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Pure and Remote Views of Streams and Mountains

Handscroll by Xia Gui (Southern Song, c. 1200 CE). Ink on paper; National Palace Museum, Taipei. Only the second half of the original twelve-part scroll survives — depicting four scenes of fishing villages, bamboo, mountains, and water in atmospheric ink wash. Considered the finest surviving example of Xia Gui's style: dense, energetic brushwork creating mountains and trees that dissolve into misty distance. One of the canonical masterworks of Chinese ink landscape painting.

Scholarly Significance

Xia Gui's masterwork panoramic handscroll; one of the finest surviving examples of Southern Song atmospheric ink landscape.

Notes

  • ·The original scroll depicted twelve scenes in a thatched hut setting; only the last four or so scenes of this longer work survive in Taipei.
  • ·Xia Gui's brushwork uses the 'hat-shape stroke' (斗笠皴) for foliage and dense, stacked strokes for mountain surfaces.
  • ·The ink wash creates atmospheric mist between near and far distances — a hallmark of Southern Song atmospheric landscape.
  • ·This work, along with Ma Yuan's works, was enormously influential on Japanese ink painting, particularly Sesshu Toyo's (雪舟) panoramic landscapes.