Assorted Landscape Leaf 4

The late Ming and early Qing was a period when the unconventional and the archaistic each had their fair share of followers in the world of landscape painting, as exemplified by the present album. Similar in size and invariably ink on paper, the 8-leaf album was painted over a span of 16 years by six masters, rather than five as given in the title slip, who are, by order of appearance, Weng Ling (the wuzi year, or 1648), Wang Shimin (the wuzi year, or 1648), Wu Hong (the jichou year, or 1649), Feng Zhaosi (the jiashen year, or 1644), Gonghuan (the jimao year, or 1639), and Zhou Nai (the jiawu year, or 1654). Each contributed one leaf except for Zhou Nai, who accounted for three. The recipient, possibly also the compiler, is inscribed to be Mengchu, apparently a dear friend who can yet to be identified, considering the fineness of the works. It is suspected that the album originally consisted of more than 8 leaves together with colophons by Mengchu and others but are now lost.

Weng Ling, a native of Jianning, Fujian province, twice achieved reinvention of his artistic style while studying painting under Cheng Zhengkui (1604-1676) and Wan Shouqi (1603-1652). His competence in approximating Huang Gongwang’s (1296-1354) serenity through powerful brushwork and unpretentious ink method can be observed from the hemp-fibre texture strokes in the truncated peaks, moss dots in the trees and especially Y-shaped rocks.

To Wang Shimin, a native of Taicang, Jiangsu provice, painting was a family tradition. He served the Ming court at a rank as high as Vice-Chamberlain for Ceremonials but refrained from associating with officialdom after the Manchus had taken power. Personally tutored by Dong Qichang (1555-1636), who later became his in-law, Wang played an active part in promoting and perpetuating the latter’s painting theories. All his life, he devoted himself to modelling on the past and proclaimed himself to be a passionate follower of especially Huang Gongwang. The foremost among the “Four Wangs”, who were widely venerated as exponents of the Orthodox School, he left behind an enduring legacy on the development of Chinese painting. The wooded river valley dotted by dwellings is an unmistakable borrowing from Huang Gongwang whereas the generous ink and luxuriant vegetation are Wang Shimin’s hallmarks, testifying to his lifelong allegiance to the orthodoxy. The painting was made in the 5th year of the Shunzhi reign (1648) when Wang was 57 years old and had retired to a life of reading and painting.

Wu Hong, a native of Jinxi, Jiangxi province, grew up and took to painting in present-day Nanjing. Together with his distinctively dynamic calligraphy, his painting, which underwent dramatic transformation after his extensive travels across the empire between 1653 and 1654, earned him a place among the “Eight Masters of Jinling”. Made in 1649 and hence in a style not yet transformed, the neatly executed and delicately textured painting is restrained and gentle with borrowings from Huang Gongwang, offering researchers a valuable specimen for studying the painter prior to his transformation.

Feng Zhaosi, a native of Kuaiji (present-day Shaoxing, Zhejiang province), was already an amazingly fine painter of landscapes, figures and birds-and-flowers when he was still in his youth. In his 30s, he forsook all genres to concentrate on plum blossoms, orchids, bamboos and rocks. Featuring no more than the top of a leafy sturdy pine, the novel composition was possibly conceived and boldly executed before the painter had turned 30.

Little is known about the life of Gonghuan, which is possibly the courtesy name of an unidentifiable painter called Huan that can be read from one of the signature seals. Dated 1639, the painting is the earliest in the whole album. The unusual forms of the rocks, bamboos and dead tree offer glimpses into the late Ming espousal of the unconventional in painting.

Zhou Nai was a native of Jiangning (present-day Nanjing). His landscapes executed with a damp brush have been said to be indebted to Li Cheng (919-ca. 967) and Dong Yuan (?-962). The observation is well justified by three leaves in the album, which feature respectively a sailboat passing under a cliff, a scholar hiking in a wintry valley, and a man braving the rain in a misty landscape typical of Mi Fu (1052-1107) and his son. Derived from Dong Yuan, Li Cheng, Mi Fu and his son Mi Youren (1074-1151) correspondingly, the paintings are characterized by liberal ink and brushwork. Although only the last of the three leaves was signed and dated, the uniform style and size suggest that they should have been painted around the same time and presented in one lot to Mengchu. It is also possible that they were part of a separate album with the rest of the leaves now lost.