Japanese Antique Scroll – Foggy Mountain with a Man Walking on a Bridge

Signed
22” scroll/24” roller x ?

This 77 inch x 22 inch Japanese Antique Scroll depicts a serene and foggy landscape with a figure positioned in the lower half. The figure stands on what appears to be a raft or a bridge upon a body of water and holds an elongated tool, perhaps a spear for fishing. A tree emerges from the lower left hand corner of the work and slightly covers the visibility of the long raft that the figure stands upon. The tree, just like the rest of the work, is represented in a painterly style, with light, simple and undefined strokes. The branches are brown, thin strokes and the leaves are small, fanned out strokes that are not connected to the branches or each other and are white and orange/brown. A very faint mountain is depicted as well, emerging from the left hand side of the scroll. The base of the mountain starts from about the halfway mark of the composition, slightly above the figure on the raft, with the point reaching just below the top of the scroll. The base of the mountain has discernible trees, the same trees as the one previously described in the bottom left. The trees are also depicted not just at the base but also on the whole mountain, and their representations begin to get smaller and smaller and eventually disappear towards the mountain top. The mountain and trees are slightly hidden by the dense fog depicted in the scene, making the subject matter less visible, especially towards the top of the composition and around the mountain. There are some thicker/larger brush strokes portrayed on the mountain, creating areas that seem to be very dense parts of the landscape. There are also visible structures that reside on the mountain, specifically two, that fall about halfway from the base of the mountain to the top. The structures resemble traditional Japanese architecture and are painted gold, making them stand out from the earth tones used to paint the mountain and trees surrounding the structures. The watercolor scene is bordered by pale green silk fabric that has a pattern of organic lines throughout the border, framing the piece along with adding texture.