Drum and Zither
Ren Xiong 任熊 (1823-1857).
He was also known by his designated name Weichang 谓长
and his literary name Xiangpu 湘浦. He was born in Xiaoshan, Zhejiang Province in the west of China.
He is the son of poor farmers. He began to study painting in the village school but left to travel.
In 1846 he went to Hangzhou where he met Zhou Xian with whom he studied for three years. During
the Taiping Rebellion, he and many other painters and scholars made their way to Shanghai, an island of
safety protected by the westerners living there. This migration stimulated an already active
intellectual society. The paintings became known as the "Shanghai School." By chance, there were
four outstanding painters in Shanghai at the time with the surname Ren, they're called the "Four Rens."
Ren Xiong was the foremost of the four. He was strongly influenced by Chen Hangshou and painted
a wide variety of subjects, including figures, landscapes, flowers, birds, fish and other animals.
The scroll was painted in 1852 during the Qing Dynasty.