Description
The painter created a paradoxical juxtaposition of the boat serenely sailing against the turbulent onrushing movement of the towering mountains in the background.
Provenance
Fujii Yurinkan, Kyoto, Japan; (Kozo Yabumoto 藪本公三, Amagasaki, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) (?–1982); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (1982–)
Accession Number
1982.34
Medium
hanging scroll; ink and color on paper
Dimensions
Image: 46.6 x 43.3 cm (18 3/8 x 17 1/16 in.); Mounted: 148.6 x 67.4 cm (58 1/2 x 26 9/16 in.)
Classification
Painting
Credit Line
John L. Severance Fund
Tags
Painting Medieval (500–1399) Ink Paper Chinese
Background & Context
Background Story
Fang Congyi (active 1330s-1360s) was a Chinese painter of the Yuan dynasty known for the expressive, unconventional ink landscapes that make him one of the most distinctive painters in the history of Chinese painting. Landscape Ink-Play from the 1300s depicts a landscape in the expressive, unconventional ink manner that distinguishes Fang Congyi's best work from the more formal painting of his contemporaries. The 1300s date places this in the Yuan dynasty period of Chinese painting, when the tradition of literati ink painting was being developed by painters who saw themselves as heirs to the great Song dynasty landscape tradition, and Fang Congyi's expressive ink manner represents one of the most distinctive developments in Yuan dynasty painting.
Cultural Impact
Landscape Ink-Play is important in the history of Chinese painting because it demonstrates the expressive, unconventional ink manner that Fang Congyi brought to landscape painting as one of the most distinctive painters in the history of Chinese art. Fang Congyi's expressive ink landscapes—combining the Song dynasty landscape tradition with the unconventional, expressive ink manner that is his most distinctive contribution—represent one of the most important developments in Yuan dynasty painting, and the 1300s painting shows this development at its most expressive.
Why It Matters
Landscape Ink-Play is Fang Congyi's expressive Yuan dynasty ink landscape: a landscape rendered in the unconventional, expressive ink manner of one of the most distinctive painters in the history of Chinese painting. The 1300s painting shows the combination of Song dynasty landscape tradition with Fang Congyi's expressive ink manner that makes him one of the most distinctive painters of the Yuan dynasty.
![Saint Bernard and Saint Catherine of Alexandria with the Virgin of the Annunciation [right panel]](https://api.nga.gov/iiif/e6890364-4d99-4684-a62b-5060ee3c3446/full/400,/0/default.jpg)
