Gong Xian, zi Banqian, was a native of Jiangsu province who, in the late Ming, retreated to Nanjing where he earned his living by selling paintings and teaching. Attaining fame as the leading figure of the “Eight Masters of the Jinling School ”, he further developed the jimo (ink piling) technique of the Song dynasty and painted landscapes with layers of dense yet translucent brushstrokes. His use of soft, mottled ink dots gives his paintings a chiaroscuro effect and a sense of vigorous substantiality.

Following his early studies under Dong Qichang, Gong Xian was able to develop his own personal style and he is acclaimed as one of the most important individualist painters of the early Qing period. The contrast of light and dark and the moist-looking ink dots and texture in this album leaf are characteristic of the mature style of his late period. The tall trees depicted with differently delineated foliage are juxtaposed as the focus of the picture, while at the lower right a meandering stream leads the way back to the distant ravines. The composition is confined at the top by the expanse of mist as well as the cottages nestling among the horizontal cliffs, and this arrangement of the background provides a dramatic contrast to the verticality of the trees to convey a sense of nature's durability.