Artists › Painters and Calligraphers
Mi Youren
Eldest son of Mi Fu who served the Southern Song as a vice minister and painted misty 'cloud mountains' in his father's ink manner
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 Yuanhui · Childhood name Hu'er · Xiao Mi (the Younger Mi)
Mi Youren, courtesy name Yuanhui and childhood name Hu'er, was the eldest son of the painter and calligrapher Mi Fu and is known as the Younger Mi. Late in Huizong's reign he served in the court calligraphy school, and after the court moved south he held posts including salt and tea intendant for western Liangzhe and vice minister of works, was recalled as vice minister of war in 1151, and died that year. He carried on his father's way of building misty mountains from dabs of wet ink, the 'Mi family mountains'. The Palace Museum in Beijing holds his handscrolls Wonderful Views of the Xiao and Xiang and Cloudy Mountains, and the Shanghai Museum has his Xiao and Xiang scroll.
Life and times
Dates 1074 CE–1151 CE