Wen Jia

CHINA, Jiangsu, Suzhou; Ming dynasty

Wen Jia, also known as Xiucheng, was a painter and calligrapher from Changzhou (present day Suzhou, Jiangsu). He was the second son of the well-known artist Wen Zhengming and younger brother of Wen Peng. Adept in poetry and calligraphy, he was particularly skilled in regular and running scripts. Having acquired the painting essence of his father, and modeling after that of Ni Zan and Wang Meng, his landscapes were impressive with elegant coloring. In addition, Wen excelled copying ancient artworks. He was once summoned to the imperial palace and participated in the review and categorization of calligraphy and paintings. Wen authored Calligraphy and Painting Records of Qianshantang and Poems of Hezhou.
Many paintings and calligraphic works by Wen still exist today. Small Scene of Stone Lake, Guqin Left Behind, and Seven-Character Quatrain in running script are kept at the Palace Museum in Beijing; Huishan, Waterfall in Pine Valley, and Temple on the Riverside Mountain are kept at the Shanghai Museum; several others are kept in museums and galleries in Shandong, Guangdong, Jiangsu, and Taiwan. His extant Buddhist works include a painting of Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva.