A colophon on the mounting of this painting written by the collector Wang Wen-chih (1730-1802) attributes this inkwash landscape to the important late Sung, early Yuan artist, Kao K'o-kung (1248-1310). Although associated with Kao's early style, technically and conceptually this moist atmospheric landscape is a clear link to an earlier tradition begun by Mi Fu (1051-1107) during the Northern Sung era.
Graduated inkwashes have been applied in a limited range of tonal densities, and only a few brushstrokes, many consisting of simple horizontal dots, are used to construct the impressionistic landscape forms. This basic style, reliant on inkwash technique rather than precise delineation, had tremendous influence on subsequent landscape painting in both China and Japan. This early scroll provides a rare glimpse into the evolution of late thirteenth-fourteenth century painting, a critical period when the fundamentals of literati painting began to be formulated.