Farewell at the Riverbank

This delicate fan painting captures a significant theme in Chinese landscape art: Farewell at the riverbank. In the quiet setting of rustic cottages, bare trees, and distant hills, a group of people gather by the water’s edge, embodying the poignant ritual of parting. The river, a common metaphor for life’s flow and separation, provides both a physical and emotional backdrop. Popular in literati (scholar-artist) painting, such farewell scenes reflect the transience of human encounters and the enduring solace found in nature. Intimate in scale yet profound in sentiment, this work unites poetic narrative with the elegance of brush and ink.