Traveling at Dawn in the Snowy Foothills 《雪麓早行圖》

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At A Glance

Period

17th century
Geography

China
Material

Ink and color on silk
Dimension

H x W (image): 30.8 x 228.2 cm (12 1/8 x 89 13/16 in)
Accession Number

F1916.139
EDAN ID

edanmdm:fsg_F1916.139

Object Details

Artist

Attributed to Fan Qi 樊圻 (1616-ca. 1695)

Formerly attributed to Li Cheng 李成 (919-967)
Label

At right, a peasant with a load of firewood trudges across a low bridge in the direction of a private, walled estate, which is built on the river at the foot of a steep slope. Admiring the winter scene, two men engage in conversation in an upstairs window of the main building. Stretching off into high mountains, a nearby valley contains other structures, including an idle fishing rig with its net in the water. While snowscapes inherently lend themselves to visual drama in their use of contrasting colors and textures, the mood of this painting is still and serene. Architectural elements are crisply realized and skillfully set off against the softening effects of the snow and the light blue-and-green palette.

Although this scroll bears the spurious signature of Li Cheng (919-967), a famous painter of the Five Dynasties period (907-960), the coloring and overall execution of the work, such as the modeling of the rocks and slopes, suggest an artist of the seventeenth-century Nanjing School of painters, and may possibly be a work by the renowned landscapist Fan Qi. Whatever the case, the original artist's signature was cut off at some time and replaced by an unscrupulous individual who wished to attribute the scroll to an earlier era.
Provenance

To 1916

Wang Jiantang, Shanghai to 1916 [1]

From 1916 to 1919

Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Wang Jiantang, in New York, in 1916 [2]

From 1920

Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [3]

Notes:

[1] See Original Kakemono and Makimono List, L. 1000, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives. This object exhibits seals, colophons, or inscriptions that could provide additional information regarding the object’s history; see Curatorial Remarks in the object record for further details.

[2] See note 1.

[3] The original deed of Charles Lang Freer's gift was signed in 1906. The collection was received in 1920 upon the completion of the Freer Gallery.
Collection

Freer Gallery of Art Collection
Exhibition History

Seasons: Chinese Landscapes (December 18, 2010 to June 12, 2011)

Palaces and Pavilions: Grand Architecture in Chinese Painting (September 29, 2002 to March 30, 2003)
Previous custodian or owner

Wang Jiantang 王鑑堂 (late 19th-early 20th century) (C.L. Freer source)

Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)
Origin

China
Credit Line

Gift of Charles Lang Freer
Type

Painting
Restrictions and Rights

CC0 - Creative Commons (CC0 1.0)

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