Western Hills after Spring Rain
Wang Yuanqi
(Chinese, 1642–1715)
1701
Object PlaceChina
Medium/TechniqueInk and color on paper
DimensionsHeight x length (handscroll overall): 27.2 × 1050.7 cm (10 11/16 × 413 11/16 in.)
Height x width (painting only): 26.2 × 529.3 cm (10 5/16 × 208 3/8 in.)
Credit LineGift of the Wan-go H. C. Weng Collection and the Weng family, in honor of Weng Tonghe
Accession number2018.2814
ClassificationsPaintings
InscriptionsArtist’s inscription and signature (5 columns in running/standard script, dated 1701)
樹先弟讀書東軒，欲挹西山爽氣，余為作此卷，以廣其意。此卷余客秋與匡吉作稿，匡吉南還，遂以歸之。樹弟特屬設色，余尚以山意未足，續後幅而其韻差合，圖成亦一年矣。
康熙辛巳秋仲。麓臺祁筆
When Shuxian was studying in the Eastern Studio, he wished he could capture the vigorous atmosphere of the Western Mountains. So I painted this scroll to fulfill his desire more broadly. I had sketched out the composition with [Li] Kuangji last autumn, and then gave it to him when he returned home to the south. Shuxian asked me to add colors to the composition, but I felt that I had not fully depicted the mountains. So I continued the composition on a second sheet. The energy and resonance almost match the first. The entire painting took a year to complete.
Painted by [Wang] Lutai, [Yuan] qi, in the second month of autumn during the xinsi year [1701] of the Kangxi era
Provenance19th century, Weng Tonghe (b. 1830 - d. 1904), Beijing and Changshu, China; 1904, by inheritance from Weng Tonghe to his great-grandson, Weng Zhilian (d. 1919), Changshu and Tianjin; 1919, by inheritance from Weng Zhilian to his son, Wan-go H.C. Weng, Tianjin, New York, and New Hampshire; 2002, transferred to the Hsing Ching Weng Trust, New Hampshire; 2018, gift of the Hsing Ching Weng Trust to the MFA. (Accession Date: December 12, 2018)
