River Village: Fisherman's Joy

江村漁樂圖

c. 1302–3

Zhao Mengfu 趙孟頫

(Chinese, 1254–1322)

Culture

China, Yuan dynasty (1271-1368)

Medium

Fan painting mounted as album leaf; ink and color on silk

Measurements

Overall: 28.6 x 30 cm (11 1/4 x 11 13/16 in.)

Credit Line

Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund 1978.66

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Location

Not on view

Did You Know?

Various human elements can be found in the painting: two fishermen, an individual with a donkey, and someone in the house.

Description

The artist of this blue-green–style landscape, Zhao Mengfu, was a southerner, versed in all fields of literati pursuits, such as calligraphy and connoisseurship. A princeling of the defeated Southern Song dynasty, he was nevertheless successfully recruited by Khubilai Khan to the Mongol court in the new capital, Dadu (modern Beijing), in 1286. This painting combines a distinctively southern flat watery landscape combined with features of the northern landscape tradition, notably the spiky trees, branches, and rough-surfaced rocks.