Poetic Thoughts in a Forest Pavilion 林堂詩思圖
Ni Zan
Ming dynasty (1368–1644), c. 1371
Medium
Hanging scroll; ink on paper
Dimensions
124 × 50.5 cm (48 7/8 × 19 15/16 in.)
Classification
hanging scroll
Department
Arts of Asia
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
145677
About the Artist
Ni Zan · 1301–1374
Ni Zan (1301–1374), born into a wealthy scholarly family in Wuxi, Jiangsu province, exemplified the reclusive literati ideal during the turbulent Yuan dynasty. Receiving a rigorous Confucian education amid Mongol rule's restrictions on Han Chinese officials, he cultivated poetry, calligraphy, and painting as expressions of personal integrity rather than professional pursuits. No formal teachers or...