There is nothing fussy about this scroll: a mountain-and-water landscape, honest brushwork, and room to breathe. Generations of painters returned to the landscape, and this scroll shows the tradition in good health. Study it a while and cliffs, waterfall and river emerge from the background, each one carefully observed.
The line work is lively and varied, the washes laid down with assurance — brushwork without a moment's doubt. Like much classical Chinese art, it carries a wish inside the image — in China the written word outranks all other arts — a good hand was the scholar's calling card. Negative space does half the work — the empty silk around cliffs lets the subject breathe. Part of the charm is the upright format — the scene reveals itself as your eyes travel down.
Choose a spot with a slow pace — the study, the tea corner, the hallway between rooms. Collectors of landscape silk wall art will find this one easy to live with. It is a fine example of cliffs and waterfall Chinese painting, the kind of piece that grows on you.
