691) declares that it is the work of Li Tang.

Two Magpies at the Pine Spring

• Ma Yuan, Song dynasty

     Ma Yuan (ca. 1160-1225), whose sobriquet was Qinshan, hailed from Qiantang (present day Hangzhou in Zhejiang province). During the reigns of Southern Song dynasty emperors Guangzong and Ningzong (1190-1224) he served as a Painter-in-Attendance for the imperial court. He was a masterful painter of landscapes, birds, flowers, and human figures. This piece is the seventh leaf from a collection entitled "An Authentic Album of Famous Paintings."

     This painting portrays a scholar clutching a flywhisk, recumbent atop a twisted pine trunk with a servant child at his side. Two magpies pulsing with life bestowed by Ma's brush have appeared to take water. The work has a diagonal composition, with negative space generously employed in the background to create a sense of open expanse. Ma used sparing brushwork to outline the figures' garments and describe the folds of fabric, while employing "axe-cut" strokes to paint the various rock formations. He painted the long, twisting pine branches with speed and vigor, giving reign to the habit that earned him the moniker "Hanging Branches."

Riding off on the Hung

• Anonymous, Song dynasty

     This painting depicts two aristocratic equestrians with foreign features, a retainer riding ahead, his patron following closely behind. The patron was given an imposing frame, his depiction enlivened by the highly realistic silken locks flowing behind him. The human figures, horses, and saddlery were outlined with flowing-yet-precise "iron wire" lines. This piece is very similar in composition to a painted scroll by the same name held in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, but that work depicts an entire retinue of riders, versus the two seen here. In terms of its style, this glimpse into the lives of aristocratic nomads seems likely to have been painted by a personage with close ties to the Northern Song dynasty Imperial Painting Academy, rather than a Southern Song dynasty artist. This piece is the fourth leaf in an album entitled "A Treasury of Famous Paintings."

Snowy Manor and Oxcarts

• Anonymous, Song dynasty

     This painting delivers a scene of snowbound wintry cold, with bare-branched trees, undulating hills and mountains stretching into the distance, and an unbroken chain of oxcarts comprising a caravan wending its way along its frozen route. The oxen and mules in the large manor are shown at rest, while two figures beneath the eaves clasp one another's hands as they engage in discourse. Nearby, a waterwheel used to grind grain can be seen beside the river. The artist used a highly narrative approach to illustrate this vignette of travel through the hinterlands during the depths of winter. The slopes and boulders were painted using "axe-cut" strokes, and the artist invoked heavy brushwork and dark, luscious ink washes to yield stark contrast with the pale washes used to convey sky and earth. The distant mountain range was created using negative space in a manner that accentuates their snow-enveloped whiteness. The brush and ink techniques on display in this scroll suggest it to be the work of a Southern Song or Yuan dynasty painter.

Waiting for the Fairy on a Misty River

• Qian Xuan, Song dynasty

     Qian Xuan (fl.1235-1307, style name Shunju; sobriquets Yutan and Xunfeng) was a native of Wuxing (modern Huzhou, Zhejiang). He did not seek office after the rise of the Yuan dynasty, instead making a living through his painting and calligraphy.

     He took the landscape styles of Zhao Lingrang and Zhao Boju, bird-and-flower manner of Zhao Chang, and figure style of Li Gonglin as his teachers. Qian Xuan was, however, not confined by the methods of previous masters. This is a painting of an autumnal landscape in which the mountain ridges and level slopes are depicted mostly with angular texture strokes using a stiff, awkward brush held upright, assisting to express the archaic elegance and delicate beauty of a blue-and-green landscape that fully possesses the peaceful atmosphere of literati painting. The groups of trees are rendered with fine texture strokes and dots, conveying luxuriant growth and pure beauty. The painting has a flat-distance composition with a vast body of water suggesting an otherworldly and unsullied realm, the artist's poetry inscribed at the top of the painting expressing his wish to live in reclusion and retire from the world.

Clearing Rain in Spring Mountains

• Gao Kegong, Yuan dynasty

     Gao Kegong (1248-1310), whose style name was Yanjing and whose sobriquet was Fangshan, was a Uighur originally from western China, with ancestry tracing to Datong. In his later years he settled in Fangshan (present day Beijing). This scroll was painted in the third year of the Dade reign period (1299) under Emperor Chengzong of the Yuan dynasty. It was a gift for Li Kan (1245-1310) during Gao's last year in Southern China before he returned to the capital to serve as an assistant minister in the Ministry of Works.

     Gao Kegong studied the landscape paintings of Mi Fu and his son Mi Youren. In this painting he employed parallelism along the horizontal axis, multiple layers of gradient washes, and a tripartite composition. The foreground is a lush arboreal scene with a variety of tree species. Gao used negative space to intimate the clouds and mists that fill the middle distance, and "hemp fiber" strokes to create the mountains in the background. A symphony of pale washes, blue-and-green gradients, and distinct layering evoke the grandeur of cloud-covered mountains following rain.

A Spray of Bamboo

• Ni Zan, Yuan dynasty

     Ni Yunlin (1301-1374), whose given name was Zan, also went by the sobriquet Yuweng. With his wealthy family background, Ni was able to erect a structure he called the Clarity and Quietude Pavilion, in which he stored his collection of ancient works of calligraphy and painting. Himself an outstanding landscape painter, Ni became known as one of the four masters of Yuan dynasty painting.

     Ni gave this painting of a sprig of bamboo with upward-titled leaves a magnificent sense of composition. His brushwork was vigorous, with washes that range from heavy to light in a warm, gentle interplay of brush and ink. The work not only captures bamboo's outer appearance, but also conveys its naturally endowed spirit, thereby imbuing this scroll with the leisurely, fresh grace that defines this genre. In his autumn years Ni sojourned in the company of Daoists and Buddhists. This painting was completed in the seventh year of the Hongwu reign period (1374) under the Ming dynasty's founding emperor, as a gift for Wuxue Shangren (The Unlearned Master). Ni Zan was seventy-four years old; he passed away later that year.

Landscape

• Dai Jin, Ming dynasty

     Dai Jin (1388-1462), a native of Qiantang in Zhejiang province (present day Hangzhou), had the style name Wenjin and the sobriquets Jing'an and Yuquan Shanren, which mean "Silent Sanctuary" and "Mountain Recluse of the Jade Spring."

     The waterside terrace depicted in the central foreground of this image is brought to life by the human figures within and an accompanying fishing boat gracing the river. In the far distance, the painting's central mountain rises with grandeur and the sense of being a barrier. It was painted in a style that evolved from the work of Guo Xi, with "axe-cut" texturing complemented by quickly-executed, water-heavy washes, as well as thick washes used to express the clusters of alpine trees. The vigor on display in Dai's use of ink embodies the "Zhe school's" predilection for instilling landscape paintings with heroic majesty. This painting is among the finest of Dai's extant works. It is signed in his hand and bears a seal with one of his sobriquets, Jing'an.

Events of the Twelve Months

• Wu Bin, Ming dynasty

     Wu Bin (fl. ca. 1573-1620), whose style name was Wenzhong and whose sobriquet was Zhiyin Toutuo (meaning "The Ascetic from Zhiyin Temple"), was from Putian in Fujian province.

     This horizontal handscroll, composed in the style of an album leaf, illustrates scenery unique to each of the twelve months of the year. Its composition is very similar to an album comprising a series of twelve paintings entitled "A Record of Yearly Observances," although there are slight differences in the ordering of the second and third lunar months. Wu painted the festive medley of different people and activities filling this scene in an original, lively manner. While his brushwork and color selections were delicate and elegant, Wu did not restrain himself by adhering to timeworn techniques, instead creating an affectedly awkward approach distinct from the mainstream "literati style" of painting.

Scattered Trees Among Streams and Mountains

• Gong Xian, Qing dynasty

     Gong Xian (1599-1689) took the style names Banqian and Yeyi, as well as the sobriquet Banmu. He was from Kunshan in Jiangsu province.

     This depiction of a riverside grove of trees appears unremarkable at first glance, but upon careful appreciation it reveals rich, transformative depths. Gong made skillful use of contrast in his ink washes in order to elicit the relationships between the near and far fields of this landscape. The leaf accompanying this painting contains a poem by Rao Yupu, dedicated to "Liwen," a nickname meaning "Oaken Fellow" that refers to the renowned connoisseur-cum-official, Zhou Lianggong (1612-1672). Zhou, who collected painted masterpieces, and frequently gathered his literati friends to enjoy artwork and write poetry. This piece is the seventh leaf in an album entitled "Zhou Lianggong's Collection of Famous Landscapes."

Cloudy Mountains in Mist and Rain

• Shixi, Qing dynasty

     The Buddhist monk Kuncan (1612-1673), whose surname was Liu, had the style name Shixi ("Stone Valley") and the sobriquet Candaoren ("Wounded Wayfarer"). He entered monasticism after losing his mother while still a child, and later traveled extensively.

     Heavy washes were used to portray the mountains in this painting, which boasts sophisticated layering in its brushwork and applications of ink. While the work is evocative of Mi Fu and his son Mi Youren's vivacious paintings of cloud-wrapped mountains, Shixi's intentional inelegance and use of a heavily worn brush give the work a flavor that is all his own. The artist's inscription declares that this is an illustration of Mt. Niushou near Nanjing. The painting is accompanied by a colophon written by Wang Shizhen (1634-1711) and an accompanying panel with poems in the hands of Zhu Yishi and Zhou Ming echoing the painting's subject matter. This is the tenth leaf in "Zhou Lianggong's Collection of Famous Landscapes."

After Li Cheng's "Clearing After Snow over Clustered Peaks"

• Wang Hui, Qing dynasty

     Wang Hui (1632-1717), who hailed from Changshu in Jiangsu province, was styled Shigu. His sobriquets included Gengyun Sanren, Wumushan Ren, and Jianmen Qiaoke.

     This painting of an isolated mountain covered in snowpack depicts human habitations dotted amid ancient pines beneath a solitary central peak piercing skywards. Wang filled the sky with a pale ink wash and accented the central peak with calcimine, while painting the remaining massifs in yellow ochre and rendering the trees in the distance with thick gradient washes of malachite green. A virtuoso performance of brush and ink, Wang's painting produces a vision of remote mountain scenery after a light snow. This selection is the second leaf in "Zhou Lianggong's Collection of Famous Landscapes." Zhou Lianggong, the art collector who complied that album, passed away when Wang Hui was only forty years old, suggesting that he completed this painting before reaching his fourth decade.

Peaks Emerging from Spring Clouds

• Wang Yuanqi, Qing dynasty

     Wang Yuanqi (1642-1715), whose style name was Maojing and whose sobriquet was Lutai, was a native of Taicang in Jiangsu province. Grandson of Wang Shimin (1592-1680), he also inherited Dong Qichang's (1555-1636) theories of painting, and became known as one of the six masters of Qing dynasty painting.

     Wang composed the mountains in this work so that they ascend in the shape of the character "之." An interplay of emptiness and substantiality engages the spine of the mountain range and the negative space regions of water and cloud on either side, increasing the painting's sense of dynamic force and its spirited charm. Wang moved his brush with nonchalance as he painted this work atop silk in a blue-and-green color scheme, filling the scroll with intriguing splendors. This piece, which is undated and signed with only a single character meaning "your servant," was painted by Wang Yuanqi on imperial commission.

Myriad Longevities in an Everlasting Spring

• Giuseppe Castiglione, Qing dynasty

     Giuseppe Castiglione (1688-1766), known as Lang Shining in Chinese, was an Italian of Milanese extraction. He entered the Society of Jesus when he was nineteen and served as an assistant, before arriving in China at the age of twenty-seven. He served under the emperors Kangxi, Yongzheng, and Qianlong, during which time he instructed palace painters in the occidental method of perspective painting, establishing a new style of court painting that fused Chinese and western traditions.

     This painting depicts Rosa chinensis, Dianthus chinensis, and China aster in full bloom, with the fungus Ganoderma lingzhi growing beside the boulder. The term "myriad longevities" in the painting's title was used in birthday gifts presented to emperors and empresses by their subjects. Castiglione took pains with his brushwork, use of ink, and color selection to give the flowers and plants a sense of three-dimensionality. The boulder was painted in cooperation with the artist Tang Dai (1673-after 1752).