- Artist
- Ma Lin (Chinese, 1180–1256)
- Medium
- Album leaf; ink and slight color on silk
- Size
- Image: 25.5 x 26.5 cm (10 1/16 x 10 7/16 in.); with mat: 33.3 x 40.5 cm (13 1/8 x 15 15/16 in.)
- Culture
- China, Southern Song dynasty (1127-1279)
- Rights
- CC0 — no rights reserved
This minimalist landscape places most of the representational elements in the lower right foreground. A lone gentleman strolls along a zigzagging path by the water. With the gentleman’s staff acting as a visual cue, the viewer’s gaze is directed to geese flying over distant mountains.
The scene of a marshland, with its wet and soft ground dotted with vegetation, suggests springtime in Jiangnan. Combined with the flying geese, the album evokes the poetic lines: By spring fields, geese are about to return, Under chilly waters, fish are submerging. 春郊欲回雁, 寒水正沉鱼
