Winter Clouds over the Road to Shu
Hine Taizan, Winter Clouds over the Road to Shu, 1858, hanging scroll; ink and light color on silk, Museum Purchase: Margery Hoffman Smith Fund, public domain, 86.20
This work is not currently on view.
- Title
Winter Clouds over the Road to Shu
- Related Titles
original language: 蜀道寒雲図
- Artist
- Date
1858
- Medium
hanging scroll; ink and light color on silk
- Dimensions (H x W x D)
painting: 54 1/8 in x 21 1/2 in; mounting: 81 3/4 in x 28 3/4 in
- Inscriptions & Markings
inscription: Winter clouds over the road to Shu, painted on an autumn day in the horse year [1858] in Taizan's studio. Hi Shônen.
seal: Hinaga...Shônen
seal: Sensei
- Collection Area
Asian Art
- Category
Paintings
- Object Type
hanging scroll
- Culture
Japanese
- Credit Line
Museum Purchase: Margery Hoffman Smith Fund
- Accession Number
86.20
- Copyright
public domain
- Terms
This haunting landscape, with its snow-piled cliffs twisting and turning along the right edge and a grey abyss at the left, evokes a famous episode in Chinese history and literature. In the mid-eighth century, a rebellion drove the Emperor Ming Huang out of his capital city. With his beloved consort Yang Guifei, he fled to the mountains of Shu (the ancient name for Sichuan province). Along the way, Yang Guifei was slain by members of the imperial guard who blamed her and her family for the ruin of the empire. The Road to Shu was an enduring subject in Chinese painting, and was taken up by literati painters in Japan as well during the 18th and 19th centuries.
