Artist: Ma Yuan (active 1190-1225)
Title: Bare Willows and Distant Mountains
Material: ink and color on silk, fan painting.
Site:
Current Location: Boston Museum of Fine Arts.
Period/Date: Southern Song dynasty (painting attributed to ca. 1200)
Iconography/Iconology:
Stylistic Comments: Fan paintings are generally made to be presented
as gifts to be given by the court to visitors or by the artist to friends
and patrons. A full version of a Southern Song landscape is depicted in
this painting, approximately 12 inces in diameter. Entering lower right
of the painting, the viewer is invited to cross the bridge across the river
and rest in the pavillion on the other side. Here the viewer contemplates
the vista before him or her.
For discussion of Ma Yuan's painting techniques see previous
screen.
