Six Masters of the early Qing period
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The Six Masters of the early Qing period was a group of major Chinese artists who worked in the 17th and early 18th centuries (Qing dynasty). Also known as orthodox masters, they continued the tradition of the scholar-painter, following the injunctions of the artist-critic Dong Qichang late in the Ming dynasty.
The Six Masters include the flower painter Yun Shouping and the landscapists Wu Li and the Four Wangs: Wang Shimin, Wang Jian, Wang Yuanqi, and Wang Hui. The works of the Six Masters are generally conservative, cautious, subtle, and complex in contrast to the vigorous and vivid painting of their “individualist” contemporaries.
One of the most famous works is the White Clouds over Xiao and Xiang, hanging scroll after Zhao Mengfu by Wang Jian (one of the Four Wangs), ink and colour on paper, 1668, which is exhibited in the Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C..
