River and Mountains on a Clear Autumn Day

江山秋霽圖

c. 1624–27

Dong Qichang 董其昌

(Chinese, 1555–1636)

Culture

China, Ming dynasty (1368–1644)

Medium

Handscroll; ink on Korean paper

Measurements

Painting only: 38 x 136.8 cm (14 15/16 x 53 7/8 in.)

Credit Line

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1959.46

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Location

Not on view

Did You Know?

The painting has an imprint of a Korean seal that reads "Seal of the king of Joseon."

Description

Dong Qichang had a tremendous impact on the artistic practices and historiography of later generations; his works and writings shaped literati aesthetics. Here, Dong places an abstract landscape composition diagonally across the picture plane, configured to recall earlier masters and simultaneously express his own personal style. Dong’s inscription claims, Huang Gongwang’s Autumn Day, looks like this. I truly regret the master has not seen my work. In fact, Dong Qichang may have had Dong Yuan’s Xiao and Xiang Rivers in mind, a work he owned and considered a key work in Chinese art history.