博
Artist: Chen Lian (?-1637)
Date: Ming (1368-1644)
Material: Ink and color on paper
Chen Lian (?-1637), also known by his zi (designated name) Mingqing and hao (literary names) Wujiao and Zhanliu, was a native of Huating (in present-day Shanghai). He excelled in landscape painting and was a disciple of Zhao Zuo. Wang Shimin (1592-1680) once invited Chen Lian home to paint reduced-scale copies of famous Song and Yuan masterpieces. These copies epitomize the achievement of synthesizing historical masterpieces from Dong Qichang to the "Four Wangs". This album depicts the Jiao Garden of Wang Shimin who hired the famous Huating garden designer Zhang Nanyuan (1587-ca.1671) to reconstruct and expand the peony garden of Wang's grandfather Wang Xijue. This is a masterpiece of late Ming Jiangnan garden art (Zhang Nanyuan also designed the Fushui Villa for Qian Qianyi, among other projects).
