A Trio of National Treasures

• Fan Kuan (ca. 950-after 1032), Song dynasty_preview
• National Treasure
• Verified and declared by the Ministry of Culture in March 2012

A commoner born in Huayuan, Shaanxi, Fan Kuan was a painter who used his unique way of observing nature to create great mountains of incomparable majesty. The densely textured rocks appear to be pock-marked by rain and even similar to raindrops on the surface, while the sliver of a cascading waterfall seems to create a most sonorous sound for the temple half concealed in the forest below. Behind the tiny travelers and donkey train is Fan Kuan's skillfully concealed signature that had been lost for ages. For a thousand years, this painting remained anonymous every time it silently told its intriguing story of travelers among mountains and streams.

• Guo Xi (ca. 1023-after 1087), Song dynasty
• National Treasure
• Verified and declared by the Ministry of Culture in March 2012

Guo Xi was a Northern Song painter active at the imperial court and an important art theorist. His "Early Spring" masterpiece from 1072 is his most classical surviving work. It perfectly describes the season of early springtime, after the auspicious snows of winter have melted for crops to be planted as the earth gradually comes back to life. The realistic forms of mountains, trees, and buildings are surrounded by formless mists and fluid waters. As the cold of winter dissipates and the warmth of spring arrives, everywhere the land literally is ready to turn over a new leaf, creating an ideal landscape for walking, viewing, traveling, and residing on the part of the viewer.

• Li Tang (ca. 1049-after 1130), Song dynasty
• National Treasure
• Verified and declared by the Ministry of Culture in March 2012

Li Tang was a major artist in the transition between the Northern and Southern Song. His "Whispering Pines in Myriad Valleys" from the late Northern Song belongs to the "monumental" style of landscape painting but differs from both "Travelers Among Mountains and Streams" and "Early Spring" in that it does not include any figures or architecture. Furthermore, the main peak is intentionally reduced in proportion so as to focus on the rocks and trees in front, reducing the distance between the foreground pines and the viewer. As if in a secluded valley deep in the mountains, you can almost hear the pines whispering in the wind. Along with the sound of rushing water, the painting seems to recreate the symphony of music in nature.