Ye Xiaoyan
Scene figurative stile Ma Yuan
Ye Xiaoyan fu un pittore della dinastia Song, originario di Qiantang (l'attuale Hangzhou), attivo all'inizio del XIII secolo durante il periodo Baoyou della dinastia Song meridionale (1253-1258). Si specializzò nella copia di opere e nella creazione di piccole scene figurative nello stile di Ma Yuan. Il suo stile ricordava quello di Ma Yuan, ma era leggermente più contenuto, e spesso utilizzava tecniche di pennello bagnato per colorare delicatamente rocce e montagne. Very few of his works have survived, and there is little recorded about his life. A friend, Gu Feng, even wrote a poem for him saying, 'The brushwork is wonderfully divine, capturing faces truly,' suggesting he was a modest folk painter. Ye Xiaoyan’s representative work, the album "Ten Views of West Lake," is now housed in the National Palace Museum in Taipei. The album is painted on silk with colors, each leaf measuring 23.9 cm in height and 20.2 cm in width. It combines poetry and painting to depict the ten scenic spots of West Lake. The mountains and rocks are painted using the 'da fu pi' axe-cut method, focusing on shading, with simple but elegant brushwork. This album is clearly documented in the "Shiqu Baoji Xu Bian".