Qian Xuan (simplified Chinese: 钱选; traditional Chinese: 錢選; pinyin: Qián Xuǎn; Wade–Giles: Ch'ien Hsüan; 1235-1305) courtesy name Shun Ju (舜举), pseudonyms Yu Tan (玉潭, "Jade Pool"), Xi Lan Weng (习嬾翁), and Zha Chuan Weng (霅川翁) was a Chinese painter from Hu Zhou (湖州) (present day Wuxing District in Zhejiang) during the late Song dynasty and early Yuan dynasty 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. He nevertheless was considered a Song loyalist.
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 (shan shui). 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.
Media related to Qian Xuan at Wikimedia Commons
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