Dai Xi (1801 – 1860) was a Chinese

Chinese people

The term Chinese people may refer to any of the following:*People with Han Chinese ethnicity ....

 painter of the 19th century and representative of the academic manner. His sobriquet was Chunshi (醇士) or “Pure-Minded Scholar” and his pen name was Yu'an (榆庵） or “Elm Retreat”, among others.

Biography

Dai Xi was a native of Qiantang (钱塘）near the cultural center of Hangzhou

Hangzhou

Hangzhou , formerly transliterated as Hangchow, is the capital and largest city of Zhejiang Province in Eastern China. Governed as a sub-provincial city, and as of 2010, its entire administrative division or prefecture had a registered population of 8.7 million people...

, although Dai　spent many years in Guangzhou. In 1832 he joined officialdom, becoming a member of the Hanlin Academy

Hanlin Academy

The Hanlin Academy was an academic and administrative institution founded in the eighth century Tang dynasty China by Emperor Xuanzong.Membership in the academy was confined to an elite group of scholars, who performed secretarial and literary tasks for the court. One of its main duties was to...

. He later became Vice Minister of the Ministry of War, although absenting himself later for illness.

During the Taiping Rebellion

Taiping Rebellion

The Taiping Rebellion was a widespread civil war in southern China from 1850 to 1864, led by heterodox Christian convert Hong Xiuquan, who, having received visions, maintained that he was the younger brother of Jesus Christ, against the ruling Manchu-led Qing Dynasty...

 Hangzhou was occupied by the rebels in 1860. Dai joined in the defense of the city and later committed suicide there by drowning himself in a pond. Dai was subsequently given the posthumous title Wenjie or “Cultured and Moderate.” Dai Xi painted in the manner of the great academic master Wang Hui of the previous century, although Dai Xi was said to have exceeded the master in artistic elegance. His work is similar to that of his contemporary Tang Yifen

Tang Yifen

Tang Yifen ; ca. 1778-1853 was a Chinese landscape painter and calligrapher during the Qing Dynasty ....

and together they were referred to as "Tang-Dai". Dai’s works are usually landscapes. His works include a generous mixture of genre subjects such as plants and humans.

In 1920 and in 1934 published collections of his paintings appeared in China. Dai was also an avid coin collector, publishing a three volume (卷) work on the subject "Guchuan zonghua" (古泉丛话).