金 傳楊邦基 聘金圖 巻|A Diplomatic Mission to the Jin

Yang Bangji

ca. late 1150s · Handscroll; ink and color on silk · Asian Art

After the Jurchen Jin conquered northern China in 1127, the Chinese court fled from Kaifeng to the southern city of Hangzhou. To maintain peace on the northern border of their shrunken empire, the Chinese paid annual tributes amounting to 200,000 taels of silver and 200,000 bolts of silk. Although there is no inscription to confirm it, the theme of this scroll may be the Song envoys meeting those of the Jin. Painters under the Jin continued the styles of the Northern Song, albeit with modifications. In contrast to the dramatic scale of the massive peaks in Northern Song painting, the forms here stress surface abstraction; the mountains are softened with green wash and the valleys are laced with mist.

Artist

Yang Bangji

Date

ca. late 1150s

Medium

Handscroll; ink and color on silk

Culture

China

Department

Asian Art

Credit line

Edward Elliott Family Collection, Purchase, The Dillon Fund Gift, 1982