Liu Chen and Ruan Zhao Entering the Tiantai Mountains
Zhao
Cangyun (Chinese, active late 13th–early 14th century)
Period:
Yuan dynasty
(1271–1368)
Culture:
China
Medium:
Handscroll;
ink on paper
Dimensions:
Image: 8
7/8 in. x 18 ft. 5 in. (22.5 cm x 564 cm)
Classification:
Paintings
Credit
Line:
Ex
coll.: C. C. Wang Family, Gift of Oscar L. Tang Family, 2005
Accession
Number:
2005.494.1
Painted by a member
of the Song royal family who lived through the Mongol conquest, this
handscroll, which revives the monochrome drawing style of the scholar-artist Li
Gonglin (ca. 1041–1106), chronicles the legend of two men of the Han dynasty
who stumble upon a magical realm of immortals. Returning home after what seemed
like half a year, they discover that seven generations have come and gone and
that they are alone in the world. The men’s loss of home and paradise evokes
the disorientation and alienation felt by many of the Chinese elite following
the fall of the Song dynasty in 1279.
What little we know of the artist is contained in the colophons mounted after the painting. The first, by Hua Youwu (1307–after 1386), describes Zhao Cangyun as an artist known for “boneless” (without outlines) ink-wash landscapes and delicate figure paintings. Hua also states that the artist was more famous in his youth than his fellow clansmen Zhao Mengjian (1199–before 1267) and Zhao Mengfu (1254–1322). As Zhao Cangyun withdrew to the mountains and lived as a recluse, never marrying or serving as an official, no documentation, except this scroll, survives
What little we know of the artist is contained in the colophons mounted after the painting. The first, by Hua Youwu (1307–after 1386), describes Zhao Cangyun as an artist known for “boneless” (without outlines) ink-wash landscapes and delicate figure paintings. Hua also states that the artist was more famous in his youth than his fellow clansmen Zhao Mengjian (1199–before 1267) and Zhao Mengfu (1254–1322). As Zhao Cangyun withdrew to the mountains and lived as a recluse, never marrying or serving as an official, no documentation, except this scroll, survives
Liu Chen and Ruan Zhao Entering the Tiantai Mountains
Zhao Cangyun (Chinese, active late 13th–early 14th century)
Painted by a member
of the Song royal family who lived through the Mongol conquest, this
handscroll, which revives the monochrome drawing style of the scholar-artist Li
Gonglin (ca. 1041–1106), chronicles the legend of two men of the Han dynasty
who stumble upon a magical realm of immortals. Returning home after what seemed
like half a year, they discover that seven generations have come and gone and
that they are alone in the world. The men’s loss of home and paradise evokes
the disorientation and alienation felt by many of the Chinese elite following
the fall of the Song dynasty in 1279.
What little we know of the artist is
contained in the colophons mounted after the painting. The first, by Hua Youwu
(1307–after 1386), describes Zhao Cangyun as an artist known for “boneless”
(without outlines) ink-wash landscapes and delicate figure paintings. Hua also
states that the artist was more famous in his youth than his fellow clansmen
Zhao Mengjian (1199–before 1267) and Zhao Mengfu (1254–1322). As Zhao Cangyun
withdrew to the mountains and lived as a recluse, never marrying or serving as
an official, no documentation, except this scroll, survives.
What little we know of the artist is contained in the colophons mounted after the painting. The first, by Hua Youwu (1307–after 1386), describes Zhao Cangyun as an artist known for “boneless” (without outlines) ink-wash landscapes and delicate figure paintings. Hua also states that the artist was more famous in his youth than his fellow clansmen Zhao Mengjian (1199–before 1267) and Zhao Mengfu (1254–1322). As Zhao Cangyun withdrew to the mountains and lived as a recluse, never marrying or serving as an official, no documentation, except this scroll, survives.
Handscroll;
ink on paper.
8 7/8 in. x 18 ft. 5 in. (22.5 cm x 564 cm).
Yuan
dynasty (1271–1368)
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