Mountain Bird, After Shen Chou

Description

The writings on this fan attest to a network of friendships among scholar-artists working in southeast China in the mid-Ming period. The artist Qian Gu indicates in his own signature, at the right edge of the fan, that he is painting after a model by “old man Stone Field” êŒìcâ•—a sobriquet for Shen Zhou / Shen Chou íæé¸ (1427–1509). Shen Zhou was the founder of the Wu School å‡îh of Ming literati painting.
The two colophons (inscriptions by someone other than the artist) are by Zhang Fangyi and Wen Jia, who were a close friend and the third son, respectively, of Shen Zhou’s greatest pupil, Wen Zhengming / Wen Cheng-ming ï∂í•ñæ (1470–1559). Zhang Fangyi praises Qian Gu for capturing the spirit of Shen Zhou’s style. Wen Chia says little about the painting but recounts an excursion to the family’s country estate, where he saw his first “mountain bird” (the intended species is unclear), which he describes in detail.
For the artist and his two friends, then, the meaning of the mountain bird lies not with some literary allusion or wordplay, but in its association with the revered Shen Zhou.
Maribeth Graybill, Senior Curator of Asian Art
Exhibited in "Flora and Fauna in Chinese Art," April 6, 2002 - December 1, 2002.