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Landscape

Xie Shichen

Asian Art

This landscape was originally mounted as a folding fan; traces of the frame remain on the paper. During the Ming dynasty, painting and writing poetry on fans became popular among scholar-artists, and the compact works of art were often exchanged as gifts between friends. Xie Shichen’s inscription at the top of this scene of two men in a lakeside pavilion indicates that he made the painting for Shaoshan, presumably a friend, in 1542. The gold-flecked paper that Xie Shichen chose was common for fans but posed a challenge to the painter because it did not absorb ink as well as plain paper.
MEDIUM Fan; ink on gold dusted paper
  • Place Made: China
  • DATES 1542
    DYNASTY Ming Dynasty
    PERIOD Ming Dynasty
    DIMENSIONS Mounted: 13 x 24 3/8 in. (33 x 61.9 cm) Image: 7 1/2 x 19 1/2 in. (19.1 x 49.5 cm) Other (WP): 19 1/2 in. (49.5 cm)  (show scale)
    COLLECTIONS Asian Art
    ACCESSION NUMBER 1993.193
    CREDIT LINE Gift of H. Christopher Luce
    CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION Xie Shichen (1487-ca. 1567) Streamside Pavilion in Pure Autumn Signed Xie Shichen and dedicated to Shaoshan. One seal of the artist. Two collector's seals. Landscape with figures in small hut at center foreground. Poem at center. Condition: Slight abrasion and loss of ink along ribs of fan where it was folded. Possible inscription at upper right corner that has been erased.
    MUSEUM LOCATION This item is not on view
    CAPTION Xie Shichen (Chinese, 1487-ca. 1567). Landscape, 1542. Fan; ink on gold dusted paper, Mounted: 13 x 24 3/8 in. (33 x 61.9 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of H. Christopher Luce, 1993.193. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 1993.193_PS2.jpg)
    IMAGE overall, 1993.193_PS2.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2008
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    RIGHTS STATEMENT Creative Commons-BY
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