Object details
| Name | Twelve Images of Water (马远水图卷) |
|---|---|
| Artefact no. | 新00146619 |
| Category | Chinese Paintings (绘画) |
| Period | |
| Collection | The Palace Museum, Beijing |
| Source | Palace Museum Digital Collection (数字文物库) |
A handscroll from the Song dynasty. The Palace Museum holds it among the paintings of its collection, and the image here is reproduced with the museum’s credit.
Song painting is often called the moment Chinese art turned toward observation. Academy painters rendered birds, bamboo and landscape with new naturalism, while literati amateurs argued that a painting should carry the writer’s spirit rather than merely imitate a form.
A handscroll is read left to right and unrolled a section at a time across a table. It is a private, sequential format closer to reading than to wall display, and the viewer meets the composition the way one reads a sentence.
Source: The Palace Museum, Beijing — 数字文物库 (Digital Collection). Artefact no. 新00146619.
Image: © The Palace Museum.