Poems and Landscapes by Dai Xi

“The long, diagonal compositions of these paintings pull the viewer from left to right through each image and the album as a whole, sometimes along riverbanks, other times across moonlit ridges. While the visual styles evoke various classical painting masters, each leaf provides a novel take on the themes as well as an opportunity for new poetry by both Dai and his patron, Zhang Xiaohe. The topics of the poems are diverse, from listening to an evening temple bell on West Lake in Hangzhou and evening strolls in Beijing to the study of old master paintings. Just a few years after this peaceful album was made, the Taiping Civil War began, ravaging the heartland of China and eventually leading to Dai Xi’s death in 1860 during the invasion of Hangzhou.”