Accession Number
1980/2.202

Title
Ink Landscape

Artist(s)
Zeng Xi (Tseng Hsi)

Object Creation Date
1923

Medium & Support
ink on paper

Dimensions
35 1/16 in x 18 ¾ in (89.06 cm x 47.63 cm)

Credit Line
Gift of Sarah and Otto Graf, supplemented by the Margaret Watson Parker Art Collection Fund

Label copy
Inscription: Only after preparing wine can one enjoy rivers and mountains … On the day before the Autumn Festival in 1923. [Zeng] Xi [a.k.a.] Nong'ran
Seal of the artist
Although Zeng Xi’s family was extremely poor, he became a well-known scholar and calligrapher in the literati tradition. Using free, calligraphic brushwork, Zeng focuses on a grove of three tall trees that tower above the surrounding landscape, dominating the composition. Instead of a horizon line, a loosely described cluster of distant peaks suggests depth.
Winter 2015 Gallery Rotation
This painting is reminiscent of a pencil sketch and it is possible that it was influenced by European drawings circulating at the time in China’s art market. As a literati (amateur scholar-artist) painter, Zeng Xi embraced odd juxtapositions: the tangle of trees in the foreground, for example, seems rooted in the earth, while the boat to the right looks as if it is flying. The merging of mountain and trees further confuses the sense of pictorial depth. The painting may have been inspired by an actual landscape or it may have been inspired by a landscape painting—Zeng’s inscription indicates that it was made when he and a friend were drinking wine and looking at paintings from the friend’s collection.

Subject matter
A tree in the front and left of the image takes up most of the space. Behind the trees and off the edge of the painting can be seen a couple small buildings. Mountains are in the background. The tree is clearly rooted to the ground, and the boat in the background appears to be floating down the river. The sizes of objects in the painting confuse spatial depth. The small boat appears to be holding a crate or box while two men work at the back of the boat pulling on ropes attached to the single sail.

Physical Description
Hanging painting on white cloth. Painting is done in very stark blacks and whites with very little shading or faded color. A tree occupies the foreground and the left side of the painting. Mountains are in the background, as well as a boat, on the right side. An inscription is located in the upper right corner of the image.

Primary Object Classification
Painting

Primary Object Type
hanging scroll

Additional Object Classification(s)
Painting

Collection Area
Asian

Rights
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Keywords
Landscapes
boat
calligraphy
hills
mountains
water