Reminiscences of Nanjing: Climbing Caishi in Mid-Autumn

Object Details

• Artist

  Shitao (1642-1707)

• Label

  This image belongs to an album that Shitao created the last year of his life as he reflected on experiences of the 1680s. The moonlit mountain is located in Anhui Province, in southeast China, and according to the artist's inscription he left Anhui in 1680 to move to Nanjing, where he served as a monk in a Buddhist temple. By the time he painted this scene, however, he was devoting himself full-time to artistic exploration. Unlike most painters of his era, Shitao had always avoided imitating earlier masters, and in old age his artistic style became increasingly unorthodox. Here Shitao's use of a radical degree of asymmetry is typical of how he was developing new forms of visuality. The extreme brevity of his brushwork, including the single-stroke mountains on the horizon, foreshadows abstraction in modern Chinese painting.

• Provenance

  To?

  Zhang Daqian (1899-1983). [1]

  To 1987

  Dr. Arthur M. Sackler (1913-1987), New York. [2]

  From 1987

  Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, gift of Dr. Arthur M. Sackler, New York. [3]

  Notes:

  [1] See object record.

  [2] See note 1.

  [3] See note 1.

• Collection

  Arthur M. Sackler Collection

• Exhibition History

  The Arts of China (November 18, 1990 to September 7, 2014)

  Pavilions and Immortal Mountains: Chinese Decorative Art and Paintings (September 28, 1987 to February 28, 1988)

  Rarities of Chinese Painting in the Arthur M. Sackler Collections (December 8, 1973 to June 29, 1986)

• Previous custodian or owner

  Zhang Daqian 張大千 (China, 1899-1983)

  Dr. Arthur M. Sackler (1913-1987)

• Origin

  Nanjing, China

• Credit Line

  Gift of Arthur M. Sackler

• Type

  Painting

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1700s

• Name

  Sackler, Arthur M., Zhang, Daqian

• Place

  China, Nanjing

• Topic

  Pavilion, Landscapes, Art, Autumn, Chinese Art, Qing dynasty (1644 - 1911), Rivers

• Culture

  Chinese

• Object Type

  Paintings