Picture scroll of Mi Youren’s Yunshan ink opera

[Mi Youren’s Yunshan Ink Drama Volume]

The Yunshan Ink Drama Volume, (biography) Mi Youren’s painting of the Southern Song Dynasty, paper, ink, 21.4 cm in length, 195.8 cm in width
The title of this painting is: “The charm of Yu Mo Opera is quite extraordinary, and it will not be easy to measure in the future.” There is another poem written by Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty: “I am worried about walking in the mountains, and I love to listen to the ripples of the water. The landscape seems to have not been in harmony with each other, and the clouds of harmony with each other are long. The round of vitality is absolutely simulated, and the wonderful scene is dreamy and I want to climb. There is really a son of Mihai Mountain, which can be mixed with Gaofang Mountain. Emperor Qianlong’s title.” The seal of “A few moments of happiness” is printed by Bai Wenfang, “Qianlong Chen Han”, printed by Zhu Wenfang. In addition, there are 22 seals of Wu Xiyuan, Zhu Hui, Liang Qingbiao, An Qijian and Qing Neifu. There is Dong Qichang’s postscript on the tail paper: “Mi Yuanhui’s landscape scrolls are all mixed up by Gao Shangshu of the Yuan Dynasty. That is to say, I collected the long picture of” Xiaoxiang Baiyun “, and the famous public of the Song and Yuan Dynasties chanted it very rich. Shen Shitian hated the beginning of the ditch in his later years, and I hesitated to chant it, though it was true, like a pearl and a cabinet ear. The supernatural objects may have flown away. Not if the vitality of this scroll is dripping, the layout is very wonderful. On the third day of June of the third year of the third year of Chongzhen’s reign (1636), the postscript was written by Feng Quan and Gong Xinzhao.”. The seal is sealed by Wu Guoxun, Liu Zhen, Zhu Hui, Feng Quan, Liang Qingbiao, An Qi, etc., with 15 seals
This picture depicts the scenery along the river. A narrow path is winding near the bank, connected by a slab bridge, with undulating mountains in the distance, dense clouds, slow streams, dense forests and looming houses. This picture adopts the typical painting method of “Mijia Mountains and Rivers”. The hills and slopes are first painted with light ink, and then painted with different sizes of horizontal ink points repeatedly on the mountain head, ridge and other parts, so as to achieve the unique effect of representing the beautiful scenery and misty fog in the south of the Yangtze River. Dong Qichang of the Ming Dynasty once took this picture to visit Dongting Lake and marveled at Mi Youren’s sketching skills. He said: “The boat is in the setting sun, and the canopy is wide, and the sky is full of clouds. It is strange and strange. It is also a Mi Jia ink play.”
This picture was once recorded in Volume 13 of Bian Yongyu’s “Collection of Paintings and Calligraphy in the Ancient Hall of Style”, Volume 3 of “Collection of Paintings on the Edge of Ink”, Volume 17 of “Collection of Famous Paintings” and “Collection of Shiqu Treasures”
The original title of Yunshan Ink Drama was painted by Mi Youren, but Mr. Xu Bangda believed that it was not the original work of Mi Youren according to his painting method, the pen used in the title and the writing position. However, the painting method of this painting is all derived from the “Mijia landscape”. Dong Qichang said that its “vigorous and beautiful layout” is no exaggeration, and its important value for the study of this school of landscape is obvious.