Wen Zhengming,
Wintry Trees, a hanging
scroll painting
China Ming dynasty, dated the 21st day of
the last month in the renyin year of the
Jiajing emperor (AD 1543)
Height: 900.000 mm Width: 310.000 mm
Brooke Sewell Fund
Asia OA 1965.10-11.01 (Chinese Painting
Add. 351)
Asia Wen Zhengming (1470-1559) was the leading
scholar-amateur painter from Suzhou. Together
with his teacher, Shen Zhou (1427-1509), he is
considered a founder of the Wu school of
literati painting (wenren hua). As the epitome of
the Confucian scholar, he excelled at the 'Three
Perfections' (sanjue) demanded of a literati:
poetry, calligraphy (the art of writing with a
brush) and painting.
The painting depicts a forest in winter. The
desolation of winter is expressed through the
absence of colour and the use of a variety of
dry, textured strokes. A single tall pine rises
from the centre and dominates the painting.
However, as an example of a literati painting,
this work goes beyond the simple
representation of the subject matter. It is also an
articulation of the ideas and the emotions of the
artist. The inscription at the top left-hand corner
explains that this landscape is related to the
loss of Wen's wife and the subsequent visit of
condolence by his friend, Li Zicheng. During the
visit, the friends had discussed the work of Li
Cheng, a tenth-century painter who excelled in
the painting of woods in winter. The wintry trees
of this painting were a reminder of that
conversation, and an allusion to old age and
mortality. When Wen made this painting he was
already seventy-three years of age. It took ten
Source URL: http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/asia/w/wen_zhengming,_wintry_trees,_a.aspx
Saylor URL: http://www.saylor.org/courses/arth305/#2.5.1
© Trustees of the British Museum
Used under academic and non-commercial permission.
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hours to complete.
A. Farrer, The brush dances and the ink s
(Hayward Gallery, London, 1990)
J. Rawson (ed.), The British Museum book of
Chi (London, The British Museum Press, 1992)
K. Suzuki (ed.), Comprehensive illustrated cata
(University of Tokyo Press, 1982)
R. Edwards, The art of Wen Cheng-ming (147
(Ann Arbor, 1976)
Source URL: http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/asia/w/wen_zhengming,_wintry_trees,_a.aspx
Saylor URL: http://www.saylor.org/courses/arth305/#2.5.1
© Trustees of the British Museum
Used under academic and non-commercial permission.
Saylor.org
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