In 1366, Ni Zan abandoned his home to escape marauding soldiers. Even after the establishment of the Ming dynasty in 1368, Ni continued the life of a wanderer, visiting old haunts that he had not seen for twenty or thirty years. According to his epitaph writer, Zhou Nanlao (1308–1383), "in his late years, he became quieter and more withdrawn than ever. Having lost or given away everything he ever owned, he did his best to forget his worries. Wearing a yellow [Daoist] cap and country clothes, he roamed the lakes and mountains, leading a recluse's life."
Woods and Valleys of Mount Yu, executed two years before Ni Zan's death, expresses the painter's contentment in the life of a recluse. The poem ends with the lines:
We watch the clouds and daub with our brushes We drink wine and write poems. The joyous feelings of this day Will linger long after we have parted.
The dry but tender brushwork is aloof and restrained. There is a tranquil luminous quality about the painting that makes it one of the most fully realized works of the artist's later years.
This artwork is meant to be viewed from right to left. Scroll left to view more.
Artwork Details
Use your arrow keys to navigate the tabs below, and your tab key to choose an item
元 倪瓚 虞山林壑圖 軸
Title:Woods and Valleys of Mount Yu
Artist:Ni Zan (Chinese, 1306–1374)
Period:Yuan dynasty (1271–1368)
Date:dated 1372
Culture:China
Medium:Hanging scroll; ink on paper
Dimensions:Image: 37 1/4 x 14 1/8 in. (94.6 x 35.9 cm) Overall with mounting: 82 x 20 5/8 in. (208.3 x 52.4 cm) Overall with knobs: 82 x 24 5/8 in. (208.3 x 62.5 cm)
Classification:Paintings
Credit Line:Ex coll.: C. C. Wang Family, Gift of The Dillon Fund, 1973
Accession Number:1973.120.8
Inscription: Artist’s inscription and signature (6 columns in standard script)
Chen Fan (active mid-2nd c.) prepared a bed Only when Xu Ru (active mid-2nd c.) came for a visit. The water from the well in Yan You’s [Yan Yan, zi Ziyou, 506 B.C. –?] neighborhood [in Changshu] is sweet and cool, Whereas Yuzhong's [Ji Zhongyong, 12th c. B.C.] shrine [on Mount Yu] is desolate from neglect. We watch the clouds and daub with our brushes; We drink wine and write poems. The joyous feelings of this day Will linger long after we have parted.[1] On the thirteenth of the twelfth lunar month of the xinhai year [January 19, 1372], I paid a visit to the lofty hermit Bowan and painted the Woods and Valleys of Mount Yu with a poem in five-character lines as a memento of this trip. Ni Zan
Qing emperor Qianlong清帝乾隆 (r. 1736–95) Shiqu baoji 石渠寶笈 Qianlong yulan zhi bao 乾隆御覽之寶 Qianlong jianshang 乾隆鑑賞 Chunhua Xuan 淳化軒 Chunhua Xuan tushu zhenmibao 淳化軒圖書珍秘寶 Qianlong chenhan 乾隆宸翰 Xintian Zhuren 信天主人 Sanxi Tang jingjian xi 三希堂精鑑璽 Yi zisun 宜子孫
Chen Kuilin 陳夔麟 (1855–1928) Kuilin 夔麟
Xu An 徐安 (20th c.) Xu An 徐安
Wang Jiqian 王季遷 (1907–2003) Jiqian xinshang 季遷心賞
Tan Jing 譚敬 (1911–1991) Tan Jing 譚敬
Zhang Heng 張珩 (1915–1961) Xiyi 希逸
Unidentified: Zisun baozhi 子孫保之
[1] Translation from Wen C. Fong, Beyond Representation: Chinese Painting and Calligraphy 8th – 14th Century (New York, 1992), p. 490. Modified.
C. C. Wang Family New York (by 1949–1973: sold to MMA)
Cleveland Museum of Art. "Chinese Art Under the Mongols," October 1, 1968–November 4, 1968.
New York. Asia House Gallery. "Chinese Art Under the Mongols," January 9, 1969–February 2, 1969.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Song and Yuan Paintings: Exhibition of Newly Acquired Chinese Paintings," November 1, 1973–January 20, 1974.
London. British Museum. "Song and Yuan Paintings," November 7, 1975–January 4, 1976.
Princeton University Art Museum. "Images of the Mind: Selections from the Edward L. Elliot Family and John B. Elliott Collections of Chinese Calligraphy and Painting at the Art Museum, Princeton University," April 15–June 17, 1984.
Shizuoka Prefectural Museum of Art. "Landscape Painting in the East and West," April 17, 1986–June 1, 1986.
Kobe City Museum. "Landscape Painting in the East and West," June 7, 1986–July 13, 1986.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Images of the Mind: Selections from the Edward L. Elliot Family and John B. Elliott Collections of Chinese Calligraphy and Painting at the Art Museum, Princeton University," September 18, 1987–January 10, 1988.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The New Chinese Galleries: An Inaugural Installation," 1997.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Artist as Collector: Masterpieces of Chinese Painting from the C.C.Wang Family Collection," September 2, 1999–January 9, 2000.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "A Millennium of Chinese Painting: Masterpieces from the Permanent Collection," September 8, 2001–January 13, 2002.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Cultivated Landscapes: Reflections of Nature in Chinese Painting with Selections from the Collection of Marie-Hélène and Guy Weill," September 10, 2002–February 9, 2003.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Douglas Dillon Legacy: Chinese Painting for the Metropolitan Museum," March 12–August 8, 2004.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Brush and Ink: The Chinese Art of Writing," September 2, 2006–January 21, 2007.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Anatomy of a Masterpiece: How to Read Chinese Paintings," March 1–August 10, 2008.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Landscapes Clear and Radiant: The Art of Wang Hui (1632–1717)," September 9, 2008–January 4, 2009.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Yuan Revolution: Art and Dynastic Change," August 21, 2010–January 9, 2011.
London. Victoria and Albert Museum. "Masterpieces of Chinese Painting 700–1900," October 26, 2013–January 19, 2014.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Masterpieces of Chinese Painting from the Metropolitan Collection (Rotation Two)," May 7–October 11, 2016.
Fong, Wen C., and Marilyn Fu. Sung and Yuan Paintings. Exh. cat. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1973, pp. 110–14, 124, 149, cat. no. 20.
Suzuki Kei 鈴木敬, ed. Chûgoku kaiga sogo zuroku: Daiikan, Amerika-Kanada Hen 中國繪畫總合圖錄: 第一卷 アメリカ - カナダ 編 (Comprehensive illustrated catalog of Chinese paintings: vol. 1 American and Canadian collections) Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press, 1982, p. 3, cat. no. A1-006.
Barnhart, Richard M. Along the Border of Heaven: Sung and Yüan Paintings from the C. C. Wang Family Collection. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1983, pp. 162–65 (ill. p. 163), fig. 77.
Howard, Kathleen, ed. The Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1983, p. 261, fig. 47.
Fong, Wen C. et al. Images of the Mind: Selections from the Edward L. Elliott Family and John B. Elliott Collections of Chinese Calligraphy and Painting at the Art Museum, Princeton University. Exh. cat. Princeton, N.J.: Art Museum, Princeton University in association with Princeton University Press, 1984, p. 125–26, fig. 118.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Asia. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1987, p. 87, pl. 52.
Fong, Wen C. Beyond Representation: Chinese Painting and Calligraphy, 8th–14th Century. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1992, pp. 430, 492–94, pls. 118 and 118a, b.
Wu Sheng 吳升. Daguan lu 大觀錄 (Records from a grand view). Preface dated 1712, juan 11. Reprinted in Zhongguo shuhua quanshu 中國書畫全書 (Compendium of classical publications on Chinese painting and calligraphy) Edited by Lu Fusheng 盧輔聖. Shanghai: Shanghai shuhua chubanshe, 1993–2000, vol. 8, p. 510.
Wu Qizhen 吳其貞. Shuhua ji 書畫記 (On calligraphy and painting). Ca. 1677, juan 5. Reprinted in Zhongguo shuhua quanshu 中國書畫全書 (Compendium of classical publications on Chinese painting and calligraphy) Edited by Lu Fusheng 盧輔聖. Shanghai: Shanghai shuhua chubanshe, 1993–2000, vol. 8, p. 98.
Howard, Kathleen, ed. The Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide. 2nd ed., New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1994, p. 113, fig. 47.
Yang Zhenguo 杨振国. Haiwai cang Zhongguo lidai ming hua: Liao, Jin, Xixia, Yuan 海外藏中国历代名画: 辽, 金, 西夏, 元 (Famous paintings of successive periods in overseas collections) Edited by Lin Shuzhong 林树中. vol. 4, Changsha: Hunan meishu chubanshe, 1998, pp. 178–79, pls. 113, 113a.
Mair, Victor H., Nancy Shatzman Steinhardt, and Paul Goldin, eds. Hawai'i Reader In Traditional Chinese Culture. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2005, pp. 422–23, fig. 95.
Chen Kuilin 陳夔麟. Baoyu Ge shuhua lu 寳迂閣書畫錄 (Catalogue of calligraphies and paintings of the Baoyu Ge Studio). Prefaced dated 1915, Juan 1, pp.5a–6a. Reprinted in Lidai shuhualu jikan 歷代書畫錄輯刋 (Compendium of publications on painting and palligraphy from successive periods) Beijing: Beijing Tushuguan chubanshe, 2007, vol. 13, pp. 321–23.
Hearn, Maxwell K. How to Read Chinese Paintings. Exh. cat. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2008, pp. 100–105, cat. no. 23.
He Muwen 何慕文 (Hearn, Maxwell K.). Ruhe du Zhongguo hua: Daduhui Yishu Bowuguan cang Zhongguo shuhua jingpin daolan 如何读中国画 : 大都会艺术博物馆藏中国书画精品导览 (How to read Chinese paintings) Translated by Shi Jing 石静. Beijing: Beijing daxue chubanshe, 2015, pp. 100–105, cat. no. 23.
The Met's Libraries and Research Centers provide unparalleled resources for research and welcome an international community of students and scholars.
The Met Collection API is where all makers, creators, researchers, and dreamers can connect to the most up-to-date data and public domain images for The Met collection. Open Access data and public domain images are available for unrestricted commercial and noncommercial use without permission or fee.
Feedback
We continue to research and examine historical and cultural context for objects in The Met collection. If you have comments or questions about this object record, please complete and submit this form. The Museum looks forward to receiving your comments.
The Met's collection of Asian art—more than 35,000 objects, ranging in date from the third millennium B.C. to the twenty-first century—is one of the largest and most comprehensive in the world.
