Between the years 900 and 1100, Chinese painters created visions
of landscape that depicted the sublimity of creation. Viewers
are meant to identify with the human figures in these paintings.
In Summer Mountains, travelers make their way toward a temple
retreat. The central mountain sits in commanding majesty, like
an emperor among his subjects, the culmination of nature’s
hierarchy. The advanced use of texture strokes and ink wash
suggests that Summer Mountains is by a master working about
1050, a date corroborated by collectors’ seals belonging to the
Song emperor Huizong (r. 1101–25), whose paintings catalogue
records three works entitled Summer Scenery by the otherwise
unknown artist Qu Ding.