Mooring a Boat on the River

This scene is set in the summer along the river, where two men moor their boat. One pulls a rope holding the boat firm against the current while his companion drives a stake for the mooring line. Fishermen are popular subjects in Chinese painting, and depictions of them fall into two genres: paintings of recluses in the guise of fishermen, withdrawn from society and living on boats in secluded environments; and paintings of real fishermen such as this one. Depicting the lives of fishermen was a subject popular in the early and middle Ming dynasty, particularly among the Zhe school artists. In these compositions, the fishermen are typically shown as carefree people who, when their work is done, can spend free time relaxing and enjoying nature.