Egrets in Water Reeds
Not on view
This painting recalls Ma Hezhi's handscroll Six Odes Starting with "Wild Geese," in which the image of nesting birds symbolizes the reestablishment of peace under the Southern Song. Here, a family of egrets on a marshy bank are joined by three more alighting from the sky. Bamboo and reeds in the foreground, executed in beautifully controlled, round brushwork, bend in the light breeze. The birds and the swaying bamboo define both the finite world within the picture and the vast space beyond.
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