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Eight views of the Yellow Mountains

Zheng Min Chinese
1681
Not on view
In the seventeenth century, painters from Anhui began to exploit the album’s special qualities to represent the Yellow Mountains (Huangshan), vista by vista, one leaf at a time. This example, by the relatively little-known artist Zheng Min, ranks among the best Huangshan albums; its compositional originality and subtle brushwork unfolds over a journey of eight distinct parts. Zheng Min combined the signature dry brush technique of the Anhui School’s founder Hongren with subtle ink washes to create a less austere, more descriptive style. Adding to the album’s appeal is the artist’s lengthy inscription, on the final leaf,which explains the story of the album’s creation.

In this long inscription, written to accompany the album, Zheng Min explains the circumstances of its creation: 1681, Zheng was approached by a younger friend named Chuzhen, who asked the master to paint two albums: one for him, and one for a friend. He obliged, painting this album for Chuzhen in the hopes of spurring his interest in Mount Huang, where the young man had never been. Zheng Min himself had been there only twice, the most recent trip more than seven years earlier. He painted this album from memory. In his inscription, he writes, “In the future, after all his children get married, if Chuzhen ever travels there, I hope he will take this album with him to check against the actual sites. I will then become his tour guide.”
—Trans. by Shi-yee Liu

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • 鄭旼　黃山八景　水墨紙本　九開冊
  • Title: Eight views of the Yellow Mountains
  • Artist: Zheng Min (Chinese, 1633–1683)
  • Period: Qing dynasty (1644–1911)
  • Date: 1681
  • Culture: China
  • Medium: Album of nine leaves of painting and calligraphy; ink on paper
  • Dimensions: Image (leaf a): 9 1/2 × 5 1/2 in. (24.1 × 14 cm)
    Overall with mounting (a): 12 1/4 × 14 5/8 in. (31.1 × 37.1 cm)
    Overall with mounting (leaves b–h): 12 1/8 × 14 3/8 in. (30.8 × 36.5 cm)
    Image (i frontispiece): 10 1/8 × 12 1/4 in. (25.7 × 31.1 cm)
    Image (j inscription by the artist): 10 3/8 × 12 1/2 in. (26.4 × 31.8 cm)
    Overall with mounting (i and j): 14 5/8 × 12 1/4 in. (37.1 × 31.1 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: Purchase, The Vincent Astor Foundation Gift and Susan Dillon Gift, in honor of James C. Y. Watt, 2012
  • Object Number: 2012.167a–l
  • Curatorial Department: Asian Art

More Artwork

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Landscapes, Zheng Min Chinese, Album of ten paintings; ink on paper, China
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Wang Quan
dated 1688
Amitabha, the Buddha of the Western Pure Land (Sukhavati), Distemper with gold on cloth, Central Tibet
Amitabha, the Buddha of the Western Pure Land (Sukhavati)
Central Tibet
ca. 1700
Landscapes with poems, Gong Xian Chinese, Fifteen leaves from an album (1980.516.2a–c and 1981.4.1a–o) of eighteen leaves, China
Landscapes with poems
Gong Xian
1688
Streams and Mountains without End, Wang Yuanqi Chinese, Handscroll; ink on paper, China
Streams and Mountains without End
Wang Yuanqi
ca. 1710
The Kangxi Emperor's Southern Inspection Tour, Scroll Three: Ji'nan to Mount Tai, Wang Hui and assistants Chinese, Handscroll; ink and color on silk, China
The Kangxi Emperor's Southern Inspection Tour, Scroll Three: Ji'nan to Mount Tai
Wang Hui
datable to 1698

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