Artwork Page for Mountains of the Immortals

Details / Information for Mountains of the Immortals

Mountains of the Immortals

仙山圖

1300–1370

Chen Ruyan 陳汝言

(Chinese, c. 1331–1371)
calligrapher

Ni Zan 倪瓚

(Chinese, 1301–1374)
Culture
China, Yuan dynasty (1271-1368)
Medium
Handscroll; ink and color on silk
Measurements
Painting only: 33.4 x 97.3 cm (13 1/8 x 38 5/16 in.); height: 35 cm (13 3/4 in.)
Credit Line
Bequest of Mrs. A. Dean Perry 1997.95
Public Domain
You can copy, modify, and distribute this work, all without asking permission. Learn more about CMA's Open Access Initiative.
Location
Not on view
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Did You Know?

Such blue and green landscapes often evoke nostalgia for the idealized ancient times.

Description

The landscape in deep green tones offers a view into a secluded mountain valley, populated by ancient figures surrounded by deer and cranes, all under high pine trees. A red-robed immortal in the air steers his crane toward the paradise land.

This idyllic scene was presumably created amid the tumultuous transition from the Yuan to the Ming dynasty. Chen from Suzhou supported major rebel leaders, first Zhang Shicheng (1321–1367) with his base in Suzhou and then his rival Zhu Yuanzhang in Nanjing, after the latter had established the Ming dynasty. Chen was executed in 1371.
A handscroll depicts pastel green and blue mountains interspersed with trees nearly the same height with brown trunks and needle-like leaves. Loosely suggested people roam in robes at the mountain's base, including two people and two white deer, a person crossing a bridge on our left, and two people and two cranes in a clearing on our right. A red-robed person sits on a crane flying through a dip in the mountains, upper center.

Mountains of the Immortals

1300–1370

Chen Ruyan, Ni Zan

(Chinese, c. 1331–1371), (Chinese, 1301–1374)
China, Yuan dynasty (1271-1368)

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