清　龔賢　山水圖　冊|Landscapes

Gong Xian

1680s · Album of six paintings; ink on paper · Asian Art

Gong Xian fled Nanjing when the city fell to the Manchus in 1645, and during this chaotic period, several members of his family perished. "Preserved through reclusion and purified in retirement," Gong came to terms with himself as an yimin, "leftover subject," under the new Qing dynasty. The loose treatment of landscape elements in this album, as defined by bold contour lines and repetitive clusters of dots, is indicative of its late date, probably around 1688. The contrast between pale ink washes and dark dots that enabled Gong to achieve both incredible density and translucency in his paintings is echoed by the contrasting dark and pale passages in his poetic inscriptions, which reflect the artist's spontaneous reinking of his brush.

Artist

Gong Xian

Date

1680s

Medium

Album of six paintings; ink on paper

Culture

China

Department

Asian Art

Credit line

The Sackler Fund, 1969