Wu Boli, a Daoist priest at the Shangqing ("Upper Purity") Temple on Dragon Tiger Mountain, Jiangxi Province, was a close folower of Fang Congyi (ca. 1301–ca. 1392). Dragon Pine was painted for Zhang Yuchu, the forty-third Daoist "pope" of the Orthodox Unity sect, and bears his appreciative colophon.
This animated pine recalls an account by the tenth-century hermit-painter Jing Hao that describes "a gigantic pine tree, its aged bark overgrown with lichen, its winged scales seeming to ride in the air. Its stature is like that of a coiling dragon trying to reach the Milky Way." For Jing Hao, as for later artists, the pine signified "the moral character of the virtuous man." Here, the tree may also represent the Daoist sage, or "perfected being." According to Daoist geomantic beliefs, vital energies collect at the base of a mountain slope along the edge of a stream-precisely the location of the pine in Wu Boli's painting.
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painting
with mounting, rollers and knobs
Artwork Details
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元/明 吳伯理 流水松風圖 軸
Title:Dragon pine
Artist:Wu Boli (Chinese, active late 14th–early 15th century)
Period:Ming dynasty (1368–1644)
Date:late 14th–early 15th century
Culture:China
Medium:Hanging scroll; ink on paper
Dimensions:Image: 48 x 13 1/4 in. (121.9 x 33.7 cm) Overall with mounting: 100 x 18 5/8 in. (254 x 47.3 cm) Overall with knobs: 100 x 21 in. (254 x 53.3 cm)
Classification:Paintings
Credit Line:Edward Elliott Family Collection, Gift of Douglas Dillon, 1984
Accession Number:1984.475.3
Inscription: No artist’s inscription or signature
Artist’s seal
Longhu Shanqiao Wu Chaoyun tushu yin 龍虎山樵吳巢雲圖書印
Colophon
Zhang Yuchu 張宇初 (1361–1410) , 5 columns in standard script, undated; 2 seals:
Douglas Dillon American, New York (until 1984; donated to MMA)
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Peach Blossom Spring," November 21, 1983–June 3, 1984.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Text and Image: The Interaction of Painting, Poetry, and Calligraphy," January 23–August 16, 1999.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The World of Scholars' Rocks: Gardens, Studios, and Paintings," February 1–August 20, 2000.
Art Institute of Chicago. "Taoism and the Arts of China," November 4, 2000–January 7, 2001.
Asian Art Museum of San Francisco. "Taoism and the Arts of China," February 21, 2001–May 13, 2001.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Douglas Dillon Legacy: Chinese Painting for the Metropolitan Museum," March 12–August 8, 2004.
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. "Anatomy of a Masterpiece: How to Read Chinese Paintings," March 1–August 10, 2008.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Arts of the Ming Dynasty: China's Age of Brilliance," January 23–September 13, 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. "Chinese Gardens: Pavilions, Studios, Retreats," August 18, 2012–January 6, 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. "Another World Lies Beyond: Chinese Art and the Divine," August 24, 2019–January 5, 2020.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Noble Virtues: Nature as Symbol in Chinese Art," September 10, 2022–January 29, 2023.
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. 129, cat. no. A17-050.
Morris, Edwin T. The Gardens of China: History, Art and Meanings. New York: Scribner, 1983, p. 34.
Fong, Wen C. Beyond Representation: Chinese Painting and Calligraphy, 8th–14th Century. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1992, p. 476, pl. 115.
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