54 HIGHLIGHT GIFT OF MARJ AND MALCOLM WRIGHT IN MEMORY OF ANN WRIGHT MEERKERK A BOAT SAILS ACROSS A RIVER AGAINST A sweeping rainstorm. As the boatman paddles hard to drive his craft forward, a passenger huddles under his umbrella while another passenger hides inside the little thatched shelter on board. The slanting angle of tree leaves, reeds and the boatman’s straw raincoat, as well as the passenger’s umbrella, all effectively suggest a strong wind. In Two Boaters in the Rain, the signature and seal on the upper-left corner purport to be those of Zhang Lu, a 16th-century Chinese painter associated with the Zhe School—a style of painting in the Ming dynasty (1368–1644) that revived the Southern Song (1127–1279) academic mode. Although the painting is most likely a later work by one of Zhang’s followers, the sketchy brushwork is representative of the unrestrained approach of the Zhe School. Malcolm Wright, a Vermont-based potter who had apprenticed in Japan and whose own ceramic work is in the SCMA collection, donated the painting to the museum upon his retirement. Marj and Malcolm Wright also contributed to the recent conservation work carried out by the Williamstown Art Conservation Center to stabilize the painting’s surface. This fine painting has already proven to be a useful teaching resource in the SCMA collection. Assistant Professor of East Asian Art and Architecture Yanlong Guo included it on the museum object list for his spring 2018 art history colloquium, Playing with Ink and Brush (600 CE to Present). Professor Guo reflects: “I think the Two Boaters in the Rain attributed to Zhang Lu is a gem added to the SCMA collection of Chinese art, as it significantly benefits my teaching on East Asian art. The students were able to conduct close visual anal- yses of this well-preserved painting so as to learn how to ‘read’ a Ming landscape painting, including the brush- stroke and composition, as well as the artist’s intent.” ABOVE: Unkown. attributed to Zhang Lu. Chinese, ca. 1490–ca. 1563. Two Boaters in the Rain, 16th–17th century. Ink and color on paper. Gift of Marj and Malcolm Wright in memory of Ann Wright Meerkerk