Hailed as "the foremost painter after Shen Zhou [1427-1509]" by the collector-critic Zhou Lianggong (1612-1672), Yun Xiang was an influential forerunner of such leading early Qing Nanjing painters as Gong Xian (1619-1689).
Living in retirement after the Manchu conquest as an yimin, or "leftover subject," of the Ming, Yun Xiang especially admired the dry-brush manner of Ni Zan (1306-1374), the archetypal reclusive scholar-painter of the late Yuan period. Three of the ten paintings in this virtuoso album, in which Yun Xiang interprets a wide range of earlier masters' styles through remarkable variations in brushwork and compositional motifs, were inspired by Ni Zan. The methods of interpretation, bearing the unmistakable influence of the late Ming theorist-painter Dong Qichang (1555-1636), were further developed by Gong Xian and other leading early Qing masters in the late seventeenth century.
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Artwork Details
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明/清 惲向 仿古山水圖 冊 紙本
Title:Landscapes after old masters
Artist:Yun Xiang (Chinese, 1586–1655)
Period:Ming (1368–1644) or Qing (1644–1911) dynasty
Date:datable to 1638 or 1650
Culture:China
Medium:Album of ten leaves; ink and color on paper
Dimensions:10 1/4 x 6 in. (26 x 15.2 cm)
Classification:Paintings
Credit Line:Purchase, Douglas Dillon Gift, 1977
Object Number:1977.171a–j
Inscription: Artist’s inscriptions and signatures
Leaf AA (6 columns in standard script):
Boat-racing among Spring Mountains was originally painted by Zhao Danian [active ca. 1070– after 1100]. This master, named Lingrang, was a member of the imperial family. He possessed wealth, power, furs, and horses, but loved the art of brush and ink. Regrettably as he was unable to travel over famous mountains and great rivers, his painting lacks the spirit of a dragon plunging into the sea. People of the past said had he read ten thousand books in addition to his innate character, his painting could have penetrated the Creation, for painting is related to learning. Minister Dong [Qichang, 1555–1636] was not the first to say so. However, I always see scholarly flair in Danian’s brushwork. Could it be that General Shi [Yong?], though illiterate, could still apply the ancients’ strategy in maneuvering the troops? Among my contemporaries, there are known scholars who paint in the vein of craftsmen because, I think, their natural endowment is inferior. Yun Xiang’s self-inscription.[1]
Among the Six Principles of painting, the spirit-resonance is the most important. The spirit-resonance is born of methods, but one cannot pursue it with methods. It is like the wonder of language that is born of methods but cannot be attained through methods. The spirit-resonance of great masters is innate, capable artists have to cultivate it, and the rest do not even know to cultivate it. Painters like Li Cheng (919–967), Wang Meng (1308–1385), Huang Gongwang (1269–1354), Wang Shen (ca. 1046–after 1100), Ni Zan (1306–1374) and Wu Zhen (1280–1354) all learned from Dong Yuan (active 930s–960s). They modeled after different aspects of Dong’s art and integrated them at different levels to become distinctive masters as their spirit-resonance surfaced of its own accord. Xiangshan [Yun Xiang]
One seeks similarity, and then dissimilarity. Taking nothing, one distances oneself from the model. Clarity undermines depth, so discard clarity and take ambiguity. Depth undermines clarity, so discard depth and take vividness. Straightness hinders curvity, so discard straightness and take it with a hint of curve. Tight space hinders expansiveness, so discard tight space and take tight space that feels expansive.
The preceding painting looks close [to the model] but is farther away. Even a single brush stroke can demonstrate the difference. If an emulator knows this, he could resurrect the ancients. Written casually in the summer heat, Daosheng [Yun Xiang].
Leaf DD (5 columns in semi-cursive and standard script):
Wang Xizhi’s (303–361 or 321–379) calligraphy is compared to a dragon leaping over the heavenly gate or a tiger crouching on a palatial portal. Treasured through the ages, it sets the standard of all time. Unless executed with the brush tip at the center of each stroke, it is not worth emulating, which applies to Dong Yuan’s painting as well as Wang Xizhi’s calligraphy. One must discern the primal energy within each stroke. Daosheng wrote this at the pavilion by the Boli Spring to the north of the Si River [Shandong Province].
The brushwork of Yuan (1271–1368) painters is superior to that of their predecessors in the expression of ideas. With just a few texturing and highlighting strokes, the spirit is turned into numerous different expressions. People admire Zhang [Sengyou, active 500–550], Wang, Gu [Kaizhi, 344–406], Lu [Tanwei, died ca. 485], the senior and junior General Li [Li Sixun, 651–716 or 648–713, and Li Zhaodao, active ca. 670–730] for their descriptive finesse in representing human skin and hair to achieve the highest likeness, the fastidiousness of which, however, compromises the spirit of painting. Yuan painters, on the other hand, used ideas to exhaust creative potential. They expressed ideas and transformed craftsmanship, which is beyond meticulous description. But Zijiu [Huang Gongwang] is not the only one. Wu Daozi (active ca. 710–760) created a hundred landscapes of the scenery along the Jialing River within half a day. This kind of wondrous evocation is unorthodox and worthy of scholar-painters’ emulation. How could it be attained through literal imitation! Daosheng
Huichong’s (965–1017) painting is bleak and misty. It always looks as if men and bird are about to disappear. People say it is melancholy. I feel melancholy rising in me. Xiangshan, Xiang
惠崇荒寒滅沒，人鳥欲藏之意每着筆。人言愁，我始欲愁。香山向
Leaf GG (5 columns in semi-cursive script):
The expression “from superficial understanding of brush and ink to no understanding of brush and ink and eventually to full mastery of brush and ink” is no mere wordplay of amateurish Chan Buddhism, but the process of grasping the spirit of brushwork. Most of Ni Zan’s colored landscapes do not engage extraordinary methods, but mine occasionally have an extraordinary flair. It is like a calm and disciplined female army beating a male troop by surprise or captivating trivial men like Cao Chu and Li Zhi (both active in early 5th century), which shocks on-lookers and captures the soul of painting beyond the literati tradition. Daosheng wrote this on a river in Zhenyang [Sichuan Province].
This work shows distance in an intimate scene rather than in a distant landscape. Paintings in the untrammeled category do not vary much. I want to emulate him [Ni Zan] in the process of transformation. Consequently, variations abound. I presented three here for the inspection of those who are enlightened. The proverb goes, “it is essential to gaze upon the immortal but ignore the fan in his hand.” Xiangshan
Leaf II (5 columns in standard and semi-cursive scripts):
Though Wang Wei’s (699–759 or 701–761) Snow-covered Landscape looks meticulously descriptive, it also excels in expression. Daosheng
This painting is also titled Lone Angler in the Snow because, to my thinking, people usually stay in when snowing, so how can they catch fish? Those who brace the snow to follow their pursuits are plenty. In spite of their difference, isn’t this painting based on [Wang Wei’s] Wanchuan Villa comparable to Pengzi’s [Tao Yuanming, 365–427] string-less zither! Inscribed by Daosheng again.
This landscape is in the boneless style, originated by [Zhang] Sengyou. Sengyou tended to exhaust all techniques and transformations; even the senior Mi [Mi Fu, 1051–1107] exhausted all forms of transformation. I preserve their ideas like the so-called “blade of grass” [capable of multiple transformations]. On the whole, leaving something unpainted is superior to showing everything. Daosheng
In Chan Buddhism there is a Southern and a Northern school, which first separated in the Tang Period; in painting, a similar division into a Southern and a Northern school also appeared in the Tang period. But those involved were not divided between southerners and northerners. The Northern School followed Li Sixün [fl. ca. 705–20] and his son [Li Zhaodao, fl. mid-8th century], who painted landscapes with color; their manner was transmitted in the Song period by, among others, Zhao Gan [fl. mid-10th century], Zhao Boju [ca. 1120–ca. 1170] and Zhao Bosu [1123–1182] down to Ma [Yuan, fl. ca. 1190–ca. 1125] and Xia [Gui, fl. 1220–1250]. The Southern School began with Wang Mojie [Wang Wei], who first used a light ink wash technique, transforming the outline method; it was transmitted by Zhang Zao [fl. late 8th–early 9th century], Jing [Hao, ca. 870-80–ca. 935-40], Guan [Tong, fl. ca. 907–23], Dong [Yuan], Ju [-ran, fl. ca. 960–ca. 986], Guo Zhongshu [d. 977], and the Mis father and son [Mi Fu; Mi Youren, 1074–1151] down to the Four Great Masters of the Yuan.[2] It is like the flourish of Maju [Mazu Daoyi, 709–88], Yunmen [Wenyan, 864–949], Linji [Yixuan, died 867] and their followers after the Sixth Patriarch [of Chan Buddhism, Huineng, 638–713] whereas the Northern School declined. It is said that Mojie’s “cloudy peaks and rock formations are born of heavenly design and his dynamic brushwork penetrates the Creation.” He is indeed my master. On my visit to the elder Yao in summer I painted this album and inscribed it for a laugh. Your junior friend Yun Benchu [Yun Xiang] in the yin year.
[1] All translations by Shi-yee Liu unless noted otherwise. [2] Translated by Wen C. Fong in The Century of Tung Chʻi-Chʻang 1555-1636, edited by Wai-kam Ho and Judith G. Smith, Kansas City, Mo: The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 1992, v. 1, p. 47–48. Modified
[ Hsu Pojiao , Hong Kong, until 1977; sold to MMA]
University Art Museum, University of California at Berkeley. "Shadows of Mount Huang: Chinese Painting and Printing of the Anhui School," January 21, 1981–March 15, 1981.
Detroit Institute of Arts. "Shadows of Mount Huang: Chinese Painting and Printing of the Anhui School," July 15, 1981–September 15, 1981.
University Art Museum, University of Texas at Austin. "Shadows of Mount Huang: Chinese Painting and Printing of the Anhui School," October 9, 1981–November 22, 1981.
Princeton University Art Museum. "Shadows of Mount Huang: Chinese Painting and Printing of the Anhui School," December 12, 1981–January 23, 1982.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "A Millennium of Chinese Painting: Masterpieces from the Permanent Collection," September 8, 2001–January 13, 2002.
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. "The Art of the Chinese Album," September 6, 2014–March 29, 2015.
Cahill, James. The Distant Mountains: Chinese Painting of the Late Ming Dynasty, 1570–1644. New York: Weatherhill, 1982, p. 156, pls. 72–73.
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