Streams and Mountains Without End is a seminal scholarly monograph by Sherman E. Lee and Wen Fong, first published in 1955 by Artibus Asiae Publishers of Ascona, Switzerland, as Supplementum 14 to the journal Artibus Asiae. A second, revised edition followed in 1967, reflecting the ongoing scholarly development of this important study.
The work takes its title and focus from a specific Northern Sung dynasty handscroll acquired by the Cleveland Museum of Art, where Lee served as director . The authors approach Chinese painting from an objective viewpoint, moving from detailed analysis of this particular scroll to broader conclusions about early Chinese landscape painting. Their collaborative methodology, as noted in the preface, aims to address complex questions for both specialized Sinologists and general art historians.
The physical volume contains 57 pages of text accompanied by 25 plates, some of which fold out to accommodate the horizontal format of the handscroll reproductions. The scholarly apparatus includes bibliographical references and footnotes throughout.
Lee and Fong examine the significance of the Northern Sung handscroll within the broader history of Chinese painting, offering detailed analysis of its stylistic characteristics, compositional principles, and place within the development of landscape representation. The work remains a foundational text in the study of Chinese landscape painting, held in major research libraries including Princeton, the New York Public Library, the National Library of Australia, and numerous university collections.
