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Simple Retreat

Wang Meng Chinese
ca. 1370
Not on view
Wang Meng depicted scholars in their retreats, creating imaginary portraits that capture not the physical likeness of a person or place but rather an interior world of shared associations and ideals. He presented the master of Simple Retreat as a gentleman recluse. Seated at the front gate of a rustic hermitage, he is shown holding a magic fungus, as a servant and two deer approach from the woods. In the courtyard, another servant offers a sprig of herbs to a crane. The auspicious Daoist imagery of fungus, crane, and deer as well as the archaic simplicity of the figures and dwelling evokes a dreamlike vision of paradise.

In creating this visionary world, Wang transformed the monumental landscape imagery of the tenth-century master Dong Yuan. Rocks and trees, animated with fluttering texture strokes, dots, color washes, and daubs of bright mineral pigment, pulse with a calligraphic energy barely contained within the traditional landscape structure. Encircled by this energized mountainscape, the retreat becomes a reservoir of calm at the vortex of a world whose dynamic configurations embody nature's creative potential but may also suggest the ever-shifting terrain of political power.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • 元　王蒙　素庵圖　軸
  • Title: Simple Retreat
  • Artist: Wang Meng (Chinese, ca. 1308–1385)
  • Period: Late Yuan (1271–1368) or early Ming (1368–1644) dynasty
  • Date: ca. 1370
  • Culture: China
  • Medium: Hanging scroll; ink and color on paper
  • Dimensions: Image: 53 3/4 × 17 5/8 in. (136.5 × 44.8 cm)
    Overall with mounting: 8 ft. 5 1/4 in. × 24 3/4 in. (257.2 × 62.9 cm)
    Overall with knobs: 8 ft. 5 1/4 in. × 28 11/16 in. (257.2 × 72.9 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: Ex coll.: C. C. Wang Family, Gift of Oscar L. Tang Family, 2012
  • Object Number: 2012.526.2
  • Curatorial Department: Asian Art

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