signed NIZAN ink and color on paper, hanging scroll Ni Zan (1301–1374), was a painter and poet of the Yuan dynasty.The art of Ni Zan and his peers in the Yuan dynasty was opposed to the preceding standards of the Southern Song academy,whose art immediately appealed to the eyes through obvious displays of virtuoso brushwork and a convincing pictorial reality.Ni Zan’s new style demanded concentrated viewing so that the larger and, in fact, more complex plays of ink could be perceived.