Description

The inscription in the upper right names four characters that can be read as Sound of Pines and Springs, followed by a dating to the spring of a Teishi year, the signature, and two red seals. The title is programmatic: at the center of the horizontally oriented composition, a narrow waterfall descends between two rock formations, framed by densely inked pines.

On the left, a wooded slope rises, at the top of which a small building with a curved roof nestles among trees. On the right, the view opens over a calm expanse of water toward flat shorelines, while in the background a pointed peak in pale blue-gray marks the distance. The small clusters of reeds along the shore are indicated with a few rapid strokes, loosening up the otherwise strictly constructed composition.

The horizontal format is unusual for hanging scrolls and here allows for a notably calm, horizontally arranged pictorial structure. The combination of poetic title, dating, and signature in a single column of script is typical of Chinese-influenced literati painting. Executed as a screen print on silk, this hanging scroll is a balanced, erudite work.