Cleveland Museum of Art

Landscape

Date: 1644–1911
Medium: soapstone
Culture: China, Qing dynasty (1644-1911)
Department: Chinese Art
Institution: Cleveland Museum of Art

A mountain scenery surrounded by water and fish is meticulously carved out of soapstone, with a pond, bridge, waterfall, and temple front in its center. The unidentified figure scene on the left includes an ox and a man wearing what appears to be a Korean hat. A Buddha figure hidden in the depth of the temple can be glimpsed from the backside. The inscribed pillar on the right reads “Stonegate Cave to Heaven ( shimen dongtian )”. Indentations all over the stone suggest that the miniature mountain was once adorned with precious stones and metal, presumably representing an earthly paradise to which one could escape in one’s mind and imagination. A waterfall plummets down the cliff by the temple and then flows smoothly down to join the river at the front of the landscape scene.

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