Gong Kai
A Life of Quiet Resistance Gong Kai lived through the heavy transition from the Song to the Yuan dynasty. Born in Huaiyin, China, he was a man of significant presence, described as being eight chi tall with a long, magnificent beard. In his younger years, he held a position within the Board of Salt Revenues and worked alongside officials like Lu Xiufu. However, when the Mongol forces took control and established the Yuan dynasty, his path changed. He chose not to serve the new regime, remaining a loyalist to the fallen Song. This choice brought a life of hardship. He moved between Hangzhou a…
The Subject Atlas
A chart of Gong Kai's corpus mapped not by date but by subject. Spokes are what they painted; rings are when; and the threads between stars reveal the patrons and places that secretly connect them.
Spokes — Subject
Each arm of the atlas gathers works by what they depict: portraits, sacred scenes, mythologies, and the scientific studies. Click a spoke to swing that cluster to the top.
Rings — Career Period
Distance from the center marks time. The innermost ring is the earliest period; the outermost, the final years. Style matures as you move outward.
Threads — Shared Context
Coloured lines link works bound by the same patron, commission, or theme. Trace a context to watch related clusters light up across subjects.
