Title of four paintings made in 1685 by the Chinese landscape painter Shih-t’ao (1641 – 1720). The fourth painting includes the poem:
Ten thousand ugly ink blots to vex Mi Fei;
A few flaccid strokes to make Tung Yuan roll over with laughter.
The perspective lacks unity from my ignorance of a winding landscape;
The foreground is too confused, just a few rustic cottages can be made out.
I have broken out of the mold and liberated my “mind’s eyes!”
Like a Transcendent riding the wind, whose flesh and bones have etherealized.
– Shih-t’ao: ‘Ten thousand ugly ink blots’, 1685
Shitao, Master Shi Planting Pines, c. 1674, ink and color on paper. National Palace Museum