By a mountain river a scholar plays the zither, lost in thought. Dressed in ancient Song dynasty garb, he sits on a leopard skin, which is a symbol of spiritual transcendence for Daoist immortals or Buddhist figures of salvation.
The court painter Liu Songnian was considered one of the best figure and landscape painters of the academy in Hangzhou. His painting style, evident in this late copy, combines the monumental mountain formations of Northern Song painting with the diagonal composition and calligraphic brushwork (‘axe strokes’) of the Southern Song. The seal at the top centre belongs to Nalan Xingde (1655–1685), a poet and art collector who was a member of the imperial family. Therefore, he felt authorized to place his seal in this prominent position, which is typically reserved for the emperor.