Artists › Painters and Calligraphers
Dong Yuan
Southern Tang court official and landscape painter whose soft, hemp-fibre brushwork of the Jiangnan hills was carried on by his pupil Juran
A desk holds an unrolled sheet bearing three bold black ink strokes, with a rack of many brushes above it, a stone ink slab and ink stick, a porcelain bowl, a red lacquer box, a dish of red seal paste and a paperweight; a small seated figure shows through a round window onto bamboo.
Also known as Zi Shuda · Dong Beiyuan
Dong Yuan, courtesy name Shuda, came from Zhongling in present-day Jiangxi and served the Southern Tang, holding the post of deputy keeper of the Northern Park under Li Jing, which gave him the name Dong Beiyuan. He painted landscapes, figures and dragons in water; his landscapes show the low hills and open waters of the south, built up with long hemp-fibre strokes and moss dots. Surviving works include Waiting for the Ferry at the Foot of Summer Mountains (Liaoning Provincial Museum) and the Xiao and Xiang Rivers (Palace Museum, Beijing), while Festival for Evoking Rain and Grotto Hall in the Mountains in Taipei are traditionally attributed to him. Mi Fu admired his work, and he and his pupil Juran came to be paired as Dong-Ju.
Life and times
Dates Dates unknown; active under the Southern Tang ruler Li Jing (943–961)