Landscape in the Orthodox Manner

The inscription in the upper left of this orthodox ink landscape reads, Painted at the official residence in Zhengling in the eighth month in autumn of the Xin Hai year of the Qianlong reign (1791). Signed: the seventy-two year old man Wang Chen. There are two artist's seals and two collector's seals that identify the Li family of Jiang Yin in Jiangsu province and another that reads as the Hundred Inkstone Hall. Together with the painters Wang Yu (active 1680-1750), Wang Su (active 1700-1763), and Wang Qiu (1730-1786), Wang Chen came to be known as one of the Four Lesser Wangs. Wang Chen boasted direct lineage from Wang Shimin and Wang Yuanqi, two members of the earlier literati circle known as the Four Major Wangs; Wang Shimin (1592-1680), Wang Yuanqi (1642-1715), Wang Jian (1598-1617), and Wang Hui (1632-1717). Wang Chen passed his Ju Ren exam in 1760 and was assigned to the clerical staff of the Grand Secretariat. He later served as the Prefect of Yongzhou in Hupei province. His lifestyle and pictorial idiom are typical of the Qing orthodox tradition.