Enjoying the Wilderness in an Autumn Grove

Enjoying the Wilderness in an Autumn Grove

Ni Zan  (Chinese, 1306–1374)

Period:

Yuan dynasty (1271–1368)

Date:

dated 1339

Culture:

China

Medium:

Hanging scroll; ink on paper

Dimensions:

Image: 38 5/8 x 27 1/8 in. (98.1 x 68.9 cm) Overall with mounting: 106 7/8 x 35 7/8 in. (271.5 x 91.1 cm) Overall with knobs: 106 7/8 x 40 in. (271.5 x 101.6 cm)

Classification:

Paintings

Until the early 1340s, Ni Zan lived the life of a wealthy dilettante, spending his time among the precious books, antiques, and flowers of his Pure and Secluded Pavilion. His painting style at the time, as seen here, exhibits a studied archaism in which his interest in descriptive detail is at odds with his self-conscious use of calligraphic "hemp fiber" brushstrokes in the manner of tenth-century masters. Ni's gentleman seated in a rustic pavilion is shorthand for the scholar in his studio. His florid poem exhibits a similarly precious quality of one entirely absorbed in his immediate surroundings. It reads, in part: 

In the bright days, bamboo wave in the breeze;
In the dark nights, parasols of fir hold up the moon.
Burning incense I use [a censer in the form of] a gilded duck;
Gathering scattered petals, I place them inside my pillow. 
(trans. Wen Fong)