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

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Chinese Paintings in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford

A catalogue of the Ashmolean collection of Chinese paintings by Shelagh Vainker (published Oxford, 2000).

Chinese Paintings in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford by Shelagh Vainker

Publications online: 222 objects

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River landscape

  • Literature notes

    Zha Shibiao was from Haiyang near Xiuying in Anhui province and is associated with the Anhui School, renowned for dry brushwork and sparse composition. Zha Shibiao studied for the civil service examinations before the fall of the Ming dynasty, and it has been suggested that his subsequent departure from official life in favour of painting may have been prompted by lack of sympathy for the new rule. His family owned collections of paintings and bronzes and he himself was a connoisseur. In painting he followed his near contemporary Hong Ren and the Yuan master Ni Zan. From the 1670s onwards he lived in Yangzhou.
  • Description

    Zha Shibiao, also known as Meihe or Erzhan, was from Xin’an in Anhui province. He is regarded as one of the four masters of the Xin’an School, and is renowned for his dry brushwork and sparse composition. The artist studied for the civil service examinations before the fall of the Ming dynasty, and it has been suggested that his subsequent departure from official life in favour of painting may have been prompted by lack of sympathy for the new rule.

    From the 1670s onwards Zha Shibiao lived in Yangzhou. His family owned collections of paintings and bronzes, and he himself was a connoisseur. In painting he followed his contemporary Hong Ren (1610-1664) and master from the Yuan dynasty, Ni Zan (1301-1374).

    On this painting, the artist inscribes: ‘Along the bank of willows there are gardens and houses in this village on the river; sometimes cloudless, sometimes a few raindrops, so do mornings and dawns pass by; [I wish] the landscape of the peasant family could be like this forever; are there any officers knocking at doors asking for taxes?’.

  • Details

    Associated place
    AsiaChinaJiangsu province Yangzhou (place of creation)
    Date
    May - August 1666
    Artist/maker
    Zha Shibiao (1615 - 1698) (artist)
    Associated people
    Wang Shilu (1626 - 1673) (recipient)
    Material and technique
    ink and colour on paper
    Dimensions
    mount 55.6 x 45 cm (height x width)
    page 26.9 x 22.5 cm (height x width)
    painting 19 x 17.5 cm (height x width)
    Material index
    Technique index
    Object type index
    No. of items
    1
    Credit line
    Purchased with the assistance of the MLA/V&A Purchase Grant Fund, theArt Fund, and Friends of the Ashmolean Museum, 1980.
    Accession no.
    EA1980.142
  • Further reading

    Vainker, Shelagh, Chinese Paintings in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford (Oxford: Ashmolean Museum, 2000), no. 159 on p. 184, illus. p. 185 fig. 159

Past Exhibition

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Location

    • currently in research collection

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Publications online

  • Chinese Paintings in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford by Shelagh Vainker

    Chinese Paintings in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford

    Zha Shibiao was from Haiyang near Xiuying in Anhui province and is associated with the Anhui School, renowned for dry brushwork and sparse composition. Zha Shibiao studied for the civil service examinations before the fall of the Ming dynasty, and it has been suggested that his subsequent departure from official life in favour of painting may have been prompted by lack of sympathy for the new rule. His family owned collections of paintings and bronzes and he himself was a connoisseur. In painting he followed his near contemporary Hong Ren and the Yuan master Ni Zan. From the 1670s onwards he lived in Yangzhou.
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