Attributed to Lou Guan

Xie An at East Mountain

Late 13th century

China

Hanging scroll; ink and color on silk

Image only, H. 69 x W. 34 3/4 in. (175.3 x 88.3 cm)

Asia Society, New York: Mr. and Mrs. John D. Rockefeller 3rd Collection, 1979.123

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This painting of a towering landscape combines the monumentality and intimacy that typify the Chinese art of landscape painting. The composition of the painting includes three different points of view, and the use of this system of perspective is one of the salient characteristics of Chinese landscape painting. The foreground is seen from above; the middle ground is seen straight ahead; and the background is seen from below. Use of this tripartite perspective allows the painting to present images that contain more information than would be available by merely presenting the landscape from a single viewpoint and also helps to enhance the sense of monumentality. The figures in the painting illustrate the visit of the famous painter poet and scholar Xie An and his coterie of female attendants to a recluse living in a solitary mountain retreat.