Zhang Sixun

CHINA; Southern Song dynasty

Zhang Sixun was a painter of Buddhist art. His representative work, Master Zhiyi, is now kept at Saikyoji Temple in Shiga, Japan. The portrait, listed in 1900 as an Important Cultural Property of Japan, was painted in a consistent style with delicate, elegant strokes and gentle color tones. The master’s garments are depicted with smoothness, while the figure appears in a dignified posture.
During the Song (960–1279) and Yuan (1271–1368) dynasties, Ningbo served as a harbor where trading between China and Japan was prosperous, and large quantities of Buddhist paintings were transported to Japan. The dates and authors of the works are predicted according to the signatures on the paintings. While biographies of such painters as Zhang Sixun and others were not retained in the history of Chinese painting, their names and works were recorded in Japan.