#ni zan

[classic-asian-art]

Landscape in the Style of Ancient Masters: after Ni Zan (1301-1374), Cao Zhibo (1272-1355) by Lan Ying (Album leaf; ink and colors on paper)

[kfromthecastle]

[cheminer-poesie-cressant]

(Ni Zan, 中文: 六君子图,  encre sur papier monté sur rouleau, 1345, Shanghai muséum) 

peinture de lettrés

rêvé d'une colline au printemps où se dressaient quelques pommiers ; le soleil abondait de lumière, enveloppant tout l'espace étendu donnant une couleur pâle à un sol de sécheresse ; on distinguait déjà très bien leurs feuilles vertes encore repliées, les bourgeons ; ils formaient ensemble un cercle qui semblait délimiter avec précision le sommet de la colline, une couronne ; rêvé d’une image qui me récitait un fragment de Chine

© Pierre Cressant

(mercredi 16 février 2011)

[fishstickmonkey]

A Branch of Bamboo 墨竹圖

Type: Album leaf

Artist: Ni Zan 倪瓚 (1306-1374) Calligrapher: Inscription by Qian Weishan (1341-ca. 1379)

Historical period: Yuan or Ming dynasty, ca. 1369

Medium: Ink on paper

Geography: China

Freer Gallery of Art

[selfportraitsofcolor]

Ni Zan / 倪瓚, b. 1306, d. 1374 Enjoying the Wilderness in an Autumn Grove / 秋林野興圖 China (1339) The Metropolitan Museum of Art Hanging scroll; ink on paper [Source]

Maxwell K. Hearn claims this a self-portrait of the artist in his Pure and Secluded Pavilion!

The Met says:

Until the early 1340s, Ni Zan lived the life of a wealthy dilettante, spending his time among the precious books, antiques, and flowers of his Pure and Secluded Pavilion. His painting style at the time, as seen here, exhibits a studied archaism in which his interest in descriptive detail is at odds with his self-conscious use of calligraphic "hemp fiber" brushstrokes in the manner of tenth-century masters. Ni's gentleman seated in a rustic pavilion is shorthand for the scholar in his studio. His florid poem exhibits a similarly precious quality of one entirely absorbed in his immediate surroundings. It reads, in part:

In the bright days, bamboo wave in the breeze; In the dark nights, parasols of fir hold up the moon. Burning incense I use [a censer in the form of] a gilded duck; Gathering scattered petals, I place them inside my pillow. (trans. Wen Fong)

[sunkentreasurecove]

[myhellodarling]

Ni Zan, Rongxi Studio, 1372, ink on paper. Ni Zan (1301-1374) is considered to be one of the four great masters of the Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368). Despite this his output as an artist was very limited and he chose similar motifs for each piece, making him in a sense the original Chinese series painter. His work often included mountains, shelter, trees and water but executed in a sparing style which boarded on offhanded, however his sparse technique somehow exudes a wistful atmosphere which is unique in itself. As well as this Ni Zan was one of the pioneers in the concept of the three perfections, poetry, calligraphy and painting. Promoting the idea that a picture inscribed with a poem written in a complementary calligraphic style enhances the aesthetic accomplishment of the piece.

[classic-asian-art]

Landschaft im Stil der alten Meister: nach Ni Zan (1301-1374) 

von Lan Ying (Undatiert, Album leaf; ink and colors on paper)