Boating on a Snowy Night

Within a snowy landscape, a boatman poles a slender, covered skiff away from shore as its passenger surveys the waterway. On shore a woman, framed by the open window of a snow-covered house, tends a small bronze brazier on a table. Additional items on the table are a lighted candle, a scroll, and books. The brushwork in the landscape is bold, while the faces of the figures are sensitively painted. For centuries, professional and court painters of the Ming (1368–1644) and Qing (1644–1911) dynasties continued to work in the academic styles of the Northern Song dynasty (960–1127). These artists catered to the conservative tastes of a clientele that included government officials and wealthy merchants. Beijing and Nanjing were the two main cultural centers during the Ming and Qing dynasties, and paintings produced there often included large-scale hanging scrolls of figures in landscapes, such as this.