Temple Hidden Among Lofty Cliffs
Image: 74 × 60 1/4 inches (187.96 × 153.04 cm)
Facing toward the lofty peaks, a boatman waits for a client on a skiff. In the foothills at the lower right, a winding pathway seemingly retains the footprints of travelers. The path would ascend the layers of peaks, leading pilgrims to a temple near the summit.
This painting’s date has been debated, but recent scholarship suggests it was likely created by an artist working outside the court in the late Southern Song period. The artist was inspired by the landscapes with travelers and pathways that were popularized in court paintings, demonstrating the style’s lasting impact.
With Ju Ku Chai, Peiping (modern-day Beijing), China, by April 7, 1934;
Purchased from Ju Ku Chai, through Laurence Sickman, by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1934.
NOTES:
[1] Sickman's purchase record, Nelson-Atkins Archives, RG80-15 William Rockhill Nelson Trust Office Files, box 1a, Art Invoices/Vouchers 1934.
Wai-Kam Ho, et al., Eight Dynasties of Chinese Painting: The Collections of the Nelson Gallery-Atkins Museum, Kansas City, and The Cleveland Museum of Art. (The Cleveland Museum of Art in cooperation with Indiana University Press, c1980), 165, no. 140.
Museum, Ed. No. 379, (Tokyo National Museum, Oct. 1982): pl. 20.
