During the Sung dynasty, a period of highly developed civilization
landscape painting occupied the attention of the greatest artists.
Wearying of the complexity of life, men of culture turned with eager
desire to the peace and solitude of nature. This love of nature finds
beautiful expression in the paintings of Ma Yuan, one of the three
greatest landscape painters of the period. By this artist, who flourished
in the latter part of the XII century and the first part of the following
century, is the large kakemono painted in monochrome on silk, which is
illustrated opposite. The subject is the meeting between the Taoist
teacher, Lee Erh, and his disciple, Ying Hai, on the mountain Wah Shan,
one of the five largest mountains of China. Characteristic of the period
is the loftiness and simplicity of the style, an austerity tempered by the
serene and silent joy of the true lover of nature. Irrelevant details are
omitted; only those which are significant expressing the artist’s mood in
contemplation of nature are recorded.
[Ancient Chinese Jades]