Painting · Landscapes · Catalog HV6EAKNL

Landscape with Flying Geese

Ma Lin (Chinese, c. 1185–after 1260) · mid-1200s

This minimalist landscape places most of the representational elements in the lower right foreground. A lone gentleman strolls along a zigzagging path by the water. With the gentleman’s staff acting as a visual cue, the viewer’s gaze is directed to geese flying over distant mountains. The scene of a marshland, with its wet and soft ground dotted with vegetation, suggests springtime in Jiangnan. Combined with the flying geese, the album evokes the poetic lines: By spring field