Artists › Painters and Calligraphers
Gong Xian
Painter from Kunshan who lived on Qingliang Hill in Nanjing and led the Eight Masters of Nanjing with his layered-ink landscapes
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 Banqian · Hao Yeyi · Hao Chai Zhangren
Gong Xian, also named Qixian, courtesy name Banqian and sobriquets Yeyi and Chai Zhangren, came from Kunshan and spent most of his life in Nanjing. After the fall of the Ming he lived for a time in Yangzhou and Taizhou, then settled at the Half-Acre Garden on Qingliang Hill in Nanjing, living by selling paintings and teaching. His landscapes are built up in layer upon layer of ink, dark and heavy, and he is ranked first of the Eight Masters of Nanjing; his teaching sketches with notes still circulate. The Palace Museum holds his handscroll Endless Streams and Mountains. He died in Nanjing in 1689.
Life and times
Dates 1618–1689