Up the River During Qingming

Zhang Zeduan's "Up the River During Qingming" from the early 12th century in the late Northern Song period is universally recognized as one of the great masterpieces of Song genre painting. It depicts scenes of prosperity along the banks of the Bian River in Kaifeng, the Northern Song capital. With its realistic techniques in painting and legendary history in collecting, the scroll not only captured the attention of connoisseurs and collectors through the ages but also later became the focus of art-historical research in modern times.   

The Qing court version of "Up the River During Qingming" is an 18th-century collaborative effort on the part of five artists at the Painting Academy: Chen Mei (1694-1745), Sun Hu, Jin Kun, Dai Hong, and Cheng Zhidao. The content of the painting is all-inclusive and its production refined and meticulous, integrating the specialties of the individual artists to rival the beauty of Zhang Zeduan's original.  

As for Shen Yuan's version of around the same period, it may differ from the Qing court painting in terms of material and coloring but throughout is almost identical in layout, objects, vehicles, and figures, offering a glimpse into how large handscroll projects were handled at the Qing Painting Academy.  

The washes of color in this scroll are light and the expressions of the figures dramatic, the proportions also naturalistic with the horse and donkey forms elongated to emphasize their strength. The areas of earth were washed with heavier colors of blue and green, the outlines of the forms discontinuous and chaotic.  

As a whole, however, the brushwork is not very steady and the structures are somewhat loose. The buildings also appear to be flatter. Thus, judging from the painting method, it is probably a later imitation of “Up the River During Qingming” from the Ming dynasty.

This handscroll includes several scenes that differ from the other versions attributed to Qiu Ying, such as the stage performance, willow shooting, acrobatics, tightrope walking, and military review. 

In terms of the details for the boat race on Lake Jinming, not only are the buildings quite ornate and beautiful, the figural tiles on the eave ridges extend with exaggeration to emphasize the sumptuous and majestic quality of palace architecture. 

The bright coloring here likewise differentiates this work from the others, including the plentiful use of mineral blue and green, cinnabar, gamboge, whitewash, and violet to create a strongly decorative and beautiful style for the painting surface. 

Other details, such as the technique for rendering the water ripples and the formulaic layering of the landscape forms, combine to suggest an illusory feeling to the space. Thus, this painting appears to be a conscious emulation of the Qiu Ying style by a Suzhou workshop artist in the Ming dynasty.

Of the Qiu Ying attributions for “Up the River During Qingming” in the National Palace Museum, this one is relatively shorter. It begins with scholars in the countryside and continues with a herding scene, the bridal procession...

The structure of the scenes in this painting, including the arrangement of figures and presentation of the boats and city walls, is similar to the other  version of “Up the River During Qingming” attributed to Qiu Ying, suggesting that the two share a common heritage. 

The distant mountains are rendered with ink outlines and then filled with mineral blue and green for emphasis, thereby increasing the beauty of the surface as well. 

This handscroll represents a collaborative effort on the part of five Painting Academy artists active in the eighteenth century at the Qing court of the Qianlong emperor. The figural scenes are especially numerous and detailed, making this painting stand out among the various versions of "Up the River During Qingming."