I cannot recommend highly enough the just-opened exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum in Chinese Gallery, "Anatomy of a Masterpiece: How to Read Chinese Painting." It contains a number of masterworks on silk (hanging scrolls and hand scrolls, with blown-up photographs that make the sometimes faded details more easily visible. The accompanying text notes (even without the acousti-guide) are excellent at explicating not only the artistic conventions but also the historical context in which these works were produced. For example, the Met does a good job of analyzing the sense of alienation and exile in the scholar-painters during politically dangerous times, such as during the Mongol Yuan reign.