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Nymph of the Luo River
China · Japan · Korea

East Asian Masters

Ink, silk and woodblock genius from across Asia.

🔍 How to spot it

Three giveaways that tell you what you're looking at — even for a painting you've never seen. Each detail below is magnified from the work named beside it.
1

Emptiness is the subject. Bare silk and paper read as mist, water and air. The gaps are doing the work.

detail from Travelers Among Mountains and Streams — Fan Kuan
detail of Travelers Among Mountains and Streams ⤢
2

Line before colour. Everything is built from calligraphic brush line; colour is a thin tint, never a filling-in.

detail from The Great Wave off Kanagawa — Katsushika Hokusai
detail of The Great Wave off Kanagawa ⤢
3

Shifting viewpoint. No single vanishing point — you travel through the scene, and humans are deliberately tiny.

detail from Early Spring — Guo Xi
detail of Early Spring ⤢
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The works

10 paintings in this chapter.

Nymph of the Luo River boss
Nymph of the Luo River
Gu Kaizhi (attributed) · c. 380 (later copy)
Admonitions Scroll
Admonitions Scroll
Gu Kaizhi (attributed) · c. 380 (Tang copy)
Night Revels of Han Xizai
Night Revels of Han Xizai
Gu Hongzhong · 10th c. (Song copy)
Travelers Among Mountains and Streams
Travelers Among Mountains and Streams
Fan Kuan · c. 1000
Early Spring
Early Spring
Guo Xi · 1072
A Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains
A Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains
Wang Ximeng · 1113
Along the River During the Qingming Festival
Along the River During the Qingming Festival
Zhang Zeduan · c. 1120
The Tale of Genji Scroll
The Tale of Genji Scroll
Unknown (Heian period) · c. 1130
Chōjū-jinbutsu-giga
Chōjū-jinbutsu-giga
Toba Sōjō (attributed) · 12th century
Six Persimmons
Six Persimmons
Muqi · 13th century