瀟湘八景図|Eight Views of the Xiao and Xiang Rivers

Unknown

16th century · One of a triptych of hanging scrolls; ink and color on paper · Asian Art

A celebration of emotional responses to nature’s changing moods, the Eight Views theme was first developed in Chinese poetry and painting during the eleventh century. It was introduced to Japan in the fourteenth century, where it became a major subject of ink painting. The bustling central image of this triptych represents “Mountain Market in Clearing Mist.” At left, a blustery atmosphere pervades “Sails Returning from a Distant Shore” and “Night Rain on the Xiao and Xiang Rivers,” while at right, in “Evening Glow on the Fishing Village,” the sunset envelops a river landscape, with fishing nets left to dry by the shore. The paintings may have been part of a complete series, and demonstrate the expansion in Japan of the Chinese album-leaf composition, which was associated with the aesthetic sensibilities of the elite military class and expressions of power.

Artist

Unknown

Date

16th century

Medium

One of a triptych of hanging scrolls; ink and color on paper

Culture

Japan

Department

Asian Art

Credit line

Purchase, Harris Brisbane Dick Fund; Mary Livingston Griggs and Mary Griggs Burke Foundation Gifts; Gifts of Major General R. B. Woodruff, C. M. Owen, Elizabeth B. Gerhard, and Mr. and Mrs. Teiji Ito; Bequests of Stephen Whitney Phoenix and Bruce Webster, Fletcher Fund, and The Howard Mansfield Collection, Gift of Howard Mansfield, by exchange; and funds from various donors, 1985