(b Putian, Fujian Province; d 1431). Chinese painter. He became one of the leading court painters in the reign of the Xuande emperor (reg 1426–35) and one of the forerunners of the ZHE SCHOOL. The Japanese monk–painter Toyo Sesshu, who visited China in 1468, called him one of the most important masters of the period. Together with Xia Zhi, a student of DAI JIN, and Ma Shi, he painted a long handscroll in 11 scenes (see fig.) that illustrated couplets from a famous poem by Tao Yuanming, showing the elegant figure of the poet at various stages on his return to his native village. Each scene presents a vignette rather than a complete landscape, with quite large figures and landscape details, both exhibiting a brilliant command of the brush in the style of the Southern Song (1127–1279) academy. Li Zai’s monumental landscape style, based on the imposing compositions of the Northern Song period (960–1127), admirably exemplified Ming-period (1368–1644) aspirations to emulate painting of that period. Landscape (Tokyo, N. Mus.) may be compared with Guo Xi’s famous Early Spring of 1072 (Taipei, N. Pal. Mus.; for illustration see GUO XI). A pair of great pine trees stand at the centre of the painting, against a backdrop of tall peaks; the latter, however, are flattened and silhouetted in a way that differs markedly from the complex organization of Guo Xi’s painting.

• Li Zai
  • Toyo Sesshu, §1: Life and work