Reminiscences of Qinhuai River

Shitao’s skillfully rendered composition suggests a sweeping movement from the base of the central rising mass, silhouette of forest, and a bright bend of misty atmosphere under the distant hills, to form almost a continual circle of energy—a gentle vortex. That is a perfect embodiment of the early Qing ideal of a momentous flow, with suggestion of the subterranean veins and linkages.