Small Landscapes: Ease and Repose in the Empty Wilderness
Painters of small scale, poetic landscapes during the Southern Song dynasty excelled at using their brushes to create misty, indistinct ambience. This mode of artistic expression was a transformation of "small scenes" painting inherited from the Northern Song dynasty. During the Northern Song period, arts critics held that the "small scenes" works of the renowned Five Dynasties landscape painter Li Cheng and the famous Buddhist monk Huichong were characterized by a sense of ease, repose, and spaciousness. The central subject matter of Huichong's "small scenes," which he painted during the Northern Song dynasty, was waterfowl on the shoals of river isles. He used level distance composition to create emotionally evocative spaces within which viewers could allow their thoughts the freedom to roam.
Ducks and Birds in a Frigid Forest- Attributed to Huichong, Song dynasty
A native of Jianyang in Fujian province, the renowned Northern Song dynasty Buddhist monk Huichong (fl. ca. early 11th century) was a talented poet and painter—his poetry was esteemed by the great scholar Ouyang Xiu (1007-1072). This painting takes wild geese and herons as its subject matter, in a composition centered around the frigid shoals of a remote river isle. It is a scene that conveys the easy repose that can be found in vast, empty wildernesses. Huichong painted such "small landscapes" (xiaojing), which, in their time, were considered to be rich with poetic meaning. Although none of his actual paintings remain in the world, surviving contemporaneous artworks depicting waterfowl on small islets in misty expanses demonstrate how Huichong's "small landscapes" influenced other painters during and after the Northern Song dynasty. Being traditionally ascribed to Huichong, "Ducks and Birds in a Frigid Forest" is this genre's representative work.
Human Figures- Anonymous, Song dynasty
This painting depicts a scholar seated upon a tatami bed, seated in a position of ease, reciting poetry and enjoying the flower arrangement before him. He is surrounded by a desk laden with tomes, a woven bamboo stool, a zither, a game of Go, scrolls, a stove for boiling tea, flowerpots, wine, and delicacies—an accurate representation of the elegant curios to be found in the studies of Song dynasty literati, who widely appreciated items of timeworn elegance.
A small scroll hanging from the painted screen behind the scholar seems that it may very well be a portrait of the selfsame individual. Worthy of note is that the room-dividing screen behind the scholar is painted with a scene of waterfowl on the shoals of an islet—this is a painting of the "small landscape" genre fashionable in the day. The upper portions of this piece carry seals reading "Xuanhe" and "Zhenghe," which indicate that it was part of Song dynasty emperor Huizong's collection, as well as the qian trigram and "Shaoxing," which show that it was also held in Emperor Gaozong's collection. These seals provide insight into the continuation of artistic trends during the period of transition between the Northern and Southern Song dynasties.
Yellow Oranges and Green Mandarins- Attributed to Zhao Lingrang, Song dynasty
The calligraphy and painting seen here were both originally affixed to circular fans, and were later mounted in album format. The calligraphy is Song dynasty emperor Gaozong's transcription of a poem written by the Northern Song dynasty scholar-official Su Shi (1037-1101). Su wrote this piece, entitled "A Poem for Liu Jingwen," in the fifth year of the Yuanyou reign period under Emperor Zhezong (1090). The painting is a refined blue-and-green landscape depicting orange and mandarin groves along the undulating shores on both sides of a river. Between the banks can be seen wagtails and teals. The overall composition is suffused with a hint of misty forests and river wilds, merged with river-islets-and-waterfowl subject matter. This elaboration of Huichong's "small landscape" compositions (fl. ca. early 11th century) mirrors the accompanying lines of poetry, "Remember, of all the beautiful sights the seasons bring, none are better than early winter, when the oranges are yellow and the mandarins are green."
The original label on this album attributes the painting to Zhao Lingrang (style name Danian, fl. ca. 1070-1100), a northern Song dynasty painter who was a member of the imperial family. However, a close analysis of the style of painting indicates that it is most likely the work of an unnamed court painter from the early Southern Song dynasty.