Zhe school

Zhe school, group of conservative, academic Chinese painters who worked primarily in the 15th century, during the Ming dynasty. These painters specialized in large and decorative paintings that perpetuated the styles and interests of the Southern Song (1127–1279) academy of painting and represent a contrast to the work of scholar-painters of the contemporary Wu school. The name derives from the first character of the name of the province in which the school flourished (Zhejiang) and in which the Southern Song capital, Hangzhou, had been located.

Artists of the Zhe school were no longer ensconced in an imperially sponsored academy of painting, but they were often given imperial support within the palace administration. Their paintings frequently are elaborations of the Song academy bird-and-flower painting or similarly enhanced landscapes based essentially on the Ma-Xia style. Their compositions favour a fragmentary and additive quality over subtle unity, and their palette is often characterized by vivid plays of ink and colour. The work of the 15th-century painter Dai Jin, traditionally considered the school’s founder, and of other Zhe school painters—such as Xu Wei—is often but a loose paraphrase of Song academic ideals. The school continued into later times, culminating with the 17th-century painter Lan Ying, but it was increasingly supplanted by artists and interests identified with “literati painting” (wenrenhua).