Antique Chinese Scroll: Accumulated Snow on Mt. Taibai, By Wǔ Tíngguì 武廷桂 1900s

Description: Accumulated Snow on Mt. Taibai, from the series Eight Views of the Guanzhong Region Artist/Maker: W Tnggu (Chinese, active 19th century) Date: first half 20th century Medium: Ink rubbing Portfolio: Eight Views of the Guanzhong Region Dimensions: Rubbing: 48 1/4 12 1/4 in. Scroll: 15 2/2 x 70 in. This scroll is held in the collections of the Smithsonian Institution, Harvard University, Oberlin College, and others. See photos for condition as they are part of the description. https://asia-archive.si.edu/object/FSC-R-426/ https://curiosity.lib.harvard.edu/chinese-rubbings-collection/catalog/6-W280248_URN-3:FHCL:1077076 https://emuseumapp.ad.oberlin.edu/objects/2041/accumulated-snow-on-mt-taibai-from-the-series-eight-views The text below comes from this internet posting about this scroll. https://www.davidleffman.com/blog-1-1/taibai-shan-map-mid-autumn-festival-1700- Taibai Shan Map, Mid-Autumn Festival 1700 Heres a map of Tai Bai Shan (3750m), the highest mountain in central Chinas Qinlin range, which rises about 100km southwest of Xian city. The name comes from the mountains summit, which shines white with snow for most of the year; Tai Bai is the Chinese for Venus, brightest planet in the sky. Jia Lis official and personal seals The map is a rubbing taken from a large stone tablet about 1.8m high now in Xians Beilin Museum (). The tablet was carved in 1700 by Li Shilong () and Pu Shi () from a painting by the provincial governor Jia Li (). Jia had gone to the mountain to pray for rain, and afterwards painted the map at the mid-Autumn festival in 1700 as a guide for other visitors. Flowering trees in lower valley Though Taibai Shan has religious associations, its more famous for its scenery than any temples, many of which were fairly rudimentary and have long-since disappeared. Text on the map gives distances between famous sights, and the different vegetation layers flowering trees lower down giving way to bamboo and pines, then bald rock, and finally the ice-capped peaks are also pretty accurately depicted. Sanqing Tarn on left (named after the Taoist trinity), Buddhas Tarn on the right The discs just below the highest peaks are Tai Bais famous high-altitude glacial ponds (tarns); following the dotted line of the path down from here, you pass down below the cloud sea past simple temples, little figures of hikers drawn with hats, bandannas and walking sticks, busy walking, clambering over difficult stone staircases, or sitting down to rest. Hikers, temple and pine trees From a note at the bottom right corner naming the now-ruinous Qingqu Taibai Temple down on the plains below, its possible that this tablet was originally housed there. The text reads From Qingqiu Temple to Sanqing Tarn [just below the summit], a total of 270 li; to Xiangyan Peak 90 li; to Fo Tarn 10 li. Nowadays a li is standardised at 500m, but in the old days often had less to do with actual distance, and was more about the effort needed to tackle a particular route so on mountains, the distance in li for the same stretch could vary depending if you were going up or down. Its nowhere near 135km from Qingqiu to the tarns around Tai Bais summit closer to 70km just that climbing up, it must have felt like it.

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Location: Vashon, Washington

End Time: 2024-11-10T16:27:11.000Z

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