Recently, the “Splendid Mountains and Rivers—Liao and Jin Dynasties Cultural Relics Themed Exhibition” kicked off at Liaoning Provincial Museum, showcasing the masterpiece painting from the Liao Dynasty (916-1125) Shan Yi Houyue (Waiting to Play Xiangqi amid Mountains). The silk scroll landscape painting, once buried in a Liao Dynasty grave, has been unveiled to the public across over a millennium.

Shan Yi Houyue is a traditional landscape painting characterized by the prominence of blue and green colors, boasting fresh and bright luster. The upper part of the painting displays clustered steep peaks, with white clouds wreathing, and pine forests and pavilions adorning the cliffs. In the middle of the painting, a man holding a wooden stick, accompanied by two boy servants, climbs towards a dwelling in the mountains. Moreover, two men are seen playing xiangqi (Chinese chess) on the open space near a cliff in the painting’s upper left part, with another boy servant waiting upon them.

Painting works from the Liao Dynasty have rarely been handed down. The discovery of the painting Shan Yi Houyue not only demonstrates the characteristics of works in the transition period from green landscape to ink landscape, but also fills the gap in the research materials of Liao Dynasty landscape paintings.