Wang Jianzhang

CHINA, Fujian, Quanzhou; Ming to Qing dynasty

Wang Jianzhang was also known as Zhong Chu or Yanmo Jushi. He was a painter who claimed that his illustrations of the Buddha were on par with those done by the famous Northern Song dynasty (960–1127) artist, Li Gonglin. His landscape drawings followed the manner of Dong Yuan’s works, and he created copies of ancient paintings that exuded their own sense of magnificence. It was said that due to Wang’s skillful manipulation of ink, he was addressed as Five Colors of Black Ink.
Although he was talented at landscape painting, flowers and birds were Wang’s specialty. His Buddhist works include copies of Zhao Mengfu’s famous Arhat paintings. In 1649, Wang traveled to Japan and painted Lushan Waterfall, which is now kept at the Tokyo University of the Arts. Another painting entitled Sound of Water at Yunling is housed at the Osaka Municipal Museum of Art.