Washing the White Elephant
Chen Zi bore both the gift and the burden of being trained by his father Chen Hongshou, one of the most original figure painters ever to wield a brush. The junior Chen was taught to work in an identifiable style with a known market, but the shadow of his father’s accomplishment enveloped him, stifling further growth. This work shows Chen Zi’s competence in producing the exaggerated, caricatured figures for which his father was known, but it also reveals a stiffness that set in through the years of pursuing his father’s legacy. The subject is a play on words with Buddhist significance: “to wash the elephant” (saoxiang) is a homophone for “sweeping away attachments,” a key goal of Buddhist practice.
Artwork Details
- 清 陳字 洗象圖 軸
- Title: Washing the White Elephant
- Artist: Chen Zi (Chinese, 1634–1711)
- Period: Qing dynasty (1644–1911)
- Date: undated
- Culture: China
- Medium: Hanging scroll; ink on paper
- Dimensions: Image: 34 5/16 x 15 1/16 in. (87.2 x 38.3 cm)
Overall with mounting: 86 3/4 x 23 in. (220.3 x 58.4 cm)
Overall with knobs: 86 3/4 x 27 1/4 in. (220.3 x 69.2 cm) - Classification: Paintings
- Credit Line: Purchase, The Dillon Fund Gift, 1976
- Object Number: 1976.191
- Curatorial Department: Asian Art
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Returned to lender
Chen Zi
17th or 18th century
Central Tibet
ca. 1700
Leng Mei
18th century
Wang Yuanqi
ca. 1710
Kano Tan'yū
mid-17th century
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