Snow Clearing: Landscape after Li Cheng

Wang Hui

Ink and light color on silk

Metropolitan Museum of Art

A hushed winter world unfolds in this towering hanging scroll, where snow-capped peaks rise through pale mist above a tangle of bare, gnarled trees and a quiet river. Wang Hui, one of the celebrated 'Four Wangs' of early Qing dynasty painting, pays homage to the tenth-century master Li Cheng, reviving his crystalline brushwork and atmospheric restraint to evoke the stillness just after a snowfall. Delicate ink washes build volume into the rocky cliffs while calligraphic inscriptions at the top anchor the work in China's long literati tradition of copying and reinterpreting ancient masters. This serene, monochrome composition brings a meditative, scholarly elegance to any room, rewarding quiet contemplation.