Wu Bin

Wu Bin (Chinese: 吴彬 1573 - 1620) was a Chinese landscape painter during the reign of the Ming Dynasty Wanli Emperor (r. 1573-1620). His social name was "Wenzhong" and his nickname "Zhiyin Toutuo" means "Mendicant monk at the temple hidden by tree branches". His specific dates of birth and death are not known.

Wu was born in Putian in the Fujian province. He was educated and skilled as a literati and a painter. He worked mainly in Nanjing about 1590-1610.He became a devout follower of Buddhism and stayed and work in Buddhist temple. In Nanjing, he often depicted Buddhist arhats behaving as magicians, performing superstitious rituals and healing practices to satisfy requests made by religious men and women. These are colorful portraits where irony and sarcasm prevails. He produced 500 arhat hanging scrolls in Qixia Temple in Nanjing in about 1601. Some hanging scrolls of those have survived. It is uncertain that he worked for the vice imperial government in Nanjing. Mi Wanzong(1570－1628); a government high class officer, calligrapher and painter patronized him from about ACE1600. Wu bin moved Beijing under Mi Wanzong Support in about 1610. He produced several masterpieces for Mi Wanzong in Beijing. Beijing imperial court assigned him a status for a professional technocrat as painters. There are no record of him after 1626. Some sources indicate that the powerful and notorious eunach Wei Zhongxian　purged Wu bin.

Wu was born in Putian in the Fujian province. Wu's style was unique, and he primarily painted landscapes and human figures.

Initially he was a high civil servant, his status was Emperor's secretary dealing with public works. Later he became a Zen monk at the Qixia Temple in Nanjing and often he depicted Buddhist monks and priest behaving as magicians, performing superstitious rituals and healing practices to satisfy requests made by religious men and women. These are colourful portraits where irony and sarcasm prevails. The 1591 handscroll entitled "The 16 Luohans" exemplifies such work.

His social name was "Wenzhong" and his nickname "Zhiyin Toutuo" means "Mendicant monk at the temple hidden by tree branches".

Some sources indicate that he died in 1627.
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