Qian Xuan

Who was Qian Xuan?

Qian Xuan courtesy name Shun Ju, pseudonyms Yu Tan, Xi Lan Weng, and Zha Chuan Weng was a Chinese painter from Hu Zhou (湖州） during the late Song and early Yuan era. He started as an aspiring scholar-official during the Southern Song. He had difficulty climbing the ranks of officialdom and when the Mongol-founded Yuan Dynasty took over the southern regions of China in 1276 he effectively gave up on the idea. Although in 1286 his friend Zhao Mengfu accepted a position and so for a time it seemed he could as well, he refused on patriotic grounds, citing old age in order to avoid difficulties.

Qian Xuan's life after 1276 was devoted to painting, and he became noted as a "fur and feathers" painter. He was also adept at bird-and-flower painting, character painting, and landscape painting. He is known for landscapes that hinted at a longing for a return of native Chinese rule, such as in the work Home Again. He mixed Song realism with an archaic Tang style.