Pleasures of Fishing in a River in the Mountains

The fisherman’s life became more popular as a subject during the Yuan dynasty, when many educated Han Chinese refused to serve the Mongol-ruled court and fled to seclusion from city and society. Through depictions of the fisherman’s life in painting, artists conveyed the spiritual ideal of a peaceful life free of political corruption.

The appeal of this landscape lies in its portrayal of tasteful and charming mountain villages in summer. An unknown artist aimed to capture the rustic life and activity of country people 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 men returning to a mountain villa—the fisherman carries a fish basket on his shoulder and the woodcutter, a bundle of kindling; inside a thatched house, a woman stands by the door as if to welcome the men.

This work has been attributed to Yuan Sheng Zhao (Sheng Mao), a painter from Lin’an, Zhejiang province, known for his elaborately executed landscapes, figures, and flower-and-bird paintings.