Palaces among Autumn Mountains

Palaces among Autumn Mountains

Unidentified Artist 

Period:

Ming dynasty (1368–1644)

Culture:

China

Medium:

Round fan mounted as an album leaf; ink, color, and gold on silk

Dimensions:

Image: 9 1/2 x 10 1/16 in. (24.1 x 25.6 cm)

Classification:

Paintings

Credit Line:

Bequest of John M. Crawford Jr., 1988

Accession Number:

1989.363.42

During the Yuan dynasty, the archaic blue-and-green landscape style was revived by scholar-artists in the south, who sought new modes of self-expression through a conscious return to models of the past. The rich mineral pigments that characterize this style also made it a favorite of professional and court painters, who never entirely stopped producing decorative works in this manner.

This fan painting and its mate, Village and Temples in Jiangnan, typify late fourteenth- and early fifteenth-century interpretations of this decorative style. The prominent use of “hemp-fiber wrinkles” to texture rock surfaces reflects the late Yuan preference for the brush idiom of Dong Yuan (active 930s–960s) and Juran (active 960–95); the complex composition and confident rendering of three-dimensional forms in space closely parallel the landscape murals (dated 1358) at the Yonglegong temple.