Artists › Painters and Calligraphers
Huang Quan
Court painter of the Shu kingdoms whose finely coloured birds and flowers set the Huang family style
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 Yaoshu · Huang Quan (variant writing)
Huang Quan, courtesy name Yaoshu, was a native of Chengdu and a court painter of the Shu kingdoms during the Five Dynasties. As a youth he already served the last Former Shu ruler, Wang Yan, and under Later Shu he became a painter-in-attendance of the Hanlin academy, ran its painting bureau and held the honorary rank of vice commissioner, serving the Shu courts for about forty years. He learned birds and flowers from Diao Guangyin and landscape from Li Sheng, and worked with fine outlines and layered colour. Guo Ruoxu set the Huang family's rich, noble manner against the untrammelled style of Xu Xi. He went to the Song capital when Later Shu surrendered in 965 and died the same year. His handscroll Sketches of Rare Birds is in the Palace Museum in Beijing.
Life and times
Dates c. 903-965 CE