Scholar's Mountain Retreat Amongst the Pines

This fan painting by Cao Tang reveals the grandeur of mountains rising in steep, vertical cliffs, creating a sense of awe and solemnity. They are softened by clusters of pines and a secluded pavilion nestled among rocks, which suggests the scholar’s retreat into nature. The fan format heightens intimacy, allowing viewers to hold in their hands a vast imagined world—at once dramatic, contemplative, and infused with literati (scholar-artist) ideals of solitude and harmony. The inscribed poem adds to the scene’s evocativeness: The cold water in the pool gives birth to the moon The wind blowing among pine trees in the night is reminiscent of autumn Painted in the fifth moon in the summer of 1647.