Dimensions: 47.5 × 32.5 cm
Artist: Gao Yan (China, 1616–1689)
Collector’s Inscriptions: Preface and colophon by Liang Qichao

A native of Xinhui, Guangdong, Gao Yan, courtesy name Wanggong, was a leading painter, poet, and cursive-script calligrapher of the late Ming and early Qing, celebrated in his time as a master of “the three perfections.” Contemporary critic Miao Yan praised him as “the foremost talent of Guangdong in both character and art.”

Renowned for bold, vigorous landscapes free of slavish imitation, Gao was equally admired for his poetry and calligraphy. In later years his brushwork grew ever more powerful, and his paintings were rarely shown.

This landscape, titled “Autumn Plain, Standing Alone,” bears an introductory inscription and a closing colophon by reformist scholar Liang Qichao, noting its place in his famed Ice-Drinker’s Studio collection and commending Gao as a towering figure of Guangdong’s artistic heritage.