Pleasures of Fishing in a River in the Mountains

The fisherman’s life became a popular painting theme during the Yuan dynasty, when many educated Han Chinese refused to serve the Mongol-ruled court and fled to seclusion from society. Through various depictions of this theme, artists conveyed the spiritual idea of a peaceful rural life free of political corruption.

This work has been attributed to Sheng Mao, a painter from the old Southern Song capital Lin’an, who is known for his elaborately executed landscapes, figures, and flower-and-bird paintings. The appeal of the landscape lies in its portrayal of a charming mountain village in summer. The artist aimed to capture the appeal of a rustic life and showcase various activities of country folks in a narrative way, arranged in a succession of diagonal planes from bottom to top. The foreground of the painting shows fishermen either casting away from shore, holding a fishing rod, or gathering for drink and food. The middle ground depicts two figures returning to a mountain villa—the fisherman carries a fish basket on his shoulder and the woodcutter, a bundle of kindling; a woman stands by the door of a thatched house, as if to welcome the men.