201. Travelers among Mountains and Streams. Fan Kuan. c. 1000 C.E. Ink and colors on silk.

• Form and Content
  • Very compelx landscape
  • Different brushstrokes describe different kinds of trees: coniferous, deciduous, etc
  • The long waterfall on the right is balanced by a mountain on the left; the waterfall accents the height of the mountain; embodying the essence of a place rather than likeness
  • Not a pure landscape: donkeys laden with firewood are driven by two men; a small temple appears in the forest; people seen as small and insignificant in a vast natural world
  • Mists, created by ink washes, silhoutte the roof of the temple
• Function
  • Hanging scroll, meant to be studied and appreciated, not hung permanently
• context
  • The artist isolated himself away from civilization to be with nature and to study for his landscape; this reflects a Daoist philosophy
  • The work contains elements of Daoism, Buddhism, and Confucianism
  • This might be the artist's only surviving work; his signature is hidden in the bushes on the lower right