Water Buffalo and Herd Boy under Willows by Xia Gui, Southern Song Dynasty, 13th century

[Photo/artron.net]

The painting depicts a sleeping herd boy and his water buffalo beneath a willow tree. Herd boys and water buffalo appear frequently in paintings from the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279), especially fans and album leaves, symbolizing a cherished ideal of a quite life. Xia Gui, was a Chinese landscape painter of the Song Dynasty. Very little is known about his life and only a few his works survive, but he is generally considered as one of China’s great artists and most of his works are small album leaves, the favorite genre of Song academy painters.

It is now preserved in the Freer Gallery of Art.