Artists › Painters and Calligraphers
Tang Di
Yuan landscape painter from Wuxing who followed Guo Xi after early guidance from Zhao Mengfu
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 Zihua · Hao Dunzhai
Tang Di, courtesy name Zihua, later styled Dunzhai, came from Wuxing (modern Huzhou, Zhejiang). As a young man he was guided by his fellow townsman Zhao Mengfu, and in landscape he followed the Northern Song master Guo Xi, with elements of Li Cheng, in a rich, moist manner; he was commissioned to paint palace murals. Recommended for office, he served as a records clerk in Jiaxing and later as magistrate of Xiuning. His hanging scroll Returning Fishermen on a Frosty Bank, dated the eleventh month of 1338, shows three fishermen with their gear walking along a frozen shore under bare trees and is in the National Palace Museum, Taipei. His dates are disputed; one account gives 1296-1364.
Life and times
Dates Dates disputed (by one account 1296–1364); a dated work of 1338 survives