Traditional Chinese painting initially began with figure painting as its earliest genre. The oldest surviving landscape painting is Spring Excursion by the Sui Dynasty artist Zhan Ziqian.
It is also the only known surviving painting from the Sui Dynasty and represents an important step in the development of landscape painting from its early beginnings toward maturity.
Zhan Ziqian: The ‘ancestor of Tang painting’ who bridged two eras
Zhan Ziqian (c. 550–604) was from Bohai, in what is now Yangxin County, Shandong Province. He excelled in painting landscapes, figures, architectural structures, chariots, and horses. Along with Gu Kaizhi, Lu Tanwei, and Zhang Sengyou, he is regarded as one of the four most outstanding painters in Chinese art history before the Tang Dynasty.
Zhan Ziqian’s depictions of figures were highly detailed. He used subtle gradations of color to render facial features and convey a sense of vitality. The horses he painted were lively and natural in posture, capturing both their physical form and spirit. His landscapes were particularly accomplished in conveying the relationship between near and distant scenery; as contemporary descriptions put it, “even within a small space, they evoke the feeling of a thousand miles.”
According to historical records, Zhan Ziqian painted murals in temples in Chang’an, Luoyang, Jiangdu, and other places. His works included depictions of Bodhisattvas and The Eight Kings Dividing the Buddha’s Relics. He also painted the Buddhist work Illustrations of the Lotus Sutra (Fahua Jing Bian) and the genre painting Figures and Carriages in Chang’an. However, none of these works has survived.
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The Sui Dynasty lasted only 38 years, and relatively few painters were active during the period. Zhan Ziqian lived through the Northern Qi, Northern Zhou, and Sui dynasties and is regarded as a pivotal artist who bridged the artistic traditions of the Northern and Southern Dynasties and the Tang Dynasty, earning him the reputation of the “Ancestor of Tang Painting.”
Spring Excursion: Vibrant with life and the spirit of spring
Spring Excursion is painted on silk in color, measuring 43 centimeters in height and 80.5 centimeters in width. It depicts people venturing into the mountains and along the water to enjoy an outing amid the beautiful scenery of spring.
The composition centers on mountains and rivers, using a “level-distance” (pingyuan) arrangement that unfolds from the foreground into the distance, creating a remarkably expansive sense of space. Tender shoots emerge among the trees, flowers bloom in profusion, and winding paths disappear into secluded scenery. People stroll leisurely, lean on walking staffs, or ride horses as they enjoy the landscape. Several Buddhist temples are scattered among the mountains, while white clouds drift in the distance, evoking a sense of yearning and tranquility. Sunlight glitters across the lake, boats gently glide over the water, and the entire scene is suffused with the joy and vitality of spring.
Spring Excursion is executed with fluid brushwork, using blue-and-green colors applied within outlined forms, while the later technique of texturing strokes (cun) had not yet emerged. The painting is dominated by rich blue and green hues, complemented by buildings, bridges, figures, and clouds outlined in red and white. The result is a vibrant scene filled with the vitality and freshness of spring.
The renowned artist and emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty was particularly fond of the painting. He personally inscribed the six characters “展子虔游春图” (“Zhan Ziqian’s Spring Excursion”) in his distinctive Slender Gold Script (shoujinshu) on the water-separated section at the beginning of the scroll, further enhancing the work’s value.
Spring Excursion: A milestone in the maturation of Chinese landscape painting
Early traditional Chinese painting focused primarily on figure painting, while landscapes, trees, and rocks served merely as decorative elements or backdrops to figure-based narratives. Painters also tended to make the most important subjects—such as figures and buildings—much larger, without adhering to their objective proportions.
Spring Excursion, by contrast, places the landscape at the center of the composition and begins to explore and portray spatial relationships involving the distance, height, and scale of objects. Its composition broke with earlier conventions such as “people larger than mountains” and “water unable to accommodate boats.” It effectively conveyed the layers and gradations of mountains and rivers across different distances and is therefore regarded as an important milestone in the early development of landscape painting toward maturity.
In addition to separating landscape from figure painting as an independent genre, Spring Excursion is notable for integrating the beauty of nature with the joyful state of mind of people enjoying a spring outing—an artistic characteristic sometimes described as “projecting emotion onto the scenery.” For this reason, the painting has long been highly praised and has become an important historical source for the study of the development of early Chinese landscape painting.
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