During the reign (1101–25) of Emperor Huizong, the cultivation of rare aquarium fish came into vogue, and playful, splashing fish in plant-filled waters became a popular subject. In the Xuanhe huapu (preface dated 1120), the catalogue of Huizong’s painting collection, the author of the essay "Fishes and Dragons” decries still-life representations of fish as “objects on a kitchen table” but praises pictures of fish that “play in the wide expanse and dive in the deep.” In Fish at Play, where six slim, nimble fish flip and weave through the grasses, the painter’s genius for suggesting life and movement by the graceful deployment of elegant, curving lines is fully in evidence. Flawlessly executed, the image is at once a metaphor for and a re-creation of natural life at its freest and most spontaneous.
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宋 傳 趙克敻 藻魚圖 冊頁
Title:Fish at play
Artist:Attributed to Zhao Kexiong (Chinese, active early 12th century)
Period:Southern Song dynasty (1127–1279)
Date:12th–late 13th century
Culture:China
Medium:Album leaf; ink and color on silk
Dimensions:Image: 8 7/8 x 9 7/8 in. (22.5 x 25.1 cm)
Classification:Paintings
Credit Line:John Stewart Kennedy Fund, 1913
Object Number:13.100.110
Inscription: No artist’s inscription, signature, or seal
John C. Ferguson American, until 1913; sold to MMA]
New York. China Institute in America. "Treasures from the Metropolitan Museum," October 24, 1979–January 27, 1980.
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. "Great Waves: Chinese Themes in the Arts of Korea and Japan I," March 1–September 21, 2003.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Chinese Painting, Masterpieces from the Permanent Collection," August 28, 2004–February 20, 2005.
Cincinnati Art Museum. "Decoded Messages: The Symbolic Language of Chinese Animal Painting," October 9, 2009–January 3, 2010.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Chinese Gardens: Pavilions, Studios, Retreats," August 18, 2012–January 6, 2013.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Masterpieces of Chinese Painting from the Metropolitan Collection (Rotation Two)," May 7–October 11, 2016.
Sirén, Osvald. Chinese Painting: Leading Masters and Principles, Part. 1. The First Millennium: The Sung period. vol. 2, New York: Ronald Press, 1956–58, p. 152.
Sirén, Osvald. Chinese Painting: Leading Masters and Principles, Part. 1. The First Millennium: Plates. vol. 3, New York: Ronald Press, 1956–1958, pl. 361.
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. 18, cat. no. A1-096.
Fong, Wen C. Beyond Representation: Chinese Painting and Calligraphy, 8th–14th Century. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1992, pp. 184–86, pl. 23.
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