Landscape in the Manner of Ni Zan

The scholar-official Wang Yuanqi was part of a distinguished family of Jiangsu officials. He studied painting under his grandfather Wang Shimin (1592-1680) and developed in the tradition of landscape methods that had been defined by Yuan and Ming painters and championed by Dong Qichang (1555-1636). As a jinshi graduate in 1670, Wang Yunaqi eventually was appointed to a high position in charge of the imperial collection of painting and calligraphy by the Kangxi emperor (r. 1662-1722). Although never a court painter, he dominated the court academy during the latter decades of his life. Together with Wang Shimin, Wang Jian, and Wang Hui (1632-1717), Wang Yuanqi is considered one of the “Four Wangs” who were the anchors of the Orthodox school in the early Qing period. Wang Yuanqi perpetuated what had been one of the main strengths of the literati tradition: the capacity for using old forms and techniques in fresh ways, taking advantage of the discoveries of predecessors and the evolution of centuries, but utilizing them for personal statements. In his inscription, Wang Yuanqi cites the Yuan master Ni Zan (1301-1374) as his inspiration for this scroll. Known for his sparely applied ink strokes, Ni Zan gives volume to his landmasses with a few light, rubbed ink strokes and elongated “pepper dots.” In this painting, Wang Yuanqi expands Ni Zan’s sparse topography by applying layer upon layer of dry, yet darker brushstrokes. Wang’s paramount concern was for the formal construction of the picture—the organization of dense or empty areas, balance or unbalance of masses, repetition of lines and shapes. He takes the Ni Zan composition as a starting point and plays upon it with complex deviations and distortions, including the irregularly tilted ground plane and the intricate off-symmetrical arrangement. With the strength of his brushwork, Wang enhances the sense of volume and underlying organic formation, thereby producing a solid and convincing landscape structure.