To disguise his identity, Zhu Da, a scion of the Ming imperial family, took refuge in a Buddhist temple after the Manchu conquest of 1644. About 1680 he renounced his status as a monk and began producing paintings and calligraphy in order to support himself. In 1684 he took the biehao (artistic name) Bada Shanren (Mountain Man of the Eight Greats). A staunch Ming loyalist throughout his life, Bada used painting as a means of protest. His is the poignant voice of the yimin, the leftover subjects of the fallen dynasty.
This painting is typical of the bold enigmatic images that Zhu Da produced during the last twenty years of his life. The seemingly innocuous subject, a garden pond framed by two ornamental rocks, becomes, in Zhu Da's rendition, profoundly unsettling. Were it not for seven tiny fish that swim beneath the two rock forms, transforming the blank paper into a body of water, the image would be unrecognizable. Six of the fish are shown in profile, but the seventh appears as if seen from above, leaving the viewer disoriented; the absence of a horizon line adds to the unsettling effect. Treating the image as a calligraphic design, Bada juxtaposes large and small, solid and void, and heavy and light, creating a tension between flat shapes and three-dimensional volumes that heightens the disturbing quality.
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Artwork Details
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清 八大山人（朱耷） 魚石圖 軸
Title:Fish and rocks
Artist:Bada Shanren (Zhu Da) (Chinese, 1626–1705)
Period:Qing dynasty (1644–1911)
Date:dated 1699
Culture:China
Medium:Hanging scroll; ink on paper
Dimensions:Image: 53 1/4 x 24 in. (135.3 x 61 cm) Overall with mounting: 92 1/2 x 31 1/2 in. (235 x 80 cm) Overall with knobs: 92 1/2 x 34 1/4 in. (235 x 87 cm)
Classification:Paintings
Credit Line:Bequest of John M. Crawford Jr., 1988
Object Number:1989.363.137
Inscription: Artist’s inscription and signature (2 columns in semi-cursive script)
Rou zhao[1] Bada Shanren
柔兆 八大山人
Artist's seals
Kede shenxian 可得神仙 Bada Shanren 八大山人 Yaozhu 遥属
Other inscription on the painting
Luo Anxian 羅岸先 (19th c.), 1 column in semi-cursive script, dated 1874; 1 seal:
[1] For the reading of the characters rou and zhao as a date and for the dating of Bada Shanren's work on the basis of his signature, see Wang Fangyu and Richard M. Barnhart, Master of the Lotus Garden: The Life and Art of Bada Shanren (1626-1705), exhibition catalogue, New Haven; London: Yale University Art Gallery, 1990, cat. no. 44, p. 168; see also Wang Fang-yü, "Bada Shanren's Methods of Inscribing Dates on His Works," translated by Arnold Chang, Bulletin of the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities 53 (1981), pp. 257-89
John M. Crawford Jr. American, New York (until d. 1988; bequeathed to MMA)
London. Victoria and Albert Museum. "Chinese Painting and Calligraphy from the Collection of John M. Crawford, Jr.," June 17, 1965–August 1, 1965.
Princeton University. "Loan to Princeton University 2," March 1985–May 1985.
Asian Art Museum of San Francisco. "The Work of Zhu Da," August 22, 1990–October 28, 1990.
New Haven. Yale University Art Gallery. "The Work of Zhu Da," January 18, 1991–March 24, 1991.
Zurich. Museum Rietberg. "The Mandate of Heaven: Emperors and Artists in China," April 2, 1996–July 7, 1996.
Museum für Asiatische Kunst, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin. "The Mandate of Heaven: Emperors and Artists in China," August 3, 1996–November 10, 1996.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Traditional Scholarly Values at the End of the Qing Dynasty: The Collection of Weng Tonghe (1830–1904)," June 30–January 3, 1999.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The World of Scholars' Rocks: Gardens, Studios, and Paintings," February 1–August 20, 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. "When the Manchus Ruled China: Painting under the Qing Dynasty (1644–1911)," February 2–August 18, 2002.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Chinese Painting, Masterpieces from the Permanent Collection," August 28, 2004–February 20, 2005.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Secular and Sacred: Scholars, Deities, and Immortals in Chinese Art," September 10, 2005–January 8, 2006.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Bridging East and West: The Chinese Diaspora and Lin Yutang," September 15, 2007–February 10, 2008.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Masterpieces of Chinese Painting from The Met Collection (Rotation One)," October 31, 2015–October 11, 2016.
Minneapolis Institute of Arts. "Boundless Peaks: Ink Paintings by Minol Araki," October 7, 2017–June 24, 2018.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Chinese Painting and Calligraphy Up Close," January 25, 2020–June 27, 2021.
Guo Wei 郭威, ed. Dafeng Tang mingji 大風堂名蹟 (Masterpieces from the collection of the Dafeng Tang Studio) [Taipei?]: Yayun Tang, 1954, vol. 3, pl. 3.
Chō Dai-sen 張大千. Taifudo meiseki 大風堂名蹟 (Masterpieces from the collection of the Dafeng Tang Studio) Kyoto: Benrido, 1955–56, vol. 3, pl. 3.
Weng, Wan-go, and Thomas Lawton. Chinese Painting and Calligraphy: A Pictorial Survey: 69 Fine Examples from the John Crawford, Jr. Collection. New York: Dover Publications, 1978, cat. no. 54.
Wang Zidou 汪子豆, ed. Bada Shanren shuhua ji 八大山人書畫集 (Selected calligraphies and paintings of Bada Shanren) Beijing: Renmin meishu chubanshe, 1983, vol. 2, pl. 121.
Shih Shou-ch'ien, Maxwell K. Hearn, and Alfreda Murck. The John M. Crawford, Jr., Collection of Chinese Calligraphy and Painting in the Metropolitan Museum of Art: Checklist. Exh. cat. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1984, p. 43, cat. no. 146.
Barnhart, Richard M., Wen C. Fong, and Maxwell K. Hearn. Mandate of Heaven: Emperors and Artists in China: Chinese Painting and Calligraphy from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Exh. cat. Zürich: Museum Rietberg, 1996, pp. 130–31, cat. no. 28.
Weihe, Richard. Meer der Tusche: Erzählung mit zehn Bildern (Sea of Ink: Narrative with Ten Images) Zurich: Nagel & Kimche, 2003, p. 67.
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