Landscape with a Distant Temple
Unknown Artist
1600s
Medium
hanging scroll; ink on paper
Dimensions
195.6 × 57.2 cm · painting only: 107.7 × 45 cm
Classification
Painting
Department
Japanese Art
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
The Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund
Accession Number
1979.52
About this artwork
A traveler has presumably descended from the distant temple compound that consists of several buildings linked together by a winding trail lined with steps. The highest point in the compound is occupied by the most sacred structure in Buddhist temple architecture: a mulitroofed pagoda. This rugged landscape, with its towering craggy peaks, pine forests, and river, typifies the idealized image of religious sanctuary in East Asian medieval ink painting.