Wild geese descending to sandbar

Unidentified artist

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Set in the modern province of Hunan, China, this landscape depicts a river valley and distant mountains with a flock of flying geese, the identifying marker of one of the most recognizable scenes from the Eight Views of the Xiao and Xiang Rivers theme. This theme attained renown within Chinese literary and artistic circles during the Song period. Although its fame on the continent receded over time, in Korea, monochrome ink paintings of the subject reached a new height of popularity in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Indeed, early Joseon scrolls and screens illustrating the Eight Views represent Korean transformations of this classic theme. This scroll would originally have been part of a set. The tripartite composition represents the standard iconography of this subject in early Joseon Korea. The style of the work is in the manner of An Gyeon, the preeminent fifteenth-century court artist. With its delicate and sophisticated brushwork, this painting is one of the finest extant landscapes from the period.

Asian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Met's collection of Asian art—more than 35,000 objects, ranging in date from the third millennium B.C. to the twenty-first century—is one of the largest and most comprehensive in the world. Each of the many civilizations of Asia is represented by outstanding works, providing an unrivaled experience of the artistic traditions of nearly half the world.

Metropolitan Museum of Art