Poet on a mountaintop shen zhou

Yichen Guan

ARTH102

Compare/ Contrast Essay 2

Comparison between The Poet on the Mountaintop and The Qingbian Mountains

The Poet on the Mountaintop by Shen Zhou and The Qingbian Mountains by Dong Qichang are two Chinese pieces of art that demonstrates the wide culture of art that was present in ancient Chinese society. These two pieces of art have both similarities and differences and these are as discussed below.

Firstly, the Poet on a Mountaintop is a painting that combined both literature and painting. It shows the poet at the top of a mountain facing the written poem. This probably describes a moment in the painter’s life that he was in thought and reflection and this can be said to have influenced this art work. Other features are valleys, trees and some houses among the trees are visible. On the other hand, The Qingbian Mountains is a piece of painting that also combines literature and painting. It shows a mountainous landscape where valleys, trees, mountains and some homes are visible and a poem is written above the mountains. (Chinaonlinemuseum.com) These two paintings fall under the category of paintings referred to as the literati art which are referred so due to the detail in the art work. They have a combination of both poetry and the art work and this is similar to these two paintings.

Another way in which these two paintings are similar is that they were both ink on paper paintings and they show elements of nature, that is, mountains, valleys, trees, sky and they also show some homes in the valleys. The painters have shown these maybe to show their appreciation of nature and geographical features of China and used the poetical writing to show intellectualism. In addition, the paintings are similar in that they both have the same colors, that is, gray and black although The Poet on the Mountaintop painting has more white at the base of the mountains. Their textures seem the same and the outline is same for both in that it does not show sharp outlines. They amount of details in each painting is also less and the poems also have a message that is somehow related as they are both reflections on nature and the surrounding environment. Another similarity is that they both done during the Ming Dynasty. The two paintings are very much similar with other literati art paintings in that period of Ming Dynasty and they also had some relations to ancient Chinese myths that related mountains to masculinity and also were seen as the homes of the gods and this means that the two paintings had some religious influences. Other myths show that rulers would visit mountains to seek wisdom and therefore the inclusion of mountains in the paintings could be used to show wisdom.

The two paintings have some differences like The Poet on the Mountaintop was done by Shen Zhou who lived between 1427 and 1509 while The Qingbian Mountains is by Dong Qichang who lived between 1555 and 1636. Another difference is that The Poet on the Mountaintop shows a person facing the poem but there is no image of a person in the other painting. Another difference is that the painters were influenced by different artists. Shen Zhou, who painted The Poet on the Mountaintop was influenced largely by the works of the Wang Meng, Huang Gongwang and Wu Zhen and his paintings followed the styles of these painters. (Chinaonlinemuseum.com) On the other hand, Dong Qichang was influenced by the styles of Zhao Mengfu, Wen Zhengming and Dong Yuan. However, they were both at some point influenced by the works of the Yuna Masters and this is a similarity between them.

In conclusion, it is evident that these two paintings have more similarities than differences. This can be said to be because they are both from the same historical period where the painters may have been influenced by similar factors. They both lived in the same historical period and many paintings in that period had similar styles of art especially the literati art paintings. Such similar factors in this period of Ming Dynasty includes similar mythical and religious beliefs such as those involving mountains and wisdom or with mountains being homes of the gods.

References

Chinaonlinemuseum.com,. 'Dong Qichang Paintings | Chinese Art Gallery | China Online Museum'. N.p., 2015. Web. 21 Oct. 2015.

Chinaonlinemuseum.com,. 'Shen Zhou: Poet On A Mountaintop | Chinese Art Gallery | China Online Museum'. N.p., 2015. Web. 21 Oct. 2015.

Cleveland Museum of Art,. 'The Qingbian Mountains'. N.p., 2015. Web. 21 Oct. 2015.