Title

Yiyuan Garden

怡园

Date

1963

Medium

Sketches

Technique

Sketch

Accession

YJH-000071

Catalogue no.

YS-1963-035

Inscription

(4 pp.) Yiyuan Garden is on Renmin Road in the city of Suzhou. The garden was originally the former residence of Wu Kuan of the Ming. In the early Guangxu years of the Qing it was acquired by Gu Zishan and divided into eastern and western parts by a covered corridor. The east is Wu’s old garden; the west was Gu’s extension. The grounds are not large, the buildings few and small in form; because they are well placed, the garden feels open and pleasant, and it absorbs the strengths of other gardens. The Taihu stones are many and fine: whether standing peaks, recumbent peaks, flower beds, or revetments, all are perforated and exquisite, dotted at will, breaking with convention and capturing a natural air.