Visiting a Recluse in Autumn Mountains c. 18th century

Underneath the shadows of cloud-encircled mountains, a hermit lives a solitary life amid the trees. This theme has a longstanding tradition in Chinese painting, reflecting the ideal of many educated people to retire into nature for self-cultivation and study. Some retired for religious, particularly Daoist, ideals, that focus on an individual’s harmonious relationship with natural forces. Others retreated in disgust from the ups and downs of professional life. At the bottom left-hand corner, a fellow recluse makes his way up the winding road to visit his friend, an artistic device that offers us entry into the world of the painting. The inscription reads: The mountain is full of trees but empty, and is touched by glorious light from afar. The recluses face each other, forgetting worldly affairs. Right now if we had the fermentation of Xingfeng, we would let loose a long yell, and completely intoxicated, we’d return home. After the brush work of Qian Xuan (1239-1299), Cai Jia, called Zhufang Laomin.