Artwork Page for Returning Sails off a Distant Shores, from Eight Views of Xiao-Xiang

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Returning Sails off a Distant Shores, from Eight Views of Xiao-Xiang

瀟湘八景の内　遠浦歸帆図

1788

Tani Bunchō 谷文晁

(Japanese, 1763–1841)
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Culture
Japan, Edo period (1615–1868)
Medium
album leaf remounted as a hanging scroll; ink and color on paper
Measurements
Image: 29.5 x 49 cm (11 5/8 x 19 5/16 in.); Overall: 129 x 67 cm (50 13/16 x 26 3/8 in.)
Credit Line
Andrew R. and Martha Holden Jennings Fund 1980.188.3
Public Domain
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Location
Not on view
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Description

This painting was part of a set of album leaves representing the Eight Views of Xiao-Xiang, a theme originating in Chinese poetry and painting that spread to both Korea and Japan. Southern China’s Xiao-Xiang area, where the mist-covered banks of the Xiang River created a complex landscape shifting like the moods and minds of people, captured the imaginations of generations of painters and calligraphers. Inscriptions on these works suggest that they were possibly ordered by newly prominent Japanese Confucian scholars.
A horizontally oriented ink and color painting on paper depicts a misty river landscape. On the left, jagged cliffs and a waterfall overlook a covered bridge. Two figures with light skin tones stand on a foreground path. Small sailboats drift across wide, pale water toward distant, hazy mountains. Muted washes of gray, brown, and blue convey the atmosphere. Vertical columns of Chinese calligraphy and red seals occupy the lower right.

Returning Sails off a Distant Shores, from Eight Views of Xiao-Xiang

1788

Tani Bunchō

(Japanese, 1763–1841)
Japan, Edo period (1615–1868)

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