Unidentified Artist Chinese, active 12th century, after Fan Kuan (Chinese, active ca. 990–1030), Landscape in the style of Fan Kuan, 北宋 佚名 倣范寬山水圖 軸, early 12th century, Song dynasty (960–1279). Hanging scroll; ink and color on silk. Image: 65 3/8 × 41 1/8 in. (166.1 × 104.5 cm) Overall with mounting: 9 ft. 8 1/2 in. × 49 3/4 in. (295.9 × 126.4 cm) Overall with knobs: 9 ft. 8 1/2 in. × 53 3/4 in. (295.9 × 136.5 cm). Gift of Irene and Earl Morse, 1956. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 56.151 © 2000–2016 The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 

Once considered a work of the Ming period (1368–1644), this monumental landscape in the style of Fan Kuan can be dated stylistically to the twelfth century. A mountainscape built up in three stages, the painting shows a boat landing at the foot of a tree-covered bluff in the foreground; travelers heading toward a temple retreat in the middle ground; and mountain peaks rising in the background. The composition, showing mountain masses floating amid and unified by mist, compares closely to works firmly dated to the twelfth century. For example, the depiction of rocks and trees partially obliterated by mist and the blurring and fusing of texture strokes of different ink values reveal the artist’s familiarity with the paintings of Guo Xi (ca. 1000–ca. 1090). The angular rock faces with “raindrop” texture dots and the scrubby foliage on the peaks are characteristic of paintings in the style of Fan Kuan. 

This work is exhibited in the "Masterpieces of Chinese Painting from the Metropolitan Collection" exhibition, on view through October 11th, 2016.