Dream Journey among Rivers and Mountains, no. 90

江山臥游圖

1658

Cheng Zhengkui 程正揆

(Chinese, 1604–1676)

Culture

China, Qing dynasty (1644-1911)

Medium

Handscroll; ink and color on paper

Measurements

Painting section: 24 x 341.5 cm (9 7/16 x 134 7/16 in.)

Credit Line

Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund 1960.182

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Location

Not on view

Did You Know?

Cheng Zhengkui planned to make 100 dream journey paintings but may have ultimately made 500.

Description

Cliffs and waterfalls interspersed with trees and dotted vegetation are spread over this handscroll. Long paths wind their way through villages, beside cottages, shrines, and over bridges. In the past, Chinese literati officials liked to take a “dream journey” along mountains and rivers when viewing landscape paintings in their studios. Scenery of this kind thus became a way to escape from the world of bureaucracy and administration. The painter Cheng Zhengkui used the title “Dream Journey” for a whole series of paintings, of which this is number 90. He is said to have painted 500 of them, but the actual count remains unknown.