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Plate 6.4 Attributed to Zhu Bang 朱邦, Figures (Renwu tu Plate 6.5 Wu Wei 吳偉 (1459–1508), Amusement of Fishermen in a River
人物圖), Ming dynasty, 16th century. Ink on silk, height Landscape (Jiangshan yule tu 江山漁樂圖). Hanging scroll, ink and colour
193cm, width 102cm. The Palace Museum, Beijing on paper, height 270cm, width 174.4cm. The Palace Museum, Beijing

of drinking, as well as their similar personalities and monumental scroll Amusement of Fishermen in a River Landscape
painting styles. (Jiangshan yule tu 江山漁樂圖) (Pl. 6.5). Using broad and
Eight paintings by Zhu Bang are currently known to have fluent brushstrokes, Zhu Bang captures a clear sense of
survived. The Palace Museum in Beijing has a work entitled depth in the misty scene. He uses his brush to lighten the
Figures (Renwu tu 人物圖) with Zhu Bang’s signature visible outlines of the rocks on the mountains, and freely applies
on the bottom left (Pl. 6.4). This painting depicts three of light ink with a large brush. Compared to the rough and
the Eight Daoist Immortals (Tieguai Li 鐵拐李, Zhongli energetic landscape paintings of Wu Wei and others of the
Quan 鐘離權 and Lü Dongbin 呂洞賓) conversing under Jiangxia school, Zhu Bang’s use of brush and ink is even
pine trees. The brushwork is broad, powerful and carefree, more untrammelled, and he pays greater attention to the
and the use of ink is impassioned. In addition to the Portrait of sense of depth with rich variations in ink tones that generate
an Official in Front of the Beijing Imperial Palace, the British a sense of the mist and moisture in a watery landscape.
Museum has another painting by Zhu Bang entitled The Anhui Museum has two works by Zhu Bang that are
Fishermen in a River Gorge, noted earlier (see Pl. 6.3). It also similar in style to the paintings discussed above. One is
carries Zhu Bang’s signature, below which are two seals that Selling Fish in the Snowy River (Xuejiang maiyu tu 雪江賣魚圖)
read ‘Zhu Bang zhi yin 朱邦之印’ (seal of Zhu Bang) in relief (Pl. 6.6), which is comparable to Fishermen in a River Gorge in
and ‘Jiulong shanqiao…sou 九龍山樵□叟’ (Old Woodcutter of the British Museum; the other is Immortal Lü (Lü xian tu 呂仙
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Mount Jiulong) in intaglio. The painting depicts a river 圖) (Pl. 6.7), similar to Figures in the Palace Museum,
beneath a cliff face, where fishermen can be seen cooking Beijing. Also of the latter type is Walking Alone in Empty
and returning home in the evening. This type of subject Mountains (Kongshan duxing tu 空山獨行圖) (Pl. 6.8) in the
matter belongs to the genre of the ‘amusement of fishermen’ Princeton University Art Museum, and Traces of a Beast in a
(yule 漁樂), which was favoured by painters of the Zhe and Pine Forest (Songlin shouji tu 松林獸迹圖) (Pl. 6.9) in the
Jiangxia schools, especially Wu Wei, evident in his Guangdong Museum. On the whole, Zhu Bang’s xieyi 寫意

60 | Ming China: Courts and Contacts 1400–1450