Artists › Painters and Calligraphers
Juran
Southern Tang monk painter and follower of Dong Yuan who went to Kaifeng with the last Southern Tang ruler and painted the hills of the south
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 Monk Juran
Juran was a Southern Tang monk of the Kaiyuan Temple in Jiangning, present-day Nanjing. Following Dong Yuan, he painted the hills of the south with long hemp-fibre strokes, clusters of rounded boulders on the peaks, and paths and bridges threading the wooded slopes. The Record of Things Seen and Heard in Painting says that after the fall of the Southern Tang he went with Li Yu to Kaifeng, lived at the Kaibao Temple and made his name in the capital. Layered Cliffs and Dense Trees and Seeking the Way in the Autumn Mountains are in Taipei, and Xiao Yi Tricking Biancai out of the Orchid Pavilion Preface is traditionally attributed to him. Paired with Dong Yuan as Dong-Ju, he became a model for literati landscape painters of the Yuan and Ming.
Life and times
Dates Dates unknown; active under the last Southern Tang ruler and into the early Northern Song