Mountain Peaks Covered in Snow

The court painter Tang Dai depicts a cold, snowy landscape of high mountains for the appreciation of the emperor. We cannot tell if the scene is a topographical view of a certain place, but the large imperial seal at the top indicates that this scroll was once housed at the Manchu emperors’ summer retreat (Bishu shanzhuang) in Chengde (formerly known as Jehol), around 250 kilometers northeast of the Forbidden City in Beijing. This enormous royal palace and garden complex is adjacent to eight Tibetan Buddhist monasteries that host the imperial preceptors and lama monks.

Without an explanatory inscription it is difficult to know, but it is possible that Tang Dai could have painted the snowy landscape for the emperor so that he could enjoy a scenery of Jehol during the winter months when he was stationed in Beijing. Besides evoking the solitude of winter mountains, this landscape could also provide the emperor with a cooling mental image during the heat of the summer months.