Riverside Pavilion in Snowy Mountains

On a gloomy winter day, a scholar sits alone in his elegant pavilion as his kneeling servant prepares some warm tea. Traditionally associated with longevity, and beloved for its spiritual freedom, a crane huddles against the cold on the veranda in front. Small figures make their way across a bridge, or pass along the trail that ascends the mountain to a pagoda and crimson temple secluded among the trees on a high ridge. By the river, a fisherman in a rain cape of woven bark steps from his boat and heads toward his ramshackle dwelling.

The painting is dominated by a cluster of snowy peaks, their sculpted forms standing in relief against a lowering sky darkened with washes of ink. The twisting spine of the central massif, the jagged angular brushwork, and puffy, cloudlike rocks recall the monumental landscapes of the Northern Song dynasty (960-1127) painter Guo Xi, whose forged signature appears on the left edge of the painting. This work is a fine example of the highly mannered, almost rococo, continuation of Guo's style that was popular among Ming dynasty artists of the sixteenth-century Zhe School, which was centered in the former imperial capital of Hangzhou. Such wintery works were often created and displayed during the hot season as a psychological means to cool off.