Artwork Page for Landscape

Details / Information for Landscape

Landscape

山水圖

1368–1644

China, Ming dynasty

(1368–1644)
Medium
handscroll; ink and slight color on silk
Measurements
Overall: 32.4 x 282.1 cm (12 3/4 x 111 1/16 in.)
Credit Line
Worcester R. Warner Collection 1917.94
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
Print

Description

This handscroll by an unnamed painter rewards close looking. Among water-washed rocks, reeds are drawn so gracefully and true that they rustle across the silk surface of this painting. Beyond are empty spaces where sky and water meet without horizon. Then distant mountains rise, bristling with stunted growth, and at their feet is a farmstead with its homely barnyard. A woman with a bucket in one hand leads a little child down to the rickety landing where the ducks begin swimming toward her. From a gateway, a small dog charges out in fury. A boy has let his fishing line down from an overhanging willow. Two men stand by a purse-net dropped from an upright stake. Another net is being pulled aboard a boat in mid-stream. None of these figures is more than three-quarters of an inch high, and yet each has its poise and its individuality as clear as if it were colossal bronze.

If one fords the river, there are cliffs and sloping flat rocks, and then, perhaps best of all, waterfalls spurting down clefts in the mountain wall to join and flow in a turbulent brook below the bridge where the farmer boys are crossing. More trees and then an inlet, perhaps an arm of some great lake, along whose shore the farms dwindle until a point of land becomes a cloud.
A handscroll in muted colors depicts a panoramic landscape of rolling hills and mountains highlighted with blue and green washes. Dense clusters of dark trees and small buildings are tucked throughout the undulating terrain on a tan silk ground. Fine, detailed lines define the landscape as it recedes horizontally to the right. On our left, columns of black Chinese calligraphy extend across a light section of the scroll, contrasting with the warm background.

Landscape

1368–1644

China, Ming dynasty (1368–1644)

See Also

Visually Similar by AI

Contact Us

The information about this object, including provenance, may not be currently accurate. If you notice a mistake or have additional information about this object, please fill out the appropriate request form linked below:

Update or Correct Artwork Information

Imagery or Rights for Non-Open-Access Artworks

Report a Website Issue

Further Questions About This Artwork