Autumnal Colors Among Streams and Mountains

Jin Yongxi

1723

Ink and color on paper

Minneapolis Institute of Art

A traditional Chinese landscape painting depicts a mountainous terrain with scattered trees and buildings. A river flows in the foreground, with a bridge crossing it. Jin Yongxi, a literati painter from Suzhou, was a pupil of the orthodox master Wang Yuanqi (1642-1715). Each leaf of this exceptionally large album is inspired by a past master of the Song (960-1279) or Yuan (1280-1368) literati tradition. Jin has inscribed the name of the artist that inspired each of his compositions. Although Jin's paintings vary considerably from their sources, they do capture the essential style associated with the famous painters he emulates. While working in Beijing, Jin apparently had access to the imperial collection which accounts for his broad and accurate knowledge of historical styles of painting. The Qi