Ye Xiaoyan
Beperkte figuurscènes in Ma Yuan-stijl
Ye Xiaoyan was een schilder uit de Song-dynastie, afkomstig uit Qiantang (het huidige Hangzhou), actief in het begin van de 13e eeuw tijdens de Baoyou-periode van de Zuidelijke Song-dynastie (1253-1258). Hij specialiseerde zich in het kopiëren van werken en het creëren van kleine figuurtaferelen in de stijl van Ma Yuan. Zijn stijl leek op die van Ma Yuan, maar was iets ingetogener, en hij gebruikte vaak natte penseeltechnieken om rotsen en bergen licht te kleuren. 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".