Fishing on a Snowy River
Unidentified
Artist
Period:
Song
dynasty (960–1279)
Culture:
China
Medium:
Hanging
scroll; ink and color on silk
Dimensions:
Image:
44 x 20 1/2 in. (111.8 x 52.1 cm) Overall with mounting: 93 1/4 x 27 in. (236.9
x 68.6 cm) Overall with knobs: 93 1/4 x 30 3/4 in. (236.9 x 78.1 cm)
Classification:
Paintings
Credit
Line:
Lent by
Oscar L. Tang
Accession
Number:
L.1980.74
Since Southern Song painting concentrates
more on smaller formats such as handscrolls, fans, and album leaves, hanging
scrolls from the period are comparatively scarce. Fishing on a Snowy River
evokes a monumental landscape scene in the Northern Song tradition of Fan Kuan
(active ca. 990–1030), albeit through the simplified motifs and brush formulas
of Fan’s Southern Song followers Li Tang (ca. 1070s–ca. 1150s) and Liang Kai
(active first half of the 13th century). The intimate focus and the interest in
genre details in the foreground are typical of the thirteenth century.
"Fishing on a snowy river" should be from a famous poem written by Liu, Zhongyuan (柳宗元)， a poet in Tang Dynasty. In his masterpiece poem titled "Snowy River", Liu pictured the winter loneliness and solitude in 4 5-word phrases. It translates into English something like of the followings:
ReplyDelete千山鳥飛絕， No birds flying over mountains,
萬徑人蹤滅。 No mans traced in trails.
孤舟蓑笠翁， A boatman wearing strawcoat,
獨釣寒江雪。 Fishing on the snowy river.