Landscape in the style of Wang Meng

During the Ming dynasty (1368-1644), garden building was in ascendance, and the painter Shen Zhou often created works showing himself and his contemporaries in garden settings. Here he has revived an earlier style of painting associated with Wang Meng (ca. 1308-1385), whose wiry brushwork is featured in this scroll. In reaction to the political tensions of his era, Wang Meng often painted rustic mountain gardens that were symbols of a safe retreat for scholars from from the center of government. 

Shen Zhou lived in a more politically stable era than Wang Meng. Urban gardens had become common, but Shen enjoyed the romantic notion of a secluded garden dwelling. Although the tall mountains behind the garden in this painting suggest a natural landscape, the garden owner consciously shaped his property. The large, pierced boulder from Lake Tai that stands like a sculpture beside the foreground open-air kiosk was no doubt imported into the garden at great expense.