Landscape with Flying Geese

春郊回雁圖

mid-1200s

Ma Lin 馬麟

(Chinese, c. 1185–after 1260)

Culture

China, Southern Song dynasty (1127-1279)

Medium

Album leaf; ink and slight color on silk

Measurements

Image: 25.5 x 26.5 cm (10 1/16 x 10 7/16 in.); with mat: 33.3 x 40.5 cm (13 1/8 x 15 15/16 in.)

Credit Line

John L. Severance Fund 1952.285

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Location

Not on view

Description

This minimalist landscape places most of the representational elements in the lower right foreground. A lone gentleman strolls along a zigzagging path by the water. With the gentleman’s staff acting as a visual cue, the viewer’s gaze is directed to geese flying over distant mountains.

The scene of a marshland, with its wet and soft ground dotted with vegetation, suggests springtime in Jiangnan. Combined with the flying geese, the album evokes the poetic lines:
By spring fields, geese are about to return,
Under chilly waters, fish are submerging.
春郊欲回雁, 寒水正沉鱼