Mount Emei under heavy snow 《峩眉積雪圖》

Formerly attributed to Guo Xi (傳)郭熙 (ca. 1001-1090) · 17th century

Silhouetting the convoluted edges of covered rocks and a complex tracery of dark, leafless branches against the uniform whiteness of deep winter snow, the unknown artist of this work created a frozen landscape of stark dramatic appeal and arresting visual intensity. Mount Emei towers above the western Sichuan Basin and is one of the Four Holy Mountains of Chinese Buddhism. Then, as now, temples perch and cluster on its slopes, rustic villages nestle along winding streams, visitors and pilgrims take lodging at scenic vistas, and plunging waterfalls cascade down precipitious cliffs.