元 唐棣 松溪歸漁圖 軸|Returning Fishermen

Tang Di

dated 1342 · Hanging scroll; ink and color on silk · Asian Art

The paintings of Tang Di, a scholar and official at the Yuan court, range from ink drawings on paper to largescale colored works on silk. A fellow townsman and follower of the scholar-painter Zhao Mengfu (1257–1322), Tang won praise from Emperor Renzong (r. 1312–20) for his part in the decoration of the Yuan imperial palace. Returning Fisherman is a fine example of Tang Di's monumental decorative style. Tang executed the scroll in the conservative brush idiom of the Northern Song masters Li Cheng (919–967) and Guo Xi (ca. 1000–ca. 1090), building forms with the principal motifs of the earlier style, "crab-claw" branches and "billowing-cloud" rocks. Following Zhao Mengfu's example of employing calligraphic techniques in painting, Tang made each brushstroke assertive.

Artist

Tang Di

Date

dated 1342

Medium

Hanging scroll; ink and color on silk

Culture

China

Department

Asian Art

Credit line

Ex coll.: C. C. Wang Family, Purchase, Bequest of Joseph H. Durkee, by exchange, 1973