Cheng Jiasui
Sparse landscapes, Xin'an pioneer
Cheng Jiasui(程嘉燧) (1565–1643) was a painter and poet during the Ming dynasty. His courtesy name was Mengyang(孟阳), and he went by the art names Songyuan(松圆), Jie’an(偈庵), and Songyuan Daoren(松圆道人). Later in life, after converting to Buddhism, he took the dharma name Haineng(海能). He was from Xiuning in Huizhou Prefecture, Southern Zhili (today’s Xiuning, Anhui). He was skilled in music theory and excelled in painting landscapes and flowers. Along with Tang Shi Sheng and Lou Jian, he was known as one of the “Three Elders of Lianchuan,” and together with Li Liufang and others, he was referred to as one of the “Four Gentlemen of Jiading.” He authored works including *Songyuan Langtao Ji*, *Songyuan Jie’an Ji*, and *Pshan Xingfu Temple Records*. Cheng Jiasui didn’t succeed in the imperial exams early on, and at 26 he moved to Jiading (now part of Shanghai). He specialized in landscape painting in the style of Ni Zan and Huang Gongwang, with a dry and sparse brushwork and a desolate atmosphere. His flower paintings were calm and serene. Along with Li Yongchang, he was part of the Tiandu school and is considered a pioneer of the Xin’an School of painting. He believed that poetry should first establish the writer’s character before establishing its style, opposing imitation and plagiarism. In his later years, he was invited by Qian Qianyi to live at Fushui Zhuang Ougeng Hall in Yushan (now Changshu, Jiangsu), and at 77 he returned to his hometown of Xiuning. His surviving paintings include *Imitation of Ni Zan’s Landscape*, a hanging scroll (Palace Museum, Beijing), *Pine Spring and Lingzhi Stones*, a hanging scroll (Shanghai Museum), and *Green Pines and Longevity Stones*, a hanging scroll (Nanjing Museum), among others.