Landscape with Motifs from the Eight Views of Xiao-Xiang

This screen is from a separated pair depicting the Eight Views of Xiao-Xiang, a Chinese painting and poetry theme. Read in the manner customary for Japan, from right to left, the motifs here are “Evening Bell from a Mist-Shrouded Temple,” “Wild Geese Descending to a Sandbar,” “Sunset Glow over a Fishing Village,” and “Mountain Market in Clearing Mist.” The “crab-claw” style of the trees, in which the branches resemble the curved claws of a crab, and the stippling effect indicate a familiarity with Korean interpretations of Chinese painting styles of the Song dynasty..