Moutain View of Snow

Shang Xi is a painter in Ming dynasty, courtesy name Weiji or Hengji. He is a court painter active during the reign of Xuande Emperor, awarded with the title of Commander of Imperial Guards. He is expert in landscape, flower, animal painting as well as portrait. There are surviving portraits of Xuande Emperor painted by Shang, such as The Xuande Emperor on an Outing and Xuande Emperor’s Hunting. Maybe there are still some other works that reflect the court life of Ming dynasty are completed by Shang. Human figures in his paintings are carefully designed, with bright colors, and hence they become archetype in Ming’s court figure painting. This work has a style of Five dynasties: a range of mountains covered by mist and snow, evergreen pine trees standing out in the frozen winter, pavilions hidden in the forest, and people in it doing different things.