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Pure Tones among Hills and Waters
Xiao Yuncong (Chinese, 1596–1673)
1664
- Medium
- Handscroll; ink and light color on paper
- Classification
- Painting
- Dimensions
- Painting: 31 x 781.6 cm (12 3/16 x 307 11/16 in.); Overall: 34 x 1194.8 cm (13 3/8 x 470 3/8 in.)
- Culture
- China, Qing dynasty (1644–1911)
- Museum
- Cleveland Museum of Art, Chinese Art
- Credit line
- John L. Severance 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 Cleveland Museum of Art
About this work
Painted at age 68, this landscape is one of Xiao Yuncong’s most mature works. Extraordinary in its combination of fine details with bold brushstrokes and bluish washes, it is also one of his longest compositions in handscroll format, extending over 23 feet. Throughout his lifetime, Xiao visited Nanjing and Yangzhou, where he met with other painters and literati. Regarded as the founder of the Gushu school (姑孰派) of painting, Xiao painted from nature, and his landscapes are informed by his travels, as well as by his experience as a print designer.
