Xie Shichen’s Staff Seeking Axis

[Xie Shichen’s Painting Axis of Seeking Seclusion with Staff]

The Axis of Seeking Seclusion with Staff, Ming Dynasty, Xie Shichen’s painting, paper, ink, 84.9 cm vertically and 31.3 cm horizontally
At the bottom left of this painting, there is the painter’s message: “Written by Xie Shichen, the 60th Weng, it is the autumn day of the mid-afternoon. It is stamped with the seal of” Xie Sizhong “. At the top of the picture are the poems and seals of both Humane Jia and Qian Gu
The mountains in the picture are towering, and a stream in the middle divides the picture into two sections. The bridge on the valley and stream indicates that the road between the two mountains is unblocked. The tree on the left side of the picture shows a scholar walking along the mountain road with a stick, highlighting the theme of “seeking seclusion”. Some of Xie Shichen’s works are written by imitating the style of Wang Meng in the Yuan Dynasty, such as the Landscape of Wang Meng in the 12th year of Zhengde’s reign (1517) in the Nanjing Museum, the Landscape of Stream Pavilion in the 29th year of Jiajing’s reign (1550) in the Palace Museum, and the Landscape of Rivers and Mountains in the Shanghai Museum. It shows that Wang Meng has important significance in the formation of Xie Shichen’s painting style. This picture was made by Xie Shichen at the age of 60 (the 25th year of Jiajing, 1546). Wang Meng’s shadow can also be seen in the stone structure and ink texturing method. However, compared with Wang Meng’s typical fine and dense cow hair texturing, the rough and loose stone texturing method in the picture is obviously caused by Shen Zhou’s influence. The painting has a strong overall sense, and the texturing method can be well integrated into the overall structure of the rocks. The composition of the painting is full, and the ink is green, reflecting the artist’s efforts to create his own style by integrating the previous ink