Landscape

Maker Xiang Shengmo (Chinese, 1597–1658)

Dateearly 17th century

MediumHanging scroll: ink on paper

Dimensions35 1/2 x 18 inches (90.2 x 45.7 cm)

CultureChina

ClassificationsPaintings

Credit LineGift of Professor Harold Shadick

Terms

Paintings
Landscape
Scroll
Hanging scroll: ink
Boats
Bodies of water
Inscriptions
Lakes
Landscapes
Men
Mountains
Pine trees
Rock
Paper

Object number71.115

Label CopyThe inscription reads: Forest trees, luxuriant and pure, don shadows Winds and mists buffet the depth of the Five Lakes My home seems to be in dwelling upon the Five Lakes Only in a small boat, not following the common way Xiang Shengmo was the grandson of the great Ming dynasty collector and connoissseur Xiang Yuanbian, whose personal collection of ancient Chinese paintings was unmatched in his time for both quality and quantity. As a consequence of such exposure to great masterpieces of the past, Xiang Shengmo's paintings have much of the "flavor of the ancients" so greatly admired in the late Ming period. This landscape follows in the style of the Yuan dynasty master Ni Zan (1301-1374). The poem's reference to dwelling in a boat (a metaphor for a world away from human society) may also be a reference to Ni's life, since the Yuan painter spent the latter part of his life as a lone wanderer in a small houseboat.

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