Eastern Art Online, Yousef Jameel Centre for Islamic and Asian Art

Ashmolean − Eastern Art Online, Yousef Jameel Centre for Islamic and Asian Art

Room 38 | China from AD 800 gallery

Explore key developments in the history and culture of China, from the arts and crafts of the Song Dynasty up to the present day.

China gallery

Galleries : 538 objects

Reference URL

Actions

Send e-mail

Contact us about this object

Send e-mail

Send to a friend

Flower and bird

  • Description

    Among the artists who were based in the Shanghai area in the 19th century, four professional painters with the surname Ren (Ren Yi, Ren Xun, Ren Xiong, and Ren Yu) formed the heart of the emerging Shanghai school. Ren Xun (1835-1893) was one of them. To please their patrons, the Shanghai school painters tended to display great versatility in their choice of more accessible subjects, such as figures, birds, and plants. Ren Xun started to make a living by selling his paintings before he was in his twenties. He was famous for his excellent techniques with colours, which had a commercial appeal. In this fan painting addressed to a gentleman named Mengling, Ren used colour washes and broad brushwork to depict a bird and flowers in the manner of 'mogu', to paint without outlines, also known as boneless technique. The inscription reads 'Painted at the request of the esteemed Mengling.'

  • Details

    Associated place
    Asia China (place of creation)
    Date
    1850 - 1893
    Artist/maker
    Ren Xun (1835 - 1893) (artist)
    Associated people
    Mengling (active 19th century) (named on object)
    Material and technique
    ink and colour on silk
    Dimensions
    frame 50 x 67 x 3 cm (height x width x depth)
    painting 26 x 26 cm (height x width)
    Material index
    Technique index
    Object type index
    No. of items
    1
    Credit line
    Presented in honour of the 75th birthday of Angelita Trinidad Reyes, 2007.
    Accession no.
    EA2007.191

Location

    • Second floor | Room 38 | China from 800

Objects are sometimes moved to a different location. Our object location data is usually updated on a monthly basis. Contact the Jameel Study Centre if you are planning to visit the museum to see a particular object on display, or would like to arrange an appointment to see an object in our reserve collections.

 

Notice

Objects may have since been removed or replaced from a gallery. Click into an individual object record to confirm whether or not an object is currently on display. Our object location data is usually updated on a monthly basis, so contact the Jameel Study Centre if you are planning to visit the museum to see a particular Eastern Art object.

© 2013 University of Oxford - Ashmolean Museum