Page 18 - Fine Chiense Paintings Mar. 20, 2018

Wang Fu was a prominent calligrapher and painter from Wuxi. In 1378, he entered
government service in the capital of Nanjing. This monumental and impressive mountainous
ink landscape painting was inscribed by his brother Wang Dashan in 1396, when the painter
was back home in retirement, after years in exile in Datong. The inscription declares that
“this painting is a combination of everything good”. The dense passage oscillates between
descriptions of the painting itself, narrations of the moment in which the work was painted
and praise of its creator. Despite its meanings, allusions and images being rich and plentiful,
one aspect in particular is especially revealing: the passage gives the viewer an idea of the
context in which the work was created and points to the larger reality which the scholar-
painter inhabited in the early days of the Ming dynasty.

Many of Wang Fu’s paintings were made for the artist’s hosts at banquets, parties or homestays
and inscribed by other scholars who were present. Paintings of this kind, therefore, were
inspired and shaped by the moment and the occasion in which they were made.

著名書法家、畫家王紱來自無錫。1378年，他任職都城南京政府。1396年，結束了在
大同多年流放生涯的王紱回到故鄉。王紱的兄長王達善在這幅氣勢恢弘的山水畫上題
字:“一幅之間而眾妙咸偹。”洋洋灑灑的篇幅不僅是對這副畫的闡述，也是對藝術創
作瞬間的定格，對作畫者的讚賞和敬佩更是溢於言表，躍然紙上。濃厚的墨跡和精妙
的構圖並沒有弱化王達善想藉這幅畫表達他在明朝初年間作為文人學者所洞察到的社
會現實這一目的。王紱借用筆墨為觀畫者重現了時代的故事。

王紱在宴客待友時，經常即興創作並邀請在場的友人為自己的畫作題字。此類創作形
式不僅獨具一格，更是對文人墨客們雅人深致的最佳見證。

1 166 F FINE CHINESE PAINTINGSINE CHINESE PAINTINGS