During the tenth and eleventh centuries, majestic trees rivaled panoramic landscapes as sources of artistic inspiration. The hermit-painter Jing Hao (act. 900–930), for example, saw in the pine tree "the moral character of the virtuous man," while the preeminent landscape master Li Cheng (919–967) is said to have painted desolate scenes of winter because "men of virtue are now found only in the wilderness.
Travelers in a Wintry Forest follows a well-known composition by Li Cheng as described by Mi Fu (1051–1107) in his History of Painting. The scene is a microcosm of the natural cycle of growth and decay, with the great pine, symbolizing the virtuous gentleman, surrounded by trees ranging from youthful saplings to a shattered ancient hulk. The stoic silence of the wintry forest is matched by the unyielding spirit of the scholar on his donkey—the noble recluse who has entered the mountains to rediscover in nature the moral order that is lost in the human world.
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宋 佚名 舊傳 李成 寒林策驢圖 軸
Title:Travelers in a Wintry Forest
Artist:Unidentified artist Chinese, active early 12th century
Artist: Traditionally attributed to Li Cheng (Chinese, 919–967)
Period:Song dynasty (960–1279)
Date:early 12th century
Culture:China
Medium:Hanging scroll; ink and color on silk
Dimensions:Image: 63 3/4 × 39 1/2 in. (161.9 × 100.3 cm) Overall with mounting: 10 ft. 3 1/2 in. × 49 in. (313.7 × 124.5 cm) Overall with knobs: 10 ft. 3 1/2 in. × 53 3/8 in. (313.7 × 135.6 cm)
Classification:Paintings
Credit Line:Purchase, Fletcher Fund and Bequest of Dorothy Graham Bennett, 1972
Object Number:1972.121
Inscription: No artist’s inscription, signature, or seal
Colophons
1. Zhang Daqian 張大千(1899–1983), 1 line and 2 columns in semi-cursive script, undated; 2 seals:
A painting by Li Cheng, the best in the world, respectfully treasured in the Dafeng Tang Studio. Zhang Daqian, Yuan, of Shu [Sichuan]. [Seals]: Qian qian qian, Daqian fu
New York. China House Gallery. "Wintry Forests, Old Trees: Some Landscape themes in Chinese Painting," October 10, 1972–January 28, 1973.
Indianapolis Museum of Art. "Wintry Forests, Old Trees: Some Landscape themes in Chinese Painting," February 6, 1973–March 18, 1973.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Patterns of Collecting: Selected Acquisitions, 1965–1975," December 6, 1975–March 23, 1976.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Traditional Scholarly Values at the End of the Qing Dynasty: The Collection of Weng Tonghe (1830–1904)," June 30–January 3, 1999.
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. "The Four Seasons," January 28–August 13, 2006.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Journeys: Mapping the Earth and Mind in Chinese Art," February 10–August 26, 2007.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Anatomy of a Masterpiece: How to Read Chinese Paintings," March 1–August 10, 2008.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Yuan Revolution: Art and Dynastic Change," August 21, 2010–January 9, 2011.
Shanghai Museum. "Masterpieces of Chinese Tang, Song and Yuan Paintings from America," November 3, 2012–January 3, 2013.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Masterpieces of Chinese Painting from the Metropolitan Collection (Rotation Two)," May 7–October 11, 2016.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Streams and Mountains without End: Landscape Traditions of China," August 26, 2017–January 6, 2019.
Cahill, James. An Index of Early Chinese Painters and Paintings: T'ang, Sung, and Yüan. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1980.
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. 11, cat. no. A1-026.
National Palace Museum 國立故宮博物院. Haiwai yizhen: Huihua: zaixu 海外遺珍: 繪畫. 再續 (Chinese art in overseas collections: painting III). Taipei: National Palace Museum, 1990, fig. 5.
Fong, Wen C. Beyond Representation: Chinese Painting and Calligraphy, 8th–14th Century. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1992, pp. 78–82, pls. 9, 9a, b.
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