The Chinese painter Ni Tsan (1301-1374) was one of the "Four Great Masters" of the Yüan dynasty. He was famous for his poetry and calligraphy and, above all, for his cool, serene landscapes painted in monochrome ink.

Ni Tsan was born in Wu-hsi in Kiangsu Province, the birthplace of many scholarly painters. His family were wealthy merchants, and Ni Tsan never embarked on an official career. Instead, he devoted himself to literature and scholarship, poetry and art. He was an ardent collector and connoisseur, with a passion for cleanliness.

In the middle of the 14th century the alien Yüan (Mongol) government was beginning to lose control over China and resorting to crippling taxation, which fell most heavily on the landed gentry of the Chekiang-Kiangsu region. About 1350, to escape the rapacious tax collectors and the deepening social chaos, Ni Tsan gave his fortune away to...