Hong Kong Palace Museum | The Hong Kong Jockey Club Series: Stories Untold — Figure Paintings of the Ming Dynasty from the Palace Museum

4100. Opulent versus Untrammelled

There was a cultural rejuvenation in the early Ming dynasty, with the court actively recruiting cohorts of painters and granting them official positions. The painters primarily served the royal family, and their subject matter was strictly regulated. Their paintings had distinctive political and didactic function, often portraying the virtuous rule of the Ming dynasty or the Ming emperors’ wise appointments of officials. The painters’ style and technique were often precise and meticulous, and their colours were vibrant to reflect the royal family’s stature and dignity. These painters created what came to be known as “court painting” style.

During the early to mid-Ming dynasty, another group of artists were active farther south, in the Zhejiang area. They were professional painters, and their style was different from the court painters. The works of the Zhejiang painters encompassed diverse styles and usually featured fast, bold brushstrokes. Since daily life was their main subject, their paintings resonated with the general public and gained popularity. These professional painters were later classified as the “Zhe school” of painting. Two notable representatives were Dai Jin and Wu Wei.

Court painting and Zhe school painting thrived within the palace and the public sphere, respectively, but both traditions can be traced back to the court painting of the Southern Song dynasty, the last Chinese dynasty before Mongol rule. The two eminent painters of the Zhe school, Dai Jin and Wu Wei, had even served at court before leaving it and becoming leading artists outside court. They were well versed in the techniques and styles associated with court painting, and when they left, they fostered an exchange between court art and popular art. In this section, you can appreciate the similarities and differences between t the painting traditions of the court painters and the Zhejiang school.

4103. Birthday Gathering in the Bamboo Garden

How did people in the past celebrate birthdays? You can find out more by taking a closer look at this painting, titled Birthday Gathering in the Bamboo Garden.

This painting was created by two court painters Lü Wenying and Lü Ji, also known as “Big Lü” and “Little Lü”. It records the scene of three senior officials—Tu Yong of the Ministry of Personnel, Zhou Jing of the Ministry of Revenue, and Imperial Inspector Si Zhong—gathered to celebrate their 60th birthdays at Zhou Jing's private residence, Bamboo Garden. The host and the guests are dressed in official robes and labelled with their names.

In the first half of the painting, starting from the right, the three officials take centre stage. They are surrounded by guests and attended by servants. In the courtyard, everyone is watching a crane dance. Arranged on a table in the back are peaches, symbolising longevity, along with fine wine and food. On the left, guests gathered around a stone table near the pond are composing poems and essays. If you look further to the left, can you see the names of the two guests appreciating a painting? They are the artists themselves.

Lü Ji painted the scenery in this painting, meticulously depicting trees, rocks, flowers, and birds. Lü Wenying focused on rendering the human figures with distinct facial features and characteristics; the depictions resemble portraits. The concept of this work is similar to that of Elegant Gathering in the Apricot Garden, a work by the court painter Xie Huan in the early Ming dynasty.

© The Palace Museum

4200. Antiquarian and Elegant

In the mid-Ming dynasty, a group of painters known as the “Wu school ”rose to prominence. The rise of the Wu school coincided with the growing prosperity of the Jiangnan region’s economy. The increasingly affluent society pursued refinement and elegance in their lifestyles.

A group of painters gathered in and around Wu County, which is the Suzhou region of present-day Jiangsu province. With these painters, a fresh and elegant painting style emerged. Two renowned painters, Shen Zhou and Wen Zhengming, successively played a leading role in this group. They primarily inherited the literati painting tradition of the Yuan dynasty. The Yuan literati painting tradition was exemplified by the works of Zhao Mengfu, Huang Gongwang, and Wang Meng. The painters who inherited their style and created their masterpieces in Wu County during the Ming dynasty were collectively referred to as the “Wu school ”or the “Wen school”—literally the “literati school”.

The leaders of the Wu school—Shen Zhou and Wen Zhengming, along with Tang Yin and Qiu Ying—are remembered as the Four Masters of the Wu school or the Four Masters of the Ming dynasty. Shen Zhou excelled in poetry, literature, and calligraphy. He mainly demonstrated his talent in landscape and bird-and-flower painting. His disciple Wen Zhengming—who mastered not just painting but also poetry, literature, and calligraphy—had numerous students of his own. Together, Shen Zhou and Wen Zhengming established the fresh and elegant style of the Wu school. The two other masters of the Wu school were Tang Yin and Qiu Ying. Tang Yin, who was known as the First Talent of Jiangnan, was proficient in poetry, calligraphy, and painting. He integrated both literati and court painting traditions into his practice, displaying versatility in subject matter and techniques. Qiu Ying, who followed the tradition of copying ancient paintings, excelled in figure and landscape paintings, which he executed with fine brushwork (gongbi) and heavy colours.

The figure paintings of the Wu school reflect a collective nostalgia for ancient elegance. The Wu school painters frequently depicted famous stories, like the story about Tao Yuanming and the Orchid Pavilion Gathering hosted by Wang Xizhi. Their paintings also document the refined lifestyles in Wu County in the mid-Ming. They portrayed the Ming admiration for ancient practices as well as local gatherings of social elites.

You can appreciate the refined elegance of Wu School paintings in the following section.

4203. Illustration of Tributaries

The tradition of painting tributaries dates back to ancient times. Typically, these paintings have a documentary nature. They depict scenes in allied countries and vassal states and show frontier tribes paying tribute to the emperor of China. Some focus on portraying foreign envoys.

This particular Illustration of Tributaries was created by Qiu Ying, one of the Four Masters of the Wu school, for the wealthy merchant Chen Guan. Unlike conventional tribute paintings, which are primarily documentary in nature, this work draws inspiration from historical records from the Tang to the Ming dynasties, incorporating imaginative elements.

As you look at the painting, starting at the right, you will see depictions of eleven tribes making their journeys: men with towering braids leading the Nine Creeks and Eighteen Caves, Han’er people herding sheep, Bohai musicians playing instruments, Khitan riders accompanied by camels, Kunlun envoys bearing ivory tusks, a female delegation from the Queen's Land, emissaries from the Samboja Kingdom with exotic animals and treasures, Tubo envoys with various horses, Annam representatives riding elephants, delegates from the Western Xia Kingdom with antelopes leading the way, and Joseon people bearing a multitude of tribute items. The painting features over 400 figures. It is a magnificent scene.

Meticulous brushwork is used to depict the figures in the painting, with trees, rocks, and other landscape features added as embellishments. The colours in this masterpiece are vibrant and splendid, showcasing Qiu Ying's exceptional craftsmanship.

© The Palace Museum

4300. Worldly and Strange

In the mid-Ming dynasty, the philosopher Wang Gen said, “The daily life of the common people is the Way”. In other words, he suggested that the Way of the sage can be found in everyday life and can be understood and achieved by anyone. This concept places common people and sages on an equal footing and affirms the value of popular culture. In this context, some painters focused on representing secular customs. Paintings depicting the lives of common people flourished from the mid- to the late Ming dynasty.

This was also a time of intellectual liberation and a yearning for freedom. The exotic and the unusual became fashionable. A group of painters who emerged in the late Ming represented these trends. They became known as the Transformative school and included Ding Yunpeng, Wu Bin, Chen Hongshou, and Cui Zizhong.

Chen Hongshou, who was active in Jiangnan, in the south, and Cui Zizhong, who was active in the north, were leading regional figures in the late Ming period. Chen Hongshou’s paintings had stylistic elements of both literati and professional painting. He excelled at figure painting: his figures, which are both majestic and melancholic, reflect his profound humanism. Cui Zizhong, who was equally erudite, aspired to ancient elegance and transformation in his paintings while retaining the spirit of the Confucian literati. Because of his reclusive and aloof nature, Cui rarely showed his paintings to others, so only a limited number of his works have survived.

In this section, you can explore the paintings depicting everyday life from the mid- to the late Ming dynasty, as well as representative works of the Transformative school.

4303. Ox-Herding

Can you see what the boy is doing in the painting? Moving from right to left, you can see four scenes portraying the interaction between the boy and an ox. These scenes show a boy searching for the ox, placing a nose ring on the ox, urging on the unruly ox with a whip, and tying the ox to a tree. Each scene is accompanied by a five-character poem providing an explanation.

In ancient China, people often used ox herding as a metaphor for cultivating one's own character. While this painting and the accompanying poems describe methods of taming an ox, they also imply the cultivation of a literati’s moral character.

This Ox-Herding painting was created by Li Lin, a Ming dynasty painter who also composed the inscribed poems. The painter signed the work as the ox-herding boy. The ox in the painting is depicted using varying shades of ink, creating a vivid and three-dimensional effect, while the boy is portrayed with ink outlines using the plain-drawing technique. The interaction between the two characters is both intriguing and imbued with a sense of Chan, of enlightenment and truth.

© The Palace Museum