清 蘇仁山 李凝陽像 軸|The Immortal Li Tieguai

The painting is dated to 1831, aligning with Su Renshan’s active period in the early nineteenth century.

Its medium as a hanging scroll in ink on paper situates it within literati religious portraiture traditions of Guangdong. The work depicts the Daoist immortal Li Tieguai, a subject frequently explored by Su Renshan in his figure paintings.

Created in 1831 during the Qing dynasty, this hanging scroll by the painter Su Renshan presents an ink rendering of Li Tieguai, one of the legendary Eight Immortals. Executed on paper with monochrome ink, the work measures the traditional format of a vertical scroll and focuses on a solitary, dynamic figure.

Li Tieguaï belongs to a popular pantheon of Taoist immortals whose stories were widely illustrated in Chinese art. By the 1800s, such subjects were often rendered in vivid color; Su Renshan’s decision to work in stark ink reflects a personal aesthetic choice within that broader tradition.

The piece exemplifies how ink techniques like cross‑hatching can animate spiritual subjects, influencing later artists who sought to capture the intangible qualities of mythic figures through minimalist means.