Landscape after Ni Zan (1707): Art, History and Details

Landscape after Ni Zan (1707) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Wang Yuanqi (Chinese, 1642–1715).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Wang Yuanqi, an official in Emperor Kangxi’s (reigned 1662–1722) court, grew up in an artistic family. Like other mainstream painters of the Orthodox School, he followed a canon of earlier styles and artists endorsed by Ming calligrapher Dong Qichang (1555–1636). Here, Wang drew inspiration from Ni Zan (1301–1374), a Yuan dynasty painter known for his simple compositions and spare use of ink. Master Ni seldom used color, but Wang added green and ochre washes to the trees, cottages, and hills in this landscape. Painting was a way for Wang to relieve the pressures of his official duties.

Object facts

• Title: Landscape after Ni Zan
• Date: 1707
• Creator attribution: Wang Yuanqi (Chinese, 1642–1715)
• Culture: China, Qing dynasty (1644–1911)
• Type: Painting
• Technique: Hanging scroll; ink and light color on paper
• Dimensions: Painting: 80.6 x 43.8 cm (31 3/4 x 17 1/4 in.); Overall with knobs: 217.7 x 68.5 cm (85 11/16 x 26 15/16 in.)
• Collection: ASIAN - Hanging scroll
• Department: Chinese Art
• Accession number: 1954.583

Collection credit

John L. Severance Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Pang, Yuanji 龐元濟. Xu zhai ming hua lu (16 juan) [虛齋名畫錄 (16卷) = Catalogue of paintings in the collection of the author]. Shanghai: Xuantong ji you, 1909.
• Pang, Yuanji 龐元濟 and Binglü Pang 龐氷履. Ming bi ji sheng [名筆集勝 = Illustrated catalogue of Chinese paintings in the author's collection]. Shanghai: Mo yuan tang, 1940.
• Lee, Sherman E. Chinese Landscape Painting. 1954.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.