Thatched Houses among Bamboo and Pines

清代年查士標繪竹松粷堂圖焈紙本墨綎

According to its inscription, this landscape depicts Nanshan (literally, "Southern Mountain"), which is located in southern China. Early on, this mountain had an association with longevity; it later became a pictorial theme for birthday celebrations. The artist has, however, painted its peaks to resemble those of Huangshan ("Yellow Mountain"), a range in Anhui (see the video Climbing Huangshan in this gallery). He developed the peaks in broad dry strokes and even textures, holdovers from the artist's training in Anhui. The trees, the terrain, the thatched huts, and the human figures on the bank below the mountains are done in richer ink tonalities.

The work was executed as a farewell gift for a friend, as
indicated in Cha's inscription:
A thatched cottage emerges from cloudy bamboo. The color of the bamboo and the sound of the pines sweeping [in the breeze] are pleasant. Sunset descends over dim streams. As I walk with a stick, Southern Mountain is visible behind me.

I painted this for Mr. Zhongba's departure, in commemoration of our days together. Your townsman, brother Cha Shibiao, in the ninth lunar month of the cyclical year bingyin of the Kangxi reign [1686].