Page 438 - Art In The Age Of Exploration (Great Section on Chinese Art Ming Dynasty)

290 ships, judicious decrease in the amount of descrip- the painting by Du Jin (cat. 293). The precise
tive detail, and careful grading of ink tonality. provenance of the present work is in fact indicated
WangE This self-contained pictorial world is organized by the legends of two of the seals impressed on its
c. 1465-0. 1545 around the diagonal axes of the picture so as to surface: Hongzhi, which was the reign-name used
GAZING AFAR FROM create tension between the lower right corner, by Emperor Zhu Youtang (r. 1487-1505), and
A RIVERSIDE PAVILION filled with solid, discrete forms, and the upper Guang yun zhi bao, a legend appearing on seals
left, occupied by mist and far less substantial used by the Xuande emperor (r. 1426-1435) and
Chinese forms. The painting is further distinguished by his successors.
hanging scroll; ink and color on silk the use of meticulous, ruled-line drawing for the Wang E, the painter of this striking landscape,
3
143.2 x 229 ($6 /8 x yoVs) architecture and slashing "ax-cut" brush strokes was born in Fenghua, Zhejiang Province, near the
Palace Museum, Beijing to texture and model the rock and mountain important port city of Ningbo. His earliest teach-
forms. These stylistic features are all hallmarks of er, an artist named Xiao Feng, was from the same
A scholar, attended by no fewer than three ser- an academic style of painting associated especially district and may have held rank in the Embroi-
vants, stands on the veranda of a viewing pavilion with the Southern Song master Ma Yuan, whose dered Uniform Guard, the imperial bodyguard. It
built over the shoals of a wide expanse of water; a "one-cornered" compositions were surely models was likely via recommendation by such as Xiao
covered walkway connects that quiet retreat with for the present painting. that Wang E first came to the attention of the
a larger building complex situated on the rocky Its technical virtuosity, sheer size, and unusual imperial court, which he served during the Hong-
shore. Tall pines overhang the building but are format all mark Gazing Afar from a Riverside zhi reign while attached to the Hall of Humane
dwarfed in turn by the massive bulk of the over- Pavilion as a painting destined for the topmost Wisdom. Wang's skill in painting soon drew the
hanging escarpment. This cliff serves to empha- levels of contemporaneous society, for only the praise of such notables as the philosopher Chen
size the seclusion of the house and its degree of very rich or artistocratic could command the ser- Xianzhang (1428-1500), but seemingly no one
separation from the mundane world, which is rep- vices of an artist so accomplished, or possessed admired his work more than the reigning
resented by the fishing village on the far shore houses sufficient to accommodate the finished emperor, who expressed his respect for the artist
and the roofs of large structures visible above the work. The painting was clearly designed to func- in terms of comparison with the great Southern
distant mist. tion as the centerpiece of some room and was Song master: "Wang E is the Ma Yuan of today."
Deep recession into pictorial space is achieved originally mounted either to be hung in a formal During the succeeding Zhengde reign (1506-
through skillful manipulation of size relation- reception hall or as a screen similar to that seen in 1521), Wang seems to have been reassigned

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