About this artwork
This landscape was attributed to the Northern Song court painter Guo Xi (c. 1001-c. 1090) by the authors of early 20th-century colophons that accompany the painting. The depiction of figures gazing out from two water pavilions at the foot of a rocky outcrop—as well as a dramatic clusters of old pine-trees and billowing, restless forms of mountain-ridges that rise from valleys into the high distance—are all features associated with Guo Xi’s iconic landscapes. The relatively looser composition and hybrid brushwork, however, point to a Yuan re-interpretation of this Northern Song style. A seal on the painting that may be associated with a Yuan scholar named Wu Fang supports this fourteenth-century date.
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Status
- Currently Off View
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Department
- Arts of Asia
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Artist
- Guo Xi
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Title
- Water Pavilion by Twin Pines
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Place
- China (Artist's nationality:)
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Date
- 1279–1368
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Medium
- Hanging scroll; ink and light colors on paper
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Inscriptions
- Seals on painting: 11 seals in total, of which 2 have been deciphered: 1. seal on the middle left edge reading 'Lan'an jushi', or 'The Lay Buddhist of the Retreat for Idleness': this may be the seal of the artist. This was the style-name of the 14th-century Yuan artist Wu Fang, and might therefore be attributed to his hand. 2. second seal from the top on the left edge: reads 'Runzhou Dai Zhi zi Peizhi jiancang shuhua zhang' (Seal of the Calligraphy and Painting Collection of Dai Zhi, stylename Peizhi, of Runzhou), and belongs to the collector Dai Zhi (act. first half of 19th C.). With the painting is a separate handscroll of colophons, which carries a photographic reproduction of the painting: 1. frontispiece by Luo Zhenyu (1866-1940), dated 1921, "Heyang Mo miao' (Wondrous Ink by Heyang (Guo Xi)). 2. title label to the photographic reproduction mounted on the scroll, inscribed by Luo Zhenyu: "Song Guo Heyang (Guo Xi) Shuangsong shuige tu, shenpin" (Twin Pines by the Water Pavilion, by Guo Xi of the Song dynasty, divine class). 3. first colophon to the photographic reproduction, by Luo Zhenyu: providing art-historical commenary to the work of Guo Xi. 4. second colophon, by Mr. Nagao, dated 1922: providing biographical and art-historical commentary on Guo Xi's painting activities, and a stylistic evaluation of this painting amongst other works attributed to Guo Xi viewed by the author. 5. third colophon, by Naito Konan, dated 1924: providing and art-historical evaluation of Guo Xi's accomplishments in the development of landscape painting since the Five Dynasties, and a stylistic appreciation of this painting in comparison to other transmitted paintings viewed by the same author. two colophons written in Chinese by the Japanese historian Naito Konan (1866-1934), a leading authority on Chinese painting. 3. one colophon by a Mr. Nagao.
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Dimensions
- 100.3 × 35.5 cm (39 1/2 × 14 in.)
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Credit Line
- Kate S. Buckingham Endowment Fund
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Reference Number
- 1955.17
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IIIF Manifest
- https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/105786/manifest.json
Extended information about this artwork
Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.
