Mountain Valley with Cottages

Artist's inscription: “The brushwork of Mr. Gu Baozhuang, a man of these times, quite resembles my own. The present work falls in the common ground between Gong and Gu. One can scarcely tell the difference.”

Gu Baozhuang, referenced in the artist’s inscription, was probably a fellow painter in Nanjing, a city where many artists and literate elite lived. Gong Xian uses light ink brushwork to render a tranquil scene with a winding path to a cottage. The landscape shows a stylistic “common ground” that he shares with his friend.
In his 50s, after living through chaotic regime changes, Gong settled down in the scenic mountains in the suburbs of Nanjing. There he created this painting, a leaf in one of his best albums.