Huichong

CHINA, Anhui, Huainan; Northern Song dynasty

Huichong was a monk, painter, and poet from either Huainan of Anhui, or Jianyang of Fujian. He was particularly adept in composing five-character poems, and he was listed as one of the nine monk poets of Northern Song dynasty (960–1127). He was also skilled in painting panoramic landscapes of forests and mountains in the winter cold. Often expressing a sense of infinite emptiness, Huichong created a new style of landscape painting, which was referred to as the “Scenic View of Huichong.” Such transcendental paintings indicate his height in spiritual attainment. Other poets such as Shen Gua, Su Shi, Huang Tingjian, and Wang Anshi composed poems that related to Huichong’s paintings. His paintings include Pair of Mandarin Ducks by the Waterfront, which is collected at the National Palace Museum in Taipei, Taiwan.