Woman lost in thought beneath a wutong tree
Images of women in garden settings were popular during the nineteenth century. Sha Fu, a professional painter from Shanghai, was one of the most prolific and sensitive practitioners of the genre. Here, he uses multiple brush modes—broad, chunky lines and washes for the tree, sharp, fine lines for the robe, and meticulous strokes for the face—to depict a woman leaning wistfully on a stone balustrade, bamboo flute in hand. The small circle of reserved paper in the sky indicates that this is a night scene lit by the moon.
Artwork Details
- 清 沙馥1 桐陰凝思圖 軸
- Title: Woman lost in thought beneath a wutong tree
- Artist: Sha Fu (Chinese, 1831–1906)
- Period: Qing dynasty (1644–1911)
- Date: late 19th or early 20th century
- Culture: China
- Medium: Hanging scroll; ink and color on paper
- Dimensions: Image: 38 3/16 × 15 3/16 in. (97 × 38.5 cm)
Overall with mounting: 76 9/16 × 20 11/16 in. (194.5 × 52.5 cm)
Overall with knobs: 76 9/16 × 24 in. (194.5 × 61 cm) - Classification: Paintings
- Credit Line: Gift of Jane DeBevoise and the Calello Family, 2024
- Object Number: 2024.549.33
- Curatorial Department: Asian Art
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Sha Fu
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