Shao Mi

CHINA, Jiangsu, Suzhou; Ming dynasty

Originally named Shao Gao and also known as Sengmi, Shao Mi was a calligrapher and painter from Changzhou (present day Suzhou, Jiangsu). He was a devout Buddhist who was skilled in calligraphy and painting. Particularly adept in landscape, flower and bamboo, and figure painting, he adopted the simple and melancholy styles of Yuan dynasty (1271–1368) artists such as Jing Hao, Guan Tong, Ma Yuan, and Xia Gui. Shao, alongside Dong Qichang and seven other famous painters, were referred to as the Nine Friends of Painting.
His Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva Crossing a Lotus Pond, currently kept at the National Palace Museum in Taipei, Taiwan, evokes a scholarly appeal, presenting a strong intellectual character created by light ink and thin brushstrokes. This style greatly differed from the conventional Buddhist images of Shao’s time. Many of Shao’s other paintings still extant include Wind Among the Trees Under the Moonlight and High Pines and Distant Mountain Stream, both of which are kept at the Shanghai Museum, and Sending off a Crane with Books, retained in the Palace Museum in Beijing.