In 1366, Ni Zan abandoned his home to escape marauding soldiers. Even after the establishment of the Ming dynasty in 1368, Ni continued the life of a wanderer, visiting old haunts that he had not seen for twenty or thirty years. According to his epitaph writer, Zhou Nanlao (1308–1383), "in his late years, he became quieter and more withdrawn than ever. Having lost or given away everything he ever owned, he did his best to forget his worries. Wearing a yellow [Daoist] cap and country clothes, he roamed the lakes and mountains, leading a recluse's life."
Woods and Valleys of Mount Yu, executed two years before Ni Zan's death, expresses the painter's contentment in the life of a recluse. The poem ends with the lines:
We watch the clouds and daub with our brushes We drink wine and write poems. The joyous feelings of this day Will linger long after we have parted.
The dry but tender brushwork is aloof and restrained. There is a tranquil luminous quality about the painting that makes it one of the most fully realized works of the artist's later years.
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Artwork Details
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元 倪瓚 虞山林壑圖 軸
Title:Woods and Valleys of Mount Yu
Artist:Ni Zan (Chinese, 1306–1374)
Period:Yuan dynasty (1271–1368)
Date:dated 1372
Culture:China
Medium:Hanging scroll; ink on paper
Dimensions:Image: 37 1/4 x 14 1/8 in. (94.6 x 35.9 cm) Overall with mounting: 82 x 20 5/8 in. (208.3 x 52.4 cm) Overall with knobs: 82 x 24 5/8 in. (208.3 x 62.5 cm)
Classification:Paintings
Credit Line:Ex coll.: C. C. Wang Family, Gift of The Dillon Fund, 1973
Object Number:1973.120.8
Inscription: Artist’s inscription and signature (6 columns in standard script)
Chen Fan (active mid-2nd c.) prepared a bed Only when Xu Ru (active mid-2nd c.) came for a visit. The water from the well in Yan You’s [Yan Yan, zi Ziyou, 506 B.C. –?] neighborhood [in Changshu] is sweet and cool, Whereas Yuzhong's [Ji Zhongyong, 12th c. B.C.] shrine [on Mount Yu] is desolate from neglect. We watch the clouds and daub with our brushes; We drink wine and write poems. The joyous feelings of this day Will linger long after we have parted.[1] On the thirteenth of the twelfth lunar month of the xinhai year [January 19, 1372], I paid a visit to the lofty hermit Bowan and painted the Woods and Valleys of Mount Yu with a poem in five-character lines as a memento of this trip. Ni Zan
Qing emperor Qianlong清帝乾隆 (r. 1736–95) Shiqu baoji 石渠寶笈 Qianlong yulan zhi bao 乾隆御覽之寶 Qianlong jianshang 乾隆鑑賞 Chunhua Xuan 淳化軒 Chunhua Xuan tushu zhenmibao 淳化軒圖書珍秘寶 Qianlong chenhan 乾隆宸翰 Xintian Zhuren 信天主人 Sanxi Tang jingjian xi 三希堂精鑑璽 Yi zisun 宜子孫
Chen Kuilin 陳夔麟 (1855–1928) Kuilin 夔麟
Xu An 徐安 (20th c.) Xu An 徐安
Wang Jiqian 王季遷 (1907–2003) Jiqian xinshang 季遷心賞
Tan Jing 譚敬 (1911–1991) Tan Jing 譚敬
Zhang Heng 張珩 (1915–1961) Xiyi 希逸
Unidentified: Zisun baozhi 子孫保之
[1] Translation from Wen C. Fong, Beyond Representation: Chinese Painting and Calligraphy 8th – 14th Century (New York, 1992), p. 490. Modified.
C. C. Wang Family New York (by 1949–1973: sold to MMA)
Cleveland Museum of Art. "Chinese Art Under the Mongols," October 1, 1968–November 4, 1968.
New York. Asia House Gallery. "Chinese Art Under the Mongols," January 9, 1969–February 2, 1969.
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London. British Museum. "Song and Yuan Paintings," November 7, 1975–January 4, 1976.
Princeton University Art Museum. "Images of the Mind: Selections from the Edward L. Elliot Family and John B. Elliott Collections of Chinese Calligraphy and Painting at the Art Museum, Princeton University," April 15–June 17, 1984.
Shizuoka Prefectural Museum of Art. "Landscape Painting in the East and West," April 17, 1986–June 1, 1986.
Kobe City Museum. "Landscape Painting in the East and West," June 7, 1986–July 13, 1986.
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New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The New Chinese Galleries: An Inaugural Installation," 1997.
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New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Douglas Dillon Legacy: Chinese Painting for the Metropolitan Museum," March 12–August 8, 2004.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Brush and Ink: The Chinese Art of Writing," September 2, 2006–January 21, 2007.
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