Kun Can
Encyclopedia
Kūn Cán (1612 to after 1674) was a Chinese
Chinese people
The term Chinese people may refer to any of the following:*People with Han Chinese ethnicity ....

 painter from Hunan
Hunan
' is a province of South-Central China, located to the south of the middle reaches of the Yangtze River and south of Lake Dongting...

 who spent most of his life in Nanjing
Nanjing
' is the capital of Jiangsu province in China and has a prominent place in Chinese history and culture, having been the capital of China on several occasions...

. He became a Chan Buddhism monk at an early age and in Nanjing was abbot of a monastery on Niushou Shan. His style of landscape painting was influenced by Wang Meng
Wang Meng (artist)
Wang Meng was a Chinese painter during the Yuan Dynasty. He was born in Huzhou , now known as Wuxing , Zhejiang....

 and he is one of the Four Monk Masters in the early Qing Dynasty
Qing Dynasty
The Qing Dynasty was the last dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912 with a brief, abortive restoration in 1917. It was preceded by the Ming Dynasty and followed by the Republic of China....

. The others being Zhu Da
Zhu Da
Bada Shanren , born as Zhu Da , was a Chinese painter of shuimohua and a calligrapher. He was of noble lineage, being a descendant of the Ming dynasty prince Zhu Quan. Art historians have named him as a leading painter of the period....

, Hong Ren
Hong Ren
Hong Ren, who is also known as Hongren, was an early Qing painter and a member of the Anhui school of painting. His birth name was Jiang Fang. After the fall of the Ming dynasty he became a monk, as did Zhu Da, Shitao, and Kun Can. They protested the fall of the Ming dynasty by becoming monks...

, and Shitao
Shitao
Shi Tao ; , born Zhu Ruoji was a Chinese landscape painter and poet during the early Qing Dynasty .Born in Quanzhou County in Guangxi province, Shi Tao was a member of the Ming royal house. He narrowly avoided catastrophe in 1644 when the Ming Dynasty fell to invading Manchurians and civil rebellion...

. As he was also known as Shi Xi he was at times said to be one of the "Two Shi". Few of Kūn Cán's works survive.

Unlike some of the other Monk Masters he seems to have become a monk well before the fall of the Ming dynasty
Ming Dynasty
The Ming Dynasty, also Empire of the Great Ming, was the ruling dynasty of China from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty. The Ming, "one of the greatest eras of orderly government and social stability in human history", was the last dynasty in China ruled by ethnic...

. In personality he was noted for being frank and straightforward.

Sources

  • Chinese Paintings in the Ashmolean Museum Oxford(82-83) Oxford
    Oxford
    The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...

    ISBN 1-85444-132-9
  • See China
  • China-on-site
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