Zhang Zeduan - Along the River During Qingming Festival

Qingming Shang He Tu detail, 12th century.  Handscroll, painting on silk.

detail

closeup detail

closeup detail

http://www.dpm.org.cn/shtml/2/@/8797.html

I hope to visit China at some point, and when in Beijing, at The Palace Museum, a must see is Zhang Zeduan's original 12th century scroll painting Qingming Shang He Tu, or Along the River During Qingming Festival.  In the exceptional tradition of such paintings, notably those from the Song Dynasty, Zhang Zeduan's is a venerated masterpiece, a national treasure.  It has inspired several copies throughout the years. 

To think, it predates the likes of Hieronymus Bosch or more similarly Pieter Brueghel the Elder by over 300-400 years. 

If we could go back in time, perhaps that'll be the aerial picture from our UFO. 

http://www.chinaonlinemuseum.com/painting-along-the-river.php

Above link to panorama of original Qingming Shang He Tu.

http://depts.washington.edu/chinaciv/painting/4ptgqmsh.htm

http://www.chinaonlinemuseum.com/gallery-zhang-zeduan.php

Above links to detail views.  

http://en.academic.ru/pictures/enwiki/65/Along_the_River_7-119-3.jpg

Above link to panorama of 18th century remake.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qingming_Festival

Above link to compare and contrast both panoramas.  

I could only find one book on the painting that's readily available, Qingming Shang He Tu: Scenes along the River during the Qingming Festival (Better Link Press, 2008). 

http://www.book-wholesale.com/Along-the-River-During-Qingming-Festival-Hardcover%28Song-Dynasty-Zhang-Zeduan%29-g15347.html

Yang Dongsheng's Along the River During Qingming Festival (Tianjin People's Fine Arts Publishing House, 2008) may be a good one to get. 

Other titles I could gather online, in chronological order:
Zhang Anzhi/Zhang Zeduan Qing ming shang he tu yan jiu (1962)
Liu Yuanlin/Qing ming shang he tu zhi zong he yan jiu (1969)
Roderick Whitfield et al./Bright as Silver White as Snow (Resources Ltd, 1998)
Liu Jian Ping/Qingming Festival (Tianjing People's Fine Arts Publishing House, 2004)
Zhao Guang Chao/Notes: Riverside (SDX Joint Publishing Life, 2005)
Ren Hui Ying/Zhang Zeduan Riverside (Liaoning Fine Arts Publishing House, 2006)
Qui Ying/Quiying Model the Along the River During Qingming Festival of Zhang Zeduan (Cultural Relics Publishing House, 2007)
Lei Shao Feng/Assumption Painting (Shandong Pictorial Publishing House, 2008)
Saying Qingming (Shanghai Ancient Books Publishing House, 2008)
Along the River During Qingming Festival (Tianjin People's Fine Arts Publishing House, 2009)
Wu Xue Shan/Zhang Zeduan Riverside (Oxford University Press, 2009)
Anno Mitsumasa/La Chine de Zhang Zeduan (L'Ecole des Loisirs, 2010)
Bei Ji Cang Lang/Riverside (Anhui Literature and Art Publishing House, 2010)
Lambert M. Surhone, Mariam T. Tennoe, Susan F. Henssonow eds./Zhang Zeduan (Betascript Publishing, 2010)
Wang Hong Qi/Special Art Appreciation (Tongji University Press, 2010)
fiction:
Adeline Yen Mah/Along the River: A Chinese Cinderella Story (Delacorte Press, 2010)

http://classify.oclc.org/classify2/ClassifyDemo?ident=fst01363253

Above link to dubiously helpful website.

http://www.lifeofguangzhou.com/node_10/node_37/node_84/2008/09/13/122128109851440.shtml

Above link to article on world's longest woodcarving of Qingming Shang He Tu.

Mahmoud Farshchian

The Hunt

http://farshchian.deviantart.com/

A detail of this painting was featured in Daily Deviations some months ago.  Until then, I hadn't encountered the wonderful works of Mahmoud Farshchian, though he's recognized as a modern master of Persian painting. 

The Guarantor of the Gazelle

The Ashura

The Distant Drummer, Rumi

The great tradition of Persian miniature painting is reinvented by Farshchian.  There's infinite effervescence as well as exquisite detail in his works that even surpass the Limbourg brothers' illuminations notably in Tres Riches Heures du Duc de Berry, graceful with superb composition and color.  One is also reminded of Chan painting and Russian Palekh, and even Delacroix.  I particularly admire the way he depicts vapor, and the way it suggests aesthetic, affective, and existential understanding.  The visions of a mystical dreamer are also somehow our pondering deja vu.

http://www.farshchianart.com/

http://iranpoliticsclub.net/authors/mahmoud-farshchian/index.htm

More images and info at above websites.