Tall Bamboo and Distant Mountains, after Wang Meng, by Wang Hui, 1694
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Tall Bamboo and Distant Mountains, after Wang Meng

Wang Hui (Chinese, 1632–1717)

1694

Medium
Hanging scroll; ink on paper
Classification
Painting
Dimensions
Painting: 79.6 x 39.4 cm (31 5/16 x 15 1/2 in.); Overall with knobs: 215.8 x 61.6 cm (84 15/16 x 24 1/4 in.)
Culture
China, Qing dynasty (1644–1911)
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art, Chinese Art
Credit line
John L. Severance Fund
Rights
Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
Who can see it
Little Ones profiles and older: it shows gentle subjects for the very young. How works are placed

View at the Cleveland Museum of Art

About this work

Wang Hui studied paintings by earlier masters and digested their styles with unceasing virtuosity. He had such enduring affection for a landscape by Wang Meng 王蒙 (about 1308–85) that between 1686 and 1712, he made several copies, like this example. One of his compositional transformations here was moving the scholar from the pavilion directly into the landscape by the stream.

His faithful copying also included inscriptions. Wang Meng had written that he was trying to resuscitate the style of an earlier artist, Wen Tong (1018–1079); therefore, Wang Hui sought to revive both Wang Meng and Wen Tong.