Geese on a Riverbank
Shen Kai (Chinese, active mid-18th century)
Qing dynasty (1644–1911), 1750
- Medium
- Hanging scroll, ink and color on silk
- Classification
- Painting
- Dimensions
- 77 × 96 cm (30 1/4 × 37 3/4 in.)
- Culture
- China
- Museum
- Art Institute of Chicago, Arts of Asia
- Credit line
- Avery Brundage Fund
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Little Ones profiles and older: it shows gentle subjects for the very young. How works are placed
View at the Art Institute of Chicago
About this work
Depicting wild geese on a reed-fringed riverbank, this painting evokes themes of retreat, seasonal change, and poetic reflection. Brilliantly colored feathers contrast with the subtle ink rendering of branches, leaves, and chrysanthemums, merging vivid realism with quiet lyricism. The resulting scene reflects artist Shen Kai’s technical and expressive skill.
By the 17th century, Chinese bird-and-flower paintings like this one were widely admired in Japan. Acquired by a Japanese collector in China at the end of the Qing dynasty, the work was later remounted in the Japanese style, with two vertical strips of highly decorative silk attached to the upper rod.
Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0
