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Lofty Mount Lu

Hanging scroll by Shen Zhou (Ming Dynasty, 1467 CE). Ink and colour on paper; National Palace Museum, Taipei. A monumental landscape depicting Mount Lu (Lushan) in Jiangxi, painted as a tribute to his teacher Chen Kuan on his 70th birthday. Considered the founding work of the Wu School (Wu pai) of Ming literati landscape painting, synthesising the bold brushwork of the Yuan Four Masters with a scale recalling Northern Song monumental landscape.

Scholarly Significance

Shen Zhou's monumental hanging scroll founding the Wu School of Ming literati landscape painting.

Notes

  • ·Painted when Shen Zhou was 40 years old as a congratulatory gift for his teacher Chen Kuan's 70th birthday.
  • ·The scale (nearly 2 metres tall) echoes Northern Song monumental landscape — unusual for a Yuan-trained literati painter who might have preferred smaller formats.
  • ·Chen Kuan's studio was named 'Lushan Dwelling' after the famous mountain associated with Daoist and Buddhist reclusion.
  • ·Shen Zhou's brushwork synthesises Huang Gongwang's (Yuan) angular, dry strokes with Ni Zan's spare simplicity, at monumental scale.
  • ·Considered the founding work of the Wu School because it established Shen Zhou as the dominant figure in Suzhou painting.