Bamboo Studies

A scholar of the Yijing (‘Book of changes’), he practised fortune-telling to make a living. As a painter he was not as successful commercially as Sheng Mao (one of his neighbours), but he had his own circle of literati friends, including such painters as Wu Guan and Zhang Guan and such scholars as Tao Zhongyi. Chen (style name; Chung-kuei, sobriquets; Mei-hua tao-jen and Mei-sha-mi) was a native of Chia-hsing, Chekiang. Adopting the works of Chü-jan (f1.ca. 960-980) as his model, Wu Chen was able to establish a distinctly personal style. He was therefore the foremost of the Four Masters of the Yüan. Specialized in landscapes and paintings of bamboo.