清 龔賢 冬景山水圖 軸|Wintry mountains

Gong Xian

ca. 1679–89 · Hanging scroll; ink on paper · Asian Art

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

Artist

Gong Xian

Date

ca. 1679–89

Medium

Hanging scroll; ink on paper

Culture

China

Department

Asian Art

Credit line

Bequest of John M. Crawford Jr., 1988