Zhi and Xu's Pure Conversation

支許清言圖

1643

Lan Ying 藍瑛

(Chinese, 1585–after 1664)

Culture

China, Ming dynasty (1368–1644)

Medium

Hanging scroll; ink on paper

Measurements

Painting: 141 x 56 cm (55 1/2 x 22 1/16 in.); Overall with knobs: 246 x 80 cm (96 7/8 x 31 1/2 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of Stephen O. K. Chen 1970.128

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Location

Not on view

Did You Know?

This painting serves as an analogy of the friendship between artist and monk.

Description

Lan Ying’s painting is a gift to his friend, the Chan monk Wuyun, in which he depicted two sages of the Six Dynasties period: the Buddhist monk Zhidun (314–366 CE), and the Daoist priest Xu Xun (265–420 CE). Meant to be understood as an analogy of the friendship between artist and monk, the painting also offered a retreat into the past, a year before the fall of the Ming dynasty.

A professional painter born in Hangzhou, Lan Ying is traditionally considered a last representative of the Zhe school. Lan wrote poetic inscriptions and interacted with the literatus Chen Jiru (1558–1639).