Long landscape handscrolls often show travelers on the move. These tiny figures guide us through the world depicted on the scroll, humanizing it and focusing our attention. In the opening section of this painting, a man in a skiff puts a bamboo flute to his lips, inspired by the scenery. On the far shore, an old man walks to a thatched hut with the aid of a walking stick. Further in, a wood gatherer drives his mule train along a plank road into the mountains. At the end, a scene of repose: a lone boatman huddles in his skiff, pole tucked under his shivering arm, waiting for travelers to ferry to the distant shore. These journeys mirror our own as we discover the landscape through the process of unrolling the scroll.
This painting boasts an impressive suite of colophons by fourteenth-century writers, including two renowned scholar-painters, Ni Zan and Lu Guang. Though the painting itself bears a signature of the tenth- to eleventh-century painter Yan Wengui, it appears to be a copy from the fourteenth century, the time of Ni and Lu. Therefore, it is possible that these colophons were originally made for another painting but later mounted to this work to enhance its value.
Inscription: Artist's inscription and signature (1 column in standard script)
Painted by Yan Wengui.
燕文貴畫。
Other inscription on painting
Qing emperor Qianlong 清帝乾隆 (1711–1799, r. 1736–95), 12 columns in semi-cursive script, dated 1771; 1 seal:
[ Tingchen Zhang , Hong Kong, until 1983; sold to MMA]
Princeton University Art Museum. "Images of the Mind: Selections from the Edward L. Elliot Family and John B. Elliott Collections of Chinese Calligraphy and Painting at the Art Museum, Princeton University," April 15, 1984–June 17, 1984.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Images of the Mind: Selections from the Edward L. Elliot Family and John B. Elliott Collections of Chinese Calligraphy and Painting at the Art Museum, Princeton University," September 18, 1987–January 10, 1988.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Traditional Scholarly Values at the End of the Qing Dynasty: The Collection of Weng Tonghe (1830–1904)," June 30, 1998–January 3, 1999.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "A Millennium of Chinese Painting: Masterpieces from the Permanent Collection," September 8, 2001–January 13, 2002.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Douglas Dillon Legacy: Chinese Painting for the Metropolitan Museum," March 12, 2004–August 8, 2004.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Four Seasons," January 28, 2006–August 13, 2006.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Journeys: Mapping the Earth and Mind in Chinese Art," February 10, 2007–August 26, 2007.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Landscapes Clear and Radiant: The Art of Wang Hui (1632–1717)," September 9, 2008–January 4, 2009.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Streams and Mountains without End: Landscape Traditions of China," August 26, 2017–January 6, 2019.
Artist: Unidentified Artist Japanese Date: 19th centuryMedium: Polychrome woodblock print; ink and color on paperAccession: JP1093.4On view in:Not on view
Artist: Unidentified Artist Chinese, 16th century Date: late 17th–early 18th centuryMedium: Hanging scroll; ink and color on silkAccession: 53.130.1On view in:Not on view
Artist: Unidentified Artist Chinese, early 15th century Date: early 15th centuryMedium: Album leaf; ink and color on silkAccession: 29.20.2On view in:Not on view
Artist: Unidentified Artist Chinese Date: late 12th centuryMedium: Fan mounted as an album leaf; ink and color on silkAccession: 24.80.487On view in:Not on view
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