Ch'iu Ying, Ming dynasty

Original: Hanging-scroll, Blue-and-green on silk, 223.2cmX102cm

Signed by painter and with one seal

Collector's seals: San-sung-t'ang t'u-shu chi, five Ch'en-lling chien-ts'ang seals

Ch'iu Ying (fl. 1509-1552) was a native of T'ai-ts'ang in Kiangsu. His style name was Shih-fu and his sobriquet Shih chou. Of humble circumstances, he was originally an artisan painter. He was discovered by T'ang Yin's teacher Chou Ch'en and achieved great fame under the latter's tutelage. His paintings of figures, ladies, and landscapes are vigorous and refined. His use of colour is noteworthy; he picks out hair-adornments with gold and clothes with green and red. The effect is one of the most elevated beauty. Ch'iu Ying was one of the four masters of the Ming dynasty.

The story of the Eighteen Scholars is told in the Chu-ying chi as follows: at the beginning of the reign of T'aitsung of the T'ang dynasty, the country was prosperous and rich after the defeat of the Sui; under the Emperor, who was fit to be compared with T'ang and Wu, there arose a generation of men of letters whose like had not been seen since the Han dynasty. The Emperor once called an assembly of these men to be the judges of heroism, cultivation, and scholarship. In its awe, the world called them "the eighteen scholars in the fairy land of Ying-chou.' Their names were Fang Hsuan-ling, Tu Ju-huei, Yu Chih-ning, K'ung Ying-ta, Su Shih-chang, Yu Shih-nan, Hsu Ching-tsung, Ch'un Liang, Yao Ssu-lien, Hsueh Shou, Lu Te-ming, Li Yuan-tao, Li Shou-su, Ts'ai Yun-kung, Yen Hsiang-shih, Ch'un Yuan-ching, Kai Wen-ta, Su Hsu.