Old Trees, Level Distance

Old Trees, Level Distance (Traditional Chinese: 樹色平遠圖; Pinyin: Shù sè píng yuǎn tú) is a Song dynasty handscroll on silk painting by Guo Xi.

Completed in 1080, it is also a considered a prominent example of the "Northern Song" style of Chinese landscapes to which this piece has often been studied alongside that of Early Spring, current housed in the National Palace Museum.

[1][2] Darkened with age, the painting depicts two fishing boats on a chilly autumn, two withered trees with hanging vines, in a wide river valley.

[1][2] At the end of the scroll (read from right to left) a rustic pavilion overlooks the river, with two old men walking their way, accompanied by five servant boys attending and setting up a picnic.

[3] The painting has gone centuries of ownership and viewership amongst the Imperial dynasties along with prominent artists as indicated by seals and colophons that annotate the original work.

Colophone in the scroll, featuring an annotation by Zhao Mengfu .