At Mount Li Escaping the Heat

This artwork, titled "At Mount Li Escaping the Heat," is a hanging scroll executed in ink and colour on silk, measuring 134 × 224 cm. It was created by the Qing Dynasty artist Yuan Jiang (1671–?), whose courtesy name was Wentao and whose art name was Xiuquan. He was a native of Jiangdu (present-day Yangzhou in Jiangsu). Yuan Jiang came from an artistic family and is often associated with his nephew Yuan Yao, with the two sometimes referred to as the "Two Yuans." Both artists were active during the reigns of the Kangxi and Yongzheng emperors. The exact date of Yuan Jiang's death remains uncertain, and sources differ regarding his dates and early life. However, it is known that he studied under Qiu Ying and developed a particular mastery of landscape and architectural painting. Yuan Jiang was summoned to the imperial court during the Yongzheng reign and served as a court painter at the Yangxin Hall between 1722 and 1735. During the later part of his life, he worked for Shanxi salt merchants and moved to Shanxi with his nephew Yuan Yao, where he produced and sold numerous paintings and became relatively well-known in northern China. Yuan Jiang was particularly renowned for large-scale hanging scrolls and multi-panelled screens, which were often commissioned as decorations for wealthy patrons. His subjects included landscapes, birds, flowers, palaces, pavilions, gardens, and intricate architectural compositions known as jiehua. Yuan Jiang's paintings can broadly be divided between realistic representations of palaces, pavilions, gardens of the Jiangnan region, and more imaginative compositions depicting mythical or idealised realms. As a professional painter active in the Yangzhou and Jiangzhe regions, he drew considerably from earlier Chinese painting traditions. During his middle years, he was particularly influenced by Tang and Song Dynasty techniques. His treatment of rocks using ghost-face texture strokes was inspired by the Song Dynasty painter Yan Ciping, while his architectural paintings followed the meticulous and rigorous tradition associated with Guo Zhongshu. Yuan Jiang also continued the Tang and Song tradition of blue-green landscape painting, using rich colours in carefully composed landscapes. His mastery of jiehua was such that he became known as the greatest architectural painters of the Qing Dynasty. His brushwork could range from highly meticulous and detailed compositions to a smaller number of works executed with a more unrestrained style. Yuan Yao, in turn, followed many aspects of his uncle's artistic style. The artwork showcased here draws inspiration from accounts of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty spending his summer retreats at Mount Li, in present-day Lintong, Shaanxi. Yuan Jiang presents the landscape from a panoramic perspective, with the summer palace situated among imposing mountains and overlooking a mist-covered lake. The surrounding trees and vegetation are rendered in rich emerald-green hues, while the roofs of the Jiucheng Palace are painted in vivid shades of blue. The palace forms the central focus of the composition and is rendered with remarkable precision, while the surrounding pavilions receive the same meticulous attention. Even the palace attendants are carefully depicted and brightly coloured. The Capital Museum's record also notes that Yuan Jiang arranged the palaces and pavilions within the expansive landscape to convey the grandeur of the summer retreat. An inscription appears in the upper-right section of the scroll. According to the Capital Museum's English description, the painting was completed in 1702 and the inscription pays homage to artists of the Southern Song Dynasty. The work also bears two seals, carved in intaglio and relief. Looking at this painting, one can immediately understand why Yuan Jiang became so highly regarded for his jiehua paintings. To me, the work functions not only as a landscape painting but also almost as an architectural drawing, given the extraordinary attention paid to the structures, their arrangement, and their details. The artwork can be located through the Capital Museum's online collection search using the link provided below by searching for "Yuan Jiang" and "At Mount Li Escaping the Heat." The museum displays the artwork and its description through a pop-up collection record rather than a separate webpage.