Waiting for the Ferry
In this stark scene of barren trees and snow-covered, distant mountains, the artist has combined the "one-corner" compositional formula of the Song Imperial Painting Academy with the Fan Kuan (active ca. (990–1030) idiom of "small ax-cut" stippled rocks and stocky trees with bare, stubby branches to evoke a mood of chilly quietude. The scene focuses on two travelers awaiting the arrival of a ferryman in his small boat. The angular foreground boulders and spiky trees contrast with the gray-and-white expanse of water, sky, and snowshrouded mountains, set off by a flock of circling birds—emphasizing the sense of hushed stillness.
Artwork Details
- 南宋 佚名 雪景待渡圖 團扇
- Title: Waiting for the Ferry
- Artist: Unidentified artist Chinese
- Period: Song dynasty (960–1279)
- Date: early 13th century
- Culture: China
- Medium: Fan mounted as an album leaf; ink on silk
- Dimensions: 9 7/8 x 10 1/8 in. (25.1 x 25.7 cm)
- Classification: Paintings
- Credit Line: John Stewart Kennedy Fund, 1913
- Object Number: 13.100.117
- Curatorial Department: Asian Art
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