Artwork
南宋 佚名 月下波浪圖 團扇|Waves in the moonlight
南宋 佚名 月下波浪圖 團扇|Waves in the moonlight is an ink painting. It dates from 1239 and is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Created during the Southern Song period by an unidentified hand, this work is a fan that has been mounted as an album leaf.
- Accession no.
- 47.18.70
About this work
Subject & Meaning
The painting shows a solitary crest of water illuminated by a thin crescent moon, a motif identified as a wind‑wave in the work’s classification.
The painting shows a solitary crest of water illuminated by a thin crescent moon, a motif identified as a wind‑wave in the work’s classification. In Song‑dynasty aesthetics, such moonlit surf conveys the transitory nature of beauty and the subtle movement of nature, themes often linked to Buddhist ideas of impermanence. The composition, rendered in ink on silk as a mounted album leaf, reflects the lyrical landscape tradition of the Southern Song court. The work is dated to 1239 and is part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art collection.
Technique & Style
Waves in the moonlight is executed in ink on silk and presented as a fan mounted as an album leaf, a format typical of Southern Song painting. The nearly square composition measures 22.2 by 22.4 centimeters, a compact scale suited to the album-leaf mounting. The work belongs to the landscape genre and depicts wind-driven waves, rendered through monochrome ink handling on the silk support. It is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
History & Provenance
Created in 1239 in China, this ink-on-silk fan painting was executed by an anonymous artist of the Southern Song dynasty. The work, which depicts wind-driven waves, was originally formatted as a round fan before being mounted as an album leaf. It currently resides in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where it is classified as a landscape painting.
No specific details regarding its original commission or intermediate ownership history prior to its museum acquisition are provided in the available records.
The painting is held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. It is inventoried as accession number 1973.120.6.
It was included in the exhibition “The World of Kublai Khan: Chinese Art in the Yuan Dynasty,” held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art from September 14, 2010, to January 9, 2011.
Overview
Created during the Southern Song period by an unidentified hand, this work is a fan that has been mounted as an album leaf. Executed in ink on silk, the piece presents a nocturnal seascape where moonlit waves unfold across the surface. Its compact format and delicate execution reflect the intimate scale typical of fan paintings in medieval Chinese art.
Artist & collection
