Wang Ximeng

Series: The Royal Collection of Imperial China

978-1-4878-0173-1_S
Detail of the handscroll

Artist: Wang Ximeng
Period: Northern Song Dynasty (960–1127)
Medium: Handscroll
Dimensions: 542 × 22 cm
Price: $499.95
ISBN: 978-1-4878-0173-1
(Collected by the Palace Museum)

DESCRIPTION

Blue and green ink on silk; length 51.5 cm, width 1191.5 cm

This painting depicts rolling hills and vast rivers and lakes. The mountains and rocks in the painting are first drawn with the technique of “ink chapping,” followed by the application of bright blue and green colors, shading the tops of the peaks with blue and green, showing off layers of green mountains. Water patterns are drawn in the water with fast strokes, providing a contrast to the “boneless” coloring. The painting employs a multi-perspective composition, making full use of distance. Level distances are interspersed, creating an attractive picture with ups and downs.

ABOUT THE PAINTER

Wang Ximeng (b. 1096) was a Northern Song Dynasty painter. A student of the Huizong painting academy, he excelled at landscape painting. According to Cai Jing’s comments on his scroll A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains, when he was just 18 years old he entered the academy and his creation of landscape painting was overseen by Huizong personally. Before the third year of the Zhenghe period (1113), he produced A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains, then was not heard from any more.