Hanging scroll, ink and colors on paper
Wang Meng (1308–1385), one of the Four Masters of the Yuan Dynasty, created Recluse on a Flowering Stream, a painting inspired by Eastern Jin dynasty poet Tao Yuanming’s (365–427) The Peach Blossom Spring that describes a fisherman’s serendipitous discovery of an idyllic utopia. The composition divides the scene into foreground and background, where the foreground depicts a secluded dwelling, flanked by blooming peach trees along both riverbanks. On the river, a fishing boat drifts serenely, with a fisherman casting his line and a woman seated inside a cabin. This imagery echoes the poetic allusion in the inscription to Fan Li (536–448 BCE) and Xi Shi retreating together to the Five Lakes in a boat. Behind the village, layered hills rise, separating the village from a distant mountain village and reinforcing the sense of isolation from the mundane world.