Duxiu Peak, 1827, Aoki Mokubei, Japanese, 1767 - 1833, 81 ¡Ñ 22 5/8 in. (205.74 ¡Ñ 57.47 cm) (without roller)47 1/2 ¡Ñ 16 3/4 in. (120.65 ¡Ñ 42.55 cm) (image), Ink and color on paper, Japan, 19th century, Japanese paintings of China often depict imagined locales, but this lone mountain peak rising dramatically at river¡¦s edge is an actual place: Duxiufeng, or 'Solitary Beauty Peak,' on the banks of the Li River in south central China. In the late 1300s, this mountain¡Xwhich poets described as being so uniquely beautiful that no other mountain could compare¡Xwas chosen as the site for an enormous estate constructed for a prince under the first emperor of the Ming dynasty (1368¡V1644), the Hongwu emperor. Thereafter, generations of imperial princes called the palace home until the mid-1700s when the dynasty came to an end. Even today in China the site is commonly dubbed 'City of Princes.' The mountain, palace, and the site¡¦s 5,000-foot-long walls are all described in an inscription in the upper right of the painting by Rai San¡¦y? (1780¡V1832), a leading scholar in Japan¡¦s capital of Edo (now Tokyo). Another inscription, at left, is by the painter himself, who records that he modeled this work after a Chinese painting he had seen in a friend¡¦s collection.