Images(2)

Landscape

Date1629

Maker Shen Shichong Chinese, active ca., 1605 - 1640

Label TextA leading master in Songjiang (now Shanghai) in the early 17th century, Shen Shichong crafted this monumental landscape with mistily soft treatment of forms and smooth flowing spaces, interjected with surprisingly naturalistic and dynamic elements, as seen in the pine trees. These features, while consistent with what we know about Shen's style, do not undermine the artist's unusual yet playful composition, which introduces cut-off segments of scenery into the corners of his pictures. In the lower left-hand corner, for instance, rather than depicting rocks or defining a ground plane in the foreground, Shen paints the upper branches of a tree. It suggests an unusual angle of view from a high, removed vantage point, further isolating the scholar and his modest hut from the troubled regions beyond.

Object number2008.30

ProvenanceKaty Talati, Oxford, England

Photo CreditPhoto: Elizabeth Mann

Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Seattle Asian Art Museum, Chinese Art: A Seattle Perspective, Dec. 22, 2007 - July 26, 2009.

Credit LineGift of Katy Talati and the General Acquisition Fund

DimensionsOverall: 100 x 29 in. (254.1 x 73.6 cm) Image: 45 1/2 x 20 1/4 in. (124.1 x 55.8 cm)

MediumInk on paper