Fisherman and Mountain Landscape After Juran

Beginning in the thirteenth century, Chinese painters began to choose subjects and styles suggesting a desire for seclusion, tranquility, and withdrawal from urban political engagement. This painting primarily depicts a series of activities: Fishermen are angling or pulling in nets, and one of the men is crossing a bridge to return home. High, sharp peaks gradually vanish in the distance. In the style of the much-admired tenth-century painter Juran, this hanging scroll has a subtle character typical of the refined connoisseurship of the conservative artists of the seventeenth century and reflects the continuity of tradition throughout the long history of Chinese landscape painting.

The inscription on the painting reads: Imitating Juran's [active second half of the tenth century] brushwork, Wang Jian from Luoshui in the good year guichou [1673].

The title tag on the edge of the outer mount states: Wang Lianzhou's [Wang Jian's] copy of Juran's landscape, inscribed by Xiyuan zhuren in 1859.

The inscription on the right edge of the mount by Wu Hufan (1894–1968) states: This copy of Juran's brushwork by Xiangbi taishou [Wang Jian's nickname] is of a heavenly masterpiece, which had been regarded in the Dafengtang [Zhang Daqian's studio] as the most superb work. In the fourth month of the guiyou year [1933], Daqian brought this painting to Meijing shuwu [Study Room with Plums View, the studio of Wu Hufan]; along with Mr. Chen Julai from Pinghu, we examined it with great joy. Respectfully inscribed by junior student Wu Hufan.

Two seals of Wang Jian read: Xiangbi; Wang Jian's seal. The four seals of Wu Hufan and ten collectors' seals include one of Daqian's elder brother Shanzi (1895–1943), a tiger painter.

Artist's biography
Wang Jian came from a prominent family in Taicang, near modern Shanghai. As a youth Wang prepared for the government examinations and a career in the civil service; he earned the highest-level degree in 1633, and was appointed to a government position in Beijing. He also studied painting with the renowned master Dong Qichang. When he retired to his family estate in 1641 he devoted the remainder of his life to art and literature, becoming one of the most influential painters and theorists of the late seventeenth century. Along with Wang Shimin (1592–1680), Wang Hui (1632–1717), and Wang Yuanqi (1642–1715), he is considered one of the "Four Wangs," the leading orthodox masters of the early Qing dynasty.