Luo Mu was from Ningdu, Jiangxi province, and lived mostly in the provincial capital Nanchang. He had a reputation for conviviality and his skill at poetry. The poem inscribed on this painting, however, is by the famous Tang (AD 618-907) poet, Du Fu (AD 712-770). The original poem, titled Inscribed on the Wall of the Chan Master Xuanwu’s Room, described and praised a mural that was probably painted by Gu Kaizhi (c. AD 344-405). It reads: ‘The red sun shines on the forest of stones, and the river flows towards the sea under the blue sky’.
Vainker, Shelagh, Chinese Paintings in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford (Oxford: Ashmolean Museum, 2000), no. 100 on p. 116, illus. p. 116 fig. 100
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.
© 2013 University of Oxford - Ashmolean Museum