 However , during the Song period , there were many acclaimed court painters and they were highly esteemed by emperors and the royal family . One of the greatest landscape painters given patronage by the Song court was Zhang Zeduan ( 1085 – 1145 ) , who painted the original Along the River During Qingming Festival scroll , one of the most well @-@ known masterpieces of Chinese visual art . Emperor Gaozong of Song ( 1127 – 1162 ) once commissioned an art project of numerous paintings for the Eighteen Songs of a Nomad Flute , based on the woman poet Cai Wenji ( 177 – 250 AD ) of the earlier Han dynasty . The Southern Song dynasty court painters included Zhao Mengjian ( 趙孟堅 , c.1199 @-@ 1264 ) , a member of the Imperial family , known for popularising the Three Friends of Winter . 
