Dai Jin

CHINA, Zhejiang, Hangzhou; Ming dynasty

Dai Jin was a painter from the Zhejiang school of painting. It is said that after working as a goldsmith as a young man, and seeing his handiwork melted and destroyed, he left the profession and studied painting under the artist Ye Cheng.
Dai was proficient in painting Buddhist and Daoist images. He painted murals and scrolls for temples such as Huayan Temple in Shanxi, Bao’en Temple in Sichuan, and Upper Tianzhu Temple in Zhejiang. He was also skilled in depicting animals, flowers, fruits, and birds. Painters of the mid Ming dynasty (1368–1644) were greatly influenced by him. Recognized as the founder of the Zhejiang school of painting, and together with Wu Wei and Lan Yingyu, he was known as one of the Three Great Artists of the Zhejiang school of Painting.
Some of his notable works include Tiger-Taming Arhat, displayed at the National Palace Museum in Taipei, Taiwan, Ancient Temple in the Deep Mountain, at the Palace Museum in Beijing, and Chan Lineage Scroll, at the Liaoning Provincial Museum in Shenyang.