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Ink and Wash Sketches

Length 47.3 cm, width 814.1 cm

Beijing Palace Museum

"Ink Sketch" is an ink painting on paper created by the Southern Song Dynasty painter Muxi. It is now collected in the Palace Museum in Beijing.

Muxi, whose surname was Li, Buddhist name was Fachang, and pseudonym was Muxi. He was from Sichuan and lived in the late Song Dynasty and early Yuan Dynasty. His exact birth and death dates are unknown, but some sources record that he died in 1281. His representative works include "Laozi", "Pine and Monkey", "Returning Sails from a Distant Port" and "Eight Views of Xiaoxiang".

The second scroll depicts fruits, vegetables, flowers, birds, fish and crabs. The fruits and vegetables include pomegranates, peaches, pears, loquats, radishes and eggplants; the birds include swallows, magpies, magpie pigeons and red-crested pochards; the aquatic creatures include fish, shrimps and crabs. The entire scroll is outlined in ink and color, without the use of color, which is extremely rare in the Southern Song painting world and opened up a new path for freehand flower and bird painting.

Part of the ink painting scroll

Part of the ink painting scroll

This scroll is a casual sketch by Fachang, but it is highly realistic and lively. There is no signature on this scroll, and Shen Zhou determined it to be a "genuine Song Dynasty work". Mr. Xu Bangda believes that the word "牧" in Shen Zhou's postscript has traces of digging and alteration, and it is "a painting that looks like a herdsman but is not a herdsman" (Fachang's name is Muxi).

Part of the ink painting scroll

Part of the ink painting scroll

Many of Muxi's paintings are based on people's daily lives, but he is able to reveal the true meaning of life in the plainness and innocence. The "Ink and Wash Sketches" depicts broken branches of flowers and fruits, birds, fish, shrimps, and fruits and vegetables. The brushwork is simple and ordinary. They are casually placed together on the canvas. They seem to be the most common scenes closely related to our real life, but the ink mist, the intricate arrangement, and the magical changes in the scroll clearly contain Zen.

Part of the ink painting scroll

Part of the ink painting scroll

Behind these ordinary objects is a large blank space without any brushstrokes. This treatment of "knowing white and keeping black" and "counting white as black" makes the originally unrelated things in the picture relatively independent and yet can be combined into one, making the painting more complete and full of tension, giving the viewer room for imagination, as the saying goes, "where there is no painting, everything becomes a wonderful place." The whole work is full of a kind of tranquil, self-reflective, and indifferent inner spirit, which makes the viewer feel that "everything is self-satisfied when observed quietly", which is thought-provoking. Muxi's painting and sketching skills are very deep, and this painting is also a work that "resembles the shape and gets its meaning" and has both form and spirit.

Part of the ink painting scroll

Part of the ink painting scroll

In China, the artistic achievements of Fachang's works have gradually been recognized by people. For example, Xiang Yuanbian of the Ming Dynasty said that Fachang "depicted objects from life with natural skill, not only resembling their appearance, but also capturing their imagery", which gave him high praise. However, in comparison, the first person to discover the true value and revolutionary significance of Fachang's paintings was Shen Zhou, the leader of the Wu School of Painting.

Inscription on the scroll of Shen Zhou's "Ink and Wash Sketches": I started to paint landscapes, and I also like to paint flowers, fruits, and insects. Therefore, I have collected many works by ancient people, and I have collected a few feet of paper and some ink, but I have never been able to do everything. Recently, I saw a scroll of Muxi at the home of Mr. Wu in Da Pao Temple. The fruits include Anli, Laiqin, Qiuli, Luju, and Xieqian; the flowers include lotus; the vegetables include kudzu, Manqing, Yuansu, and bamboo sprouts; the birds include Yixi, Wenfu, and Jiliang; the fish include mullets and salmon; the shellfish include Guosuo, clams, and snails. Without applying color, the paintings are splashed with ink at will, and they look like life. Looking back at the works of Huang Quan and Shunju, I feel that they are so different. Moreover, the color of the paper is clear and bright, and the length of the scroll is more than three feet. It is a real Song Dynasty product. It is worthy of Mr. Wu's treasure.

Part of the ink painting scroll

Part of the ink painting scroll

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