Description

Out of a broad sea of clouds, jagged rock pinnacles rise straight upward, their pale, ochre-colored walls streaked with dark growth and crowned with small pines. On the left, a temple building with brilliant blue tile roofs and a white arched hall sits on a ledge, seeming to fit into the rock formation as though it belonged there naturally.

In the foreground, two mighty, gnarled pines with reddish-shimmering trunks dominate the image. Between them stands a small pavilion, in which two figures in blue and pink robes sit together. Far in the background on the left, a blue-green peak hints at the vastness of the mountain range, which otherwise dissolves entirely into haze. The small pines on the rock peaks are rendered with just a few strokes, and it is only through them that the true height of the formations can be gauged.

Such mountain temples above the clouds are a recurring pictorial theme in East Asian painting and represent a place where man draws nearer to heaven. A red seal appears at the lower right, another at the upper right. Executed as a screen print on silk, this hanging scroll combines strong accents of color with a classical composition.