Towering Mountains and Fantastic Waterfalls, c.1600 (ink & colour on silk)

This large painting displays a range of fantastic mountains towering above a group of scholar-recluses gathered together on a pavilion to survey the dense bamboo forest and extraordinarily complex array of waterfalls. Beyond these unlikely watercourses loom magnificently dark and imposing peaks. Zhang Chenglong shows the viewer a duality: the distant mountains are seen as greatly distorted fantastic forms, while those elements in close relationship to the everyday world in the foreground, including human figures, architecture, and bamboos, are all rendered in extreme detail that maintains a great truthfulness to reality. The mountain imagery is thus uniquely different from other worldly phenomena, signifying the notion of mountains as a sacred realm where humans can communicate with transcendental beings or seek refuge.