COLLECTION NAME:
National Palace English
Record
Work ID:
M01E00272
Title:
Early Spring
Creation Date:
Song Dynasty
Start Year Date:
A.D.960
End Year Date:
A.D.1279
Dynasty:
39 Song Dynasty (A.D. 960~1279)
Creator:
Guo Xi
Creation Place:
China
Measurements:
158.3 x 108.1 cm
Material:
Ink and light color on silk
Form:
Li-zhou (hanging scroll)
Type:
Painting
Subject:
Landscape
Repository:
The National Palace Museum, Taipei
Description:
Like Fan Kuan's Travellers among Mountains and Streams, Guo Xi's Early Spring is a monumental landscape painting of ink and light colors with two lengths of silk pieced together as its ground. To the left in the middle of the painting, there is an inscription and signature in small characters, "Early Spring. Renzi year, painted by Guo Xi." There is also a seal impression declaring, "Guo Xi's brush." Matching the stem-branch year renzi to the years of Guo Xi's life, we calculate that the date of the painting is the fifth year of Emperor Shenzong's Xining reign, equivalent to 1072. The primary subject matter of this painting is located along the central axis. In the foreground tall pine trees grow atop a great boulder. Behind them, a twisting mountain connects the middle ground to the background. Separated by clouds and mist, a second peak rises. Beneath this host peak occupying the central position, there is the suggestion of a deep abyss. Slightly to the right, a stream emerges from a gorge and flows down to the foreground. Deep amidst the mountains is built magnificent palace halls and towers. On the precipice stands a thatch pavilion framed behind by distant mountains. On the painting's left side a gradual slope extends deep into the background, suggesting an almost infinite distance. A bridge offers access from the huge boulder near the stream into the rocky mountain terrain.
ImageV ID:
M01E00272AS007
Rights:
Lee & Lee Communications