Landscape of Tibet

Artists

Description

The hanging scroll frames a vertically oriented color painting. Jagged snowcapped peaks rendered in dry brush—and more distant peaks in a blue-gray wet brush—dominate the upper quarter of the composition. Wetly rendered terraces on the black slopes descend towards the saturated malachite green of the valley’s grasses, all seeming to bleed into one another. Shepherds in red robes stand in the fields at the water’s edge, surrounded by their flocks and with their huts visible in the distance, at the foot of the mountains. Chinese characters run along the middle of the left side, with one red square seal immediately below and other slightly above.

Dimensions

painting proper: H. 68.8 × W. 45.4 cm (27 1/16 × 17 7/8 in.) overall mounting: H. 189 × W. 66.3 cm (74 7/16 × 26 1/8 in.)

Provenance

Xu Xi, Beijing and New York (by 1980s), acquired; by Chu-tsing Li, Lawrence, Kansas (1980s-2012), gift; to his son B U.K. Li, Milwaukee, Wisconsin (2012-2021), gift; to Harvard Art Museums, 2021. Note: Dr. Chu-tsing Li (1920-2014)