Artwork
清 倣髡殘 蒸嵐昏巒圖 軸|Wooded Mountains at Dusk
清 倣髡殘 蒸嵐昏巒圖 軸|Wooded Mountains at Dusk is an ink painting by the Baroque artist Kun Can. It dates from 1666 and is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
About this work
Ink-blue mountains fade into mist at dusk on a tall scroll, tiny trees clinging to the cliffs and a single temple set in the folds. Kuncan, a monk, painted it in 1666 after the Ming dynasty fell, soft washes for the sky and sharp strokes for the rock, the mist hanging like the quiet between old and new China.
Subject & Meaning
The work depicts a landscape featuring mountains, consistent with the genre of Chinese landscape painting.
The work depicts a landscape featuring mountains, consistent with the genre of Chinese landscape painting. Created in 1666, the piece portrays wooded mountains at dusk, as indicated by its title. While the specific iconography and deeper symbolic meanings are not detailed in the provided sources, the subject matter centers on the natural world, specifically mountainous terrain.
The depiction aligns with the artist's focus on landscape themes, presenting a scene of nature without explicit narrative elements described in the available records. The visual representation emphasizes the form and presence of mountains within a wooded setting.
Technique & Style
Wooded Mountains at Dusk is executed in ink and color on paper, mounted as a hanging scroll in the traditional Chinese vertical format. The work is a landscape painting by Kuncan, dated 1666, and is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. As a hanging scroll on paper, the support would have been prepared and the pigments applied in a manner consistent with seventeenth-century Chinese ink-and-color landscape practice, allowing for layered washes and textured brushwork suited to the depiction of mountains and wooded terrain at dusk. The scroll format and medium are documented in the museum's classification of the object.
History & Provenance
Created in 1666 in China, this hanging scroll titled Wooded Mountains at Dusk is an ink and color work on paper by the artist Kuncan (also known as Kun Can, 1612-c. 1673). The piece is a landscape painting depicting mountains. While specific details regarding its original commission or intermediate ownership history are not provided in the available records, the work is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, catalogued under the accession number 1989.363.129 and entering the museum's holdings in 1989. No exhibition history is documented in the available sources.
Context
The hanging scroll dated 1666 by Kuncan (1612-c. 1673) is recorded as a landscape painting featuring mountain scenery and is classified within the genre of Chinese landscape art. Its inclusion in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's collection situates it within the institutional scholarship that documents Qing-era painting practices. The work's material, ink and color on paper, and its origin in China underscore its role as an example of transitional stylistic developments in early modern Chinese art.
Overview
Wooded Mountains at Dusk, created by the Buddhist monk-painter Kuncan in 1666, is a hanging scroll rendered with ink and subtle color on paper. This landscape painting captures a towering mountain scene enveloped in the soft light of evening. The work exemplifies Kuncan's distinctive approach to natural forms, reflecting his significant role among the early Qing dynasty's "Four Monk Masters."
Artist & collection
Artist
Kun Can (髡殘, Buddhist name; common name: 劉石谿 (Liu Shixi or Liu Jieqiu)) (1612 to after 1674) was a Chinese Buddhist monk and painter during Ming and Qing dynasties.
