元 張遜 石上松花圖 軸|Rocky Landscape with Pines

Zhang Xun

before 1346 · Hanging scroll; ink on silk · Asian Art

A native of Suzhou, Zhang Xun maintained a peripatetic existence, supporting himself through tutoring and painting. Contemporaries note that he was widely learned, good at literary compositions, and an excellent calligrapher; in painting, he followed tenth-century prototypes, painting bamboo in the outline drawing method and landscapes in the manner of Juran (active ca. 960–95). Adhering strictly to tenth-century models, this landscape in the Juran mode is uncompromisingly austere and abstract. Written when Zhang was about fifty, the poem echoes the melancholy of the uninhabited landscape: On the rocky [landscape] pine blossoms fall and bloom again. The mountain Ailanthus, useless [for its timber], has grown to full size. No cart has ever reached this woodcutter's path. Now with hair gray, I have passed fifty years in vain.

Artist

Zhang Xun

Date

before 1346

Medium

Hanging scroll; ink on silk

Culture

China

Department

Asian Art

Credit line

Ex coll.: C. C. Wang Family, Gift of Oscar L. Tang Family, 2008