Garden after Snow

Landscape on a round fan is common among extant Southern Song dynasty paintings. Usually with a diagonal composition, these works are poetically descriptive with economical but meticulous brushwork. In the Chinese landscape painting tradition, snowy scene represents serenity and pureness of nature, thus also alludes to personal integrity.

The garden occupies much space of the scene at the bottom left corner. The architectural complex is neatly organized, with a bridge extended to the outside against a background of distant mountains covered in snow and a mooring fishing boat over calm water. The detailed piece highlighted by white of the snow and red of the railings has an elegant palette of colors. The precision of architecture and uprightness of the pine trees remind one of the styles of Liu Songnian (ca.1190-1230). The unsigned piece does not bear any connoisseur seal but it has undoubtedly rendered the tranquility of a garden after snow ingeniously.