Artists › Painters and Calligraphers
Wang Yuan
Yuan bird-and-flower painter from Hangzhou, taught by Zhao Mengfu, who painted birds and flowers in ink alone
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 Ruoshui · Hao Danxuan
Wang Yuan, courtesy name Ruoshui, styled Danxuan, came from Qiantang (modern Hangzhou). Tao Zongyi's Chuogeng lu says that as a young painter he was often guided by Zhao Mengfu, and that he painted landscapes and figures but excelled at flowers, bamboo and birds. He kept the close observation of the tenth-century master Huang Quan but worked mostly in ink washes rather than heavy colour, and is seen as the starting point of Yuan ink bird-and-flower painting. His hanging scroll Peach, Bamboo and Golden Pheasant, inscribed as made for Huiming in 1349, is in the Palace Museum, Beijing; Bamboo, Rock and Birds and Meeting Friends at a Pine Pavilion also bear his name.
Life and times
Dates Dates unknown; active mid-to-late Yuan, with a work dated 1349