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Identification and Creation

Object Number
2021.625
People
Xu Xi 徐希, Chinese (Shaoxing, Zhejiang, China 1940 - 2015 Beijing, China)
Title
Landscape of Tibet
Other Titles
Original Language Title: 西藏山水
Classification
Paintings
Work Type
painting, hanging scroll
Date
probably 1980s
Places
Creation Place: East Asia, China
Culture
Chinese
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/319283

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Hanging scroll; ink and color on paper
Dimensions
painting proper: H. 68.8 × W. 45.4 cm (27 1/16 × 17 7/8 in.)
overall mounting: H. 189 × W. 66.3 cm (74 7/16 × 26 1/8 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • signature: 徐希畫 [Painted by Xu Xi]
  • seal: of artist, following signature; square, intaglio: 徐希 [Xu Xi]
  • seal: middle left; rectangular, relief: 山河頌 Shanhe song [Ode to the Mountains and Rivers]

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Xu Xi, Beijing and New York (by 1980s), acquired; by Chu-tsing Li, Lawrence, Kansas (1980s-2012), gift; to his son B U.K. Li, Milwaukee, Wisconsin (2012-2021), gift; to Harvard Art Museums, 2021.

Note:
Dr. Chu-tsing Li (1920-2014)

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, The Chu-tsing Li Collection, Gift of B U.K. Li in memory of Chu-tsing Li, Yao-wen Kwang Li, and Teri Ho Li
Copyright
© Xu Xi 徐希
Accession Year
2021
Object Number
2021.625
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
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Descriptions

Description
The hanging scroll frames a vertically oriented color painting. Jagged snowcapped peaks rendered in dry brush—and more distant peaks in a blue-gray wet brush—dominate the upper quarter of the composition. Wetly rendered terraces on the black slopes descend towards the saturated malachite green of the valley’s grasses, all seeming to bleed into one another. Shepherds in red robes stand in the fields at the water’s edge, surrounded by their flocks and with their huts visible in the distance, at the foot of the mountains. Chinese characters run along the middle of the left side, with one red square seal immediately below and other slightly above.

Publication History

  • Robert D. Mowry and Claudia Brown, A Tradition Redefined: Modern and Contemporary Chinese Ink Paintings from the Chu-tsing Li Collection, 1950-2000, exh. cat., Harvard University Art Museums/Yale University Press (Cambridge, Mass., 2007), cat. 47

Exhibition History

  • A Tradition Redefined: Modern and Contemporary Chinese Ink Paintings from the Chu-tsing Li Collection, 1950-2000, Harvard University Art Museums, Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 11/03/2007 - 01/27/2008; Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, 06/28/2008 - 09/14/2008; Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach, 10/11/2008 - 01/04/2009; Spencer Museum of Art, Lawrence, 02/11/2009 - 05/24/2009
  • 32Q: 2600 East Asian, Japanese, Chinese and Korean, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 06/04/2023 - 12/04/2023

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Asian and Mediterranean Art at am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu