Life in Mountain Villages

In characteristic fourteenth-century fashion, this mountain scene is enlivened with winding streams and fall vegetation on rocky hills. The artist coordinates small figures into a vast picturesque composition, transforming rustic life into a poetic scene of nature. Rustic villages are cradled by mountains, or built out over the water. A narrative picture unfolds from the left: in a thatched house mid-mountain, a group of three women gather to sew clothes and make yarn. At the center of the picture, two fishermen stand on the riverbank; one, with a woven-cord ladder, lifts a large, tied-up fishnet out of the water, and behind him, a young man casts a small net. Up toward the middle reaches of the river, a gentleman sits on a boat, accompanied by a young man in front of him, while a boatman at the stern pulls the oars.

There is a clear contrast between the flat water and high cliffs, between crisp, sharp brushwork and soft washes and strokes. The deep perspective, the use of axe-shaped strokes for rock textures, and the subdued colors of foliage are derived from the major artistic innovations developed during the Song dynasty (960–1279).