Waiting for the Ferry

Unidentified artist

Not on view

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.

Waiting for the Ferry, Unidentified artist Chinese, Fan mounted as an album leaf; ink on silk, China

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