Drawn on silk, Swimming Goose by Flowers and Rocks is an ink and colour painting by Chinese artist Sun Long (from the Jiangsu Province), who is known for depicting various animals, as well as flowers and fruits. While the exact year of creation is unknown, this painting is believed to have been created during the Ming Dynasty (1368 - 1644).
The painting depicts a pondside scenery: a goose, standing beneath an ornamental garden rock and a drooping branch of leaves, gazes out towards the water.
While some of the details (such as the feathers of the goose or the blades of grass) are depicted through meticulous outlining, Sun’s artwork heavily utilises the Mogu (没骨, literally meaning “boneless”) painting technique, where colour or ink is applied without distinct outlines. This technique is especially evident in the head of the goose as well as the leaves in the background, where the representation is formed through blots of ink, using different degrees of ink concentration and bleeding to create a sense of depth. By uniting varying ink techniques, combining details with depth, Sun is able to create a range of textures, imbuing his artwork with a sense of naturalism.
Swimming Goose by Flowers and Rocks is currently located in Palace Museum, Beijing.
A Natural portrait of a goose in a backdrop of a garden. The claimed mogu style of painting showcases a simplistic but still realistic depiction of a goose and its surroundings in this painting. Looking into what the goose represents in traditional chinese culture and philosophy, Geese are seen to be most popularly portrayed as a pair signifying marital integrity and loyalty. The sole goose here may be a portrayal of something opposite to that, loneliness. But that doesnt take away from the beauty of the piece, telling a very quick tale of beauty even in loneliness if looked at with the cultural lens.
