Wintry mountains
Gong Xian, considered the greatest of the seventeenth-century Nanjing painters, built up his high-contrast images through a repetitive layering of ink. Here, he evokes a wintry scene in a mountain village. The accompanying poem celebrates the joys of country life:
Farmers, cowherds, fishermen, and woodcutters—where do they make their homes?
In huts thatched with yellow reeds among mountains and streams.
Work completed, they return together and get drunk,
Jugs and cups filled with wine; there is no need for credit.
—Translation after Aschwin Lippe
Farmers, cowherds, fishermen, and woodcutters—where do they make their homes?
In huts thatched with yellow reeds among mountains and streams.
Work completed, they return together and get drunk,
Jugs and cups filled with wine; there is no need for credit.
—Translation after Aschwin Lippe
Artwork Details
- 清 龔賢 冬景山水圖 軸
- Title: Wintry mountains
- Artist: Gong Xian (Chinese, 1619–1689)
- Period: Qing dynasty (1644–1911)
- Date: ca. 1679–89
- Culture: China
- Medium: Hanging scroll; ink on paper
- Dimensions: Image: 65 1/4 × 19 1/4 in. (165.7 × 48.9 cm)
Overall with mounting: 9 ft. 6 1/4 in. × 26 1/2 in. (290.2 × 67.3 cm)
Overall with knobs: 9 ft. 6 1/4 in. × 30 1/4 in. (290.2 × 76.8 cm) - Classification: Paintings
- Credit Line: Bequest of John M. Crawford Jr., 1988
- Object Number: 1989.363.132
- Curatorial Department: Asian Art
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