Fish and rocks

Seven small fish make blank paper read as water. A change of viewpoint in one unsettles the group’s arrangement. Bada Shanren descended from the Ming imperial family and lived under Qing rule. The museum relates his enigmatic imagery to that biography.

A large angular rock fills the upper left. Its suspended appearance unsettles an ordinary sense of weight.

A dark upright rock rises at the lower right. Separated masses leave a broad interval for water.

A low tapering rock extends across the bottom. Its direction differs from the neighbouring upright form.

A tiny curved fish swims beside the upper rock. A few marks change how surrounding blank paper is read.

A slender fish floats in the central gap. Without it, the area might appear merely an unpainted interval.

A small fish appears beside the lower rock. Scattered animals turn the entire open surface into water.

After the Qing conquest, Zhu Da, later Bada Shanren, lost princely status and entered a monastery. This establishes the importance of disruption without assigning every fish a precise political role.