Painting in National Palace Museum, Song dynasty part2

Welcome to the National Palace Museum's collection of paintings from the Song dynasty! This collection features some of the most iconic and influential works of art from this period. Here you can find paintings such as Autumn Colors among Streams and Mountains, Pair of Wild Geese on an Autumn Islet, Bamboo in Monochrome Ink, Travelers Among Mountains and Streams, Early Spring, Blue Magpie and Thorny Shrubs, Magpies and Hare, Wind in Pines Among a Myriad Valleys, Children at Play in an Autumnal Garden and Lohan. These pieces were created by some of the most renowned painters of the time, and they provide us with a unique insight into Chinese culture during this period. We hope you enjoy exploring these incredible artifacts!

1. Autumn Colors among Streams and Mountains

This painting has several layers of mountains, with shoals and slopes in the lower half. The mountains are rounded and shaded with light ink, giving them a misty appearance. This creates a lyrical quality to the landscape.

2. Pair of Wild Geese on an Autumn Islet

This painting shows a pond on an autumn day. The geese are resting on a shoal surrounded by dry reeds, red polygonum, and withered lotuses.

3. Bamboo in Monochrome Ink

Wen Tong was a gifted poet and calligrapher who is also credited with inventing the genre of ink bamboo painting. This painting depicts bamboo extending into the composition from the upper left, probably growing from a cliff left unseen. Rendered with centered brushwork, the tip of the brush turns and flies.

4. Travelers Among Mountains and Streams

Fan K'uan is a native of Hua-yuan in Shensi province. He is famous for his landscape paintings.

5. Early Spring

Kuo Hsi was a court painter during Emperor Shen-tsung's reign. He was known for his large, detailed landscapes. He later became the highest-ranked painter in the court Han-lin Academy of Painting.

6. Blue Magpie and Thorny Shrubs

Huang Chu-ts'ai (style name Po-luan) was the son of the famous bird-and-flower painter Huang Ch'uan. He followed in his father's style of painting, outlining forms with thin brushstrokes and then filling them with colors.

7. Magpies and Hare

Ts'ui Po was a native of Anhwei province and excelled at painting Buddhist and Taoist subjects, figures, landscapes, flowers, and animals. He was especially noted for his works in the genre of birds-and-flowers.

8. Wind in Pines Among a Myriad Valleys

Li T'ang served in the Han-lin Academy of Painting under Emperor Hui-tsung of the Northern Sung. He escaped to the south after the fall of the Northern Sung and re-entered the Painting Academy.

9. Children at Play in an Autumnal Garden

Su Han-ch'en was a painter who specialized in painting Buddhist and Taoist figures. He was born in K'ai-feng, Honan and worked at the imperial academy during the Hsuan-ho era (1119-1125) under Emperor Hui-tsung of the Northern

10. Lohan