Song of the Lute

1585

Not on view

On a chilly autumn evening in 816 CE, the poet Bai Juyi was seeing a friend off at a ferry stop when he heard the sound of a lute drifting across the water. Following the music, he came to a boat from which an aging courtesan issued her mournful song across the darkening river. Moved by the melancholy dignity of the scene, Bai wrote “Song of the Lute” in honor of the courtesan. In this rendering of the famous poem, the only indication of night is the candle between Bai and his friend as they sit in their boat, transfixed by the beauty of the music.

Artwork Details

明　丁雲鵬　潯陽送客圖　軸
Title: Song of the Lute
Artist: Ding Yunpeng (Chinese, 1547–ca. 1621)
Period: late Ming dynasty (1368–1644)
Date: 1585
Culture: China
Medium: Hanging scroll; ink and color on paper
Dimensions: Image: 55 5/8 x 18 1/8 in. (141.3 x 46 cm)
Classification: Paintings
Credit Line: John Stewart Kennedy Fund, 1913
Object Number: 13.100.22
Curatorial Department: Asian Art

More Artwork

By Ding Yunpeng

In the same medium

From the same time and place

Studio in an Autumn Grove, Ding Yunpeng Chinese, Hanging scroll; ink and color on paper, China — Studio in an Autumn Grove
Ding Yunpeng
dated 1578

Dung-Chen, Brass, copper, cloisonné, Chinese — Dung-Chen
Chinese
1368–1644

Woods and Valleys of Mount Yu, Ni Zan Chinese, Hanging scroll; ink on paper, China — Woods and Valleys of Mount Yu
Ni Zan
dated 1372

The Eighteen Luohans, Ding Yunpeng Chinese, Handscroll; ink on paper, China — The Eighteen Luohans
After Ding Yunpeng
19th century?; spurious date of 1607

Pipa (琵琶 ), Wood, ivory, bone, silk, Chinese — Pipa (琵琶 )
Chinese
late 16th–early 17th century

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