This painting shows Wu Zhen's creative adaptation of the "old tree, bamboo, and rock" genre first canonized by eleventh-century scholar-artists. The painting's large scale and use of overlapping forms and graded ink tones to create an illusion of recession, and of rich, wet ink to evoke the appearance of foliage after a drenching rain, recall the descriptive naturalism of Song-dynasty precedents. But Wu tempered this naturalistic approach with a new calligraphic assertiveness inspired by the work of Zhao Mengfu (1254–1322). Bamboo leaves have been reduced to a calligraphic formula of repeating, pattern-like clusters, and the texture strokes and foliage dots used to describe rock surfaces have become emphatic mannerisms derived from the tenth-century masters Dong Yuan and Juran.
In his later years, Wu Zhen specialized in bamboo painting, but even here, in his earliest extant depiction of bamboo, the artist's admiration for this plant is evident, particularly in his poetic inscription:
Tall stalks pierce the clouds. Perhaps you find it strange, Not recognizing the wings of a phoenix. A pure sound enters the realm of the soundless, Do not let Zhonglang blow his long-necked flute.
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painting
with mounting, rollers and knobs
inscription
Artwork Details
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元 吳鎮 高節凌雲圖 軸
Title:Bamboo, old tree, and rock
Artist:Wu Zhen (Chinese, 1280–1354)
Period:Yuan dynasty (1271–1368)
Date:dated 1338
Culture:China
Medium:Hanging scroll; ink on silk
Dimensions:Image: 65 5/8 x 38 1/2 in. (166.7 x 97.8 cm) Overall with mounting: 117 1/2 x 39 1/2 in. (298.5 x 100.3 cm) Overall with knobs: 117 1/2 x 43 7/8 in. (298.5 x 111.4 cm)
Classification:Paintings
Credit Line:Ex coll.: C. C. Wang Family, Gift of Oscar L. Tang Family, 2012
Object Number:2012.526.1
Inscription: Artist’s inscription and signature (4 columns in cursive script)
Reaching high into the clouds, aware in vain of being extraordinary, Who recognizes it as the perch of the phoenix? The supreme tune is what attains the soundless realm; Don't play the flute that the Leader of Court Gentlemen [Cai Yong, 133–192] used to play.
In summer, the fifth lunar month of the fourth year of the Zhiyuan reign era [1338], Meihua Daoren [the Plum-blossom Daoist] playfully painted this.[1]
高節凌雲空自奇， 誰人識是鳳凰枝。 至音已入無聲譜， 莫把中郎□笛吹。
至元四年夏五月梅花道人戲墨。
Artist’s seals
Meihua An 梅華盦 Jiaxing Wu Zhen Zhonggui shuhua ji 嘉興吳鎮仲圭書畫記
Label strip
Zhao Shigang 趙時棡 (1874–1945), 1 column in clerical script and 2 columns in semi-cursive script, dated 1939; 1 seal:
元吳仲圭 《古木竹石》 真蹟 林氏半角草堂珍藏 已卯秋月趙時棡署。 [印]: 叔孺
Collectors’ seals
Liang Qingbiao 梁清標 (1620–1691) 蕉林 觀其大略 蕉林收藏
Qian Yue 錢樾 (1743–1815) 嘉善錢樾橅棠鑒藏
Wang Jiqian 王季遷 (C. C. Wang, 1907–2003) 王氏季遷珍藏之印 王季遷氏審定真跡
Illegible 1
[1] Translation by Shi-yee Liu.
Marking:
Oscar L. Tang Family , New York (until 2012; donated to MMA)
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The New Chinese Galleries: An Inaugural Installation," 1997.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Artist as Collector: Masterpieces of Chinese Painting from the C.C.Wang Family Collection," September 2, 1999–January 9, 2000.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The World of Scholars' Rocks: Gardens, Studios, and Paintings," February 1–August 20, 2000.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Art of the Brush: Chinese Painting and Calligraphy," March 12–August 14, 2005.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Bridging East and West: The Chinese Diaspora and Lin Yutang," September 15, 2007–February 10, 2008.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Landscapes Clear and Radiant: The Art of Wang Hui (1632–1717)," September 9, 2008–January 4, 2009.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Yuan Revolution: Art and Dynastic Change," August 21, 2010–January 9, 2011.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Masterpieces of Chinese Painting from the Metropolitan Collection (Rotation Two)," May 7–October 11, 2016.
Sirén, Osvald. Chinese Painting: Leading Masters and Principles, Annotated Lists of Paintings and Reproductions of Paintings by Chinese Artists. vol. 7, New York: Ronald Press, 1956–58, p. 143.
Cahill, James. An Index of Early Chinese Painters and Paintings: T'ang, Sung, and Yüan. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1980.
Lee, Sherman E., and Wai-kam Ho. Zhongyang yanjiuyuan guoji hanxue huiyi lunwenji 中央研究院國際漢學會議論文集 (Proceedings of the International Conference on Sinology, Section of History of Arts): The Nature and Significance of the Collection of Liang Ch'ing-Piao. vol. 10, Taipei: The Academia Sinica, 1980, p. 136, cat. no. 177.
Suzuki Kei 鈴木敬, ed. Chûgoku kaiga sogo zuroku: Daiikan, Amerika-Kanada Hen 中國繪畫總合圖錄: 第一卷 アメリカ - カナダ 編 (Comprehensive illustrated catalog of Chinese paintings: vol. 1 American and Canadian collections) Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press, 1982, p. 94, cat. no. A14-042.
Barnhart, Richard M. Along the Border of Heaven: Sung and Yüan Paintings from the C. C. Wang Family Collection. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1983, pp. 130–31, fig. 59.
Bian Yongyu 卞永譽. Shigu Tang shuhua huigao 式古堂書畫彚考 (Studies of calligraphy and painting of the Shigu Tang Studio). Preface dated 1682, juan 11. Reprinted in Zhongguo shuhua quanshu 中國書畫全書 (Compendium of classical publications on Chinese painting and calligraphy) Edited by Lu Fusheng 盧輔聖. Shanghai: Shanghai shuhua chubanshe, 1993–2000, vol. 6, p. 841.
Gu Fu 顧復. Pingsheng zhuangguan 平生壯觀 (Magnificent things seen in my life). Preface dated 1692, juan 9. Reprinted in Zhongguo shuhua quanshu 中國書畫全書 (Compendium of classical publications on Chinese painting and calligraphy) Edited by Lu Fusheng 盧輔聖. vol. 4, Shanghai: Shanghai shuhua chubanshe, 1993–2000, vol. 4, pp. 992–93.
Wang Keyu 汪砢玉. Wang shi shanhu wang minghua tiba 汪氏珊瑚網名畫題跋 (Inscriptions on famous paintings from the Coral Net). Preface dated 1643. Juan 20. Reprinted in Zhongguo shuhua quanshu 中國書畫全書 (Compendium of classical publications on Chinese painting and calligraphy) Edited by Lu Fusheng 盧輔聖. Shanghai: Shanghai shuhua chubanshe, 1993–2000, vol. 5, p. 1236.
Yang Zhenguo 杨振国. Haiwai cang Zhongguo lidai ming hua: Liao, Jin, Xixia, Yuan 海外藏中国历代名画: 辽, 金, 西夏, 元 (Famous paintings of successive periods in overseas collections) Edited by Lin Shuzhong 林树中. vol. 4, Changsha: Hunan meishu chubanshe, 1998, p. 165, pl. 102.
Hearn, Maxwell K., and Wen C. Fong. Along the Riverbank: Chinese Paintings from the C. C. Wang Family Collection. Exh. cat. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1999, pp. 94–97, pls. 4a–c.
Unidentified artist Chinese, active mid-12th century
mid-12th century
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