Fisherman (Yufu Tu)

Wu Zhen (1280–1354), courtesy name Zhonggui, also known as Plum Blossom Daoist (Meihua Daoren), was one of the Four Great Masters of the Yuan Dynasty. His Fisherman series is a cornerstone of Yuan literati painting’s hermitic theme, with multiple well-documented versions surviving. The most prominent ones are:

1. Palace Museum (Beijing) hanging scroll: ink on silk, 84.7 cm × 29.7 cm, dated the 2nd year of Zhiyuan (1336, when Wu was 57). Inscribed with his own cursive poem and seals including “Meihua An (Plum Blossom Nunnery)” and “Jiaxing Wu Zhen Zhonggui Calligraphy and Painting Seal”. It entered the imperial collection and bears later colophons such as that by Wang Duo (Ming).
2. Shanghai Museum handscroll: ink on paper, 33 cm × 651.6 cm, with sixteen Yufu Ci poems and the preface from Liu Zongyuan’s Ode to the Fisherman. It depicts 14 fishermen in various relaxed postures, with colophons by Wu Guan (Yuan) and Wen Zhengming (Ming).

The Beijing Palace Museum version uses a pingyuan (level-distance) composition with distant rolling hills in pale ink washes, a mid-ground of vast, misty water, and foreground reeds, trees and a single skiff. A fisherman sits calmly angling, with the quiet expanse of the river emphasizing his seclusion. The Shanghai scroll unfolds a panoramic Jiangnan water world, showing fishermen boating, resting and enjoying wine under cloud-shrouded mountains, creating a cohesive yet varied atmosphere of detached, peaceful hermitage—a response to the frustrated official careers of Han literati in the Yuan Dynasty.

In brush and ink, Wu Zhen upholds his signature moist, rich and vigorous ink application and dense cunfa (texture strokes) inherited from Dong Yuan and Ju Ran. The reeds are outlined with supple, rhythmic lines, layered with light and heavy ink to convey wind movement and density. The water surface relies on large areas of blank space (liubai) and light ink washes to evoke boundlessness. The fishermen are sketched in concise jianbi (simplified brushwork), prioritizing capturing spirit over trivial details. The works abandon bright colors entirely, using only ink tone shifts and liubai to express the quiet desolation of autumn, perfectly embodying the literati ideal of expressing spirit through ink and valuing simplicity over ornateness.

Art-historically, the Fisherman series is a definitive expression of Wu Zhen’s lifelong pursuit of genuine reclusion (not “hiding to wait for an official post”). His integration of poetry, calligraphy and painting—with cursive poems on the same theme inscribed directly on the scroll—elevated the thematic depth and cultural significance of the work. It had a profound impact on later Ming-Qing literati landscape painting, becoming a touchstone for the hermit-fisherman cultural imagery in Chinese art.