Page 430 - japanese and korean art Utterberg Collection Christie's March 22 2022

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ANONYMOUS (EARLY 16TH CENTURY)
Mountain Landscape
With an illegible red square seal
Hanging scroll; ink and light color on silk
25√ x 21√ in. (65.7 x 55.6 cm.)
$200,000-300,000

PROVENANCE:
C.T. Loo and Frank Caro
Private American collection

LITERATURE:
Itakura Masaaki, 'Chosen ocho zenki sansuizu' (Landscape painting
from early Joseon dynasty), Kokka vol. 1503 (January, 2021), pl. 5.

Landscape depicts a panorama of boats, streams, and figures along the
riverbank and mountain ranges. The dynamic composition, stylized
texture of repeated short lines, and the unrestrained brushstrokes
all attests to the influence of An Gyeon (active ca. 1440–1470), the
leading court painter of the 15th century. This painting presents a
diagonal composition as the main mountain meanders up and back
to a distant peak in the center. The dynamic movement of pictorial
elements, the composition of space and perspective employing the
three distances, the cloudlike rock formations, and the deft use of
thickening and thinning brushstrokes are all indebted to the style
of Guo Xi and his followers; however, the stylized forms of the
mountains and the repeated stroke that add texture to the hills
and rocks result in a manneristic style that distinguishes it from its
Chinese Song precedents.
The ridge of the main mountain range rises in the middle ground
and zigzags toward the misty peaks in the distance. Trees and bushes
on the ridges are painted as simplified lines and dots. A poetic
atmosphere is summoned by the patches of mist that hover between
the hills and mountains. The main mountain is depicted from three
viewpoints: the central peak from a high distance, the left cascade
from a level distance, and the right valley from a deep distance.
The distorted rocks of the cliffs and boulders form a more complex
spatial relationship between the midground and foregrounds. The
rocky boulders topped by various trees are rendered with a mixture
of blunt lines and ink washes. Cloudlike rocks and outcrops create
a curved gap, though which a tiled-roof house with bamboo can
be seen. Barely visible near the house in the middle ground, three
seated human figures appear to be indulging in leisurely conversation
seated in front of the house. The house with bamboo is also
found in the early 16th-century Joseon paintings such as Travelers
Among Mountains and Waters attributed to Guo Xi (Fukuoka Art
Museum), Eight Views of the Xiao and Xiang Rivers around 1539
(Daigan-ji, Hiroshima), and Landscape inscribed by Hakpo (National
Museum of Korea).