Education
A painting bears the inscription "monk from Shu (Sichuan)." He originally studied at the Wannian Monastery on Mount Wutai.
牧溪法常, 牧谿
A painting bears the inscription "monk from Shu (Sichuan)." He originally studied at the Wannian Monastery on Mount Wutai.
His surname is thought to be Xue. Muqi/Muxi was a hao or pseudonym, and Fachang a monastic name. Muqi was perhaps from the city of Kaifeng in Henan Province or possibly Sichuan.
Muqi was doubtless drawn to the beauty of West Lake in Hangzhou and refounded the abandoned monastery Liutong Temple there in 1215.
He is said to have been the disciple of his abbot Wuzhun Shifan (1178–1269) and the painter Liang Kai. Important works generally attributed to Mu Qi: presently in the Daitoku-ji in Kyoto are a triptych of Guan Yin flanked by a monkey family on one side and a crane on the other.
Tiger. Dragon; and the much-reproduced Six Persimmons.
Other works sometimes attributed to Mu Qi or as being "in the style of Mu Qi" include various nature studies and a Luohan painting in the Seikado Museum. Muqi"s masterpiece was the White-robed Guanyin (Japanese: 観音猿鶴図) preserved in the Daitokuji temple in Kyoto, Japan.
This painting and others were to have a profound influence on the subsequent development of ink painting in Japan itself. Muqi"s artwork covered a wide range of subjects, including portraits, landscapes, and still lifes.
Liutong Temple was destroyed during the Cultural Revolution.