Zhan Ziqian
Founder of blue-green landscape painting
Zhan Ziqian (550–604), was from Bohai (now Yangxin, Shandong) and specifically from Zhan Family Village in Yanci County, Bohai Commandery during the Sui Dynasty (now Zhan Family Village, Hefang Subdistrict, Huimin County, Shandong). He was a master painter of the Sui Dynasty who lived through the Eastern Wei, Northern Qi, Northern Zhou, and Sui Dynasties. He held the official titles of Chaosan Dafu and Chief of the Imperial Tent (honorary positions, which he later resigned from to focus on painting). He excelled in painting Daoist and Buddhist figures, horses, and buildings, but was especially known for his blue-and-green landscapes. Later generations called him the 'ancestor of Tang painting.' His surviving work '游春图' ('Spring Outing')—though some argue it’s a Tang dynasty copy and its authenticity and date are still debated— is considered the earliest existing independent landscape scroll. It uses the blue-and-green heavy-color technique to depict a nobleman's spring outing, earning Zhan Ziqian the reputation as the founder of blue-and-green landscape painting. His painting techniques followed the Wei-Jin traditions, emphasizing spatial representation that could convey 'a thousand miles within a few inches.' Other notable works include 'Records of the Lotus Sutra' and 'The Tower-Giving Celestial King.' Zhan Ziqian also painted Buddhist murals in more than ten temples, including Lingbao Temple in Chang’an and Longxing Temple in Luoyang. Alongside Gu Kaizhi, Lu Tanwei, and Zhang Sengyou, he was popularly grouped as 'Gu, Lu, Zhang, Zhan,' and he was as famous as Dong Boren, often called 'Dong-Zhan.' He paid great attention to detail in figure painting. 'The Scripture-Giving Scroll' is now in the National Palace Museum in Taipei. 'Spring Outing,' after inscriptions by Emperor Huizong in the Song Dynasty, was acquired by the modern collector Zhang Boju and donated to the state; it is now housed in the Palace Museum in Beijing. He pioneered compositions where landscapes are the main focus and figures are secondary, establishing the basis for blue-and-green landscape painting. His work directly influenced the Tang painter Li Sixun and his son and holds a crucial transitional position in the history of Chinese painting.