Painting on nonabsorbent gold paper, Li Liufang used a few quickly executed brushstrokes to sketch a stark vignette of a lone figure standing in a sparse grove of trees. The small circle above the figure’s head is the moon; the shallow sense of space and the ghostly, pale ink may be attempts by the artist to capture the qualities of a moonlit landscape.
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明 李流芳 疏林小景 扇
Title:Figure standing in a grove of trees
Artist:Li Liufang (Chinese, 1575–1629)
Period:Ming dynasty (1368–1644)
Date:1613
Culture:China
Medium:Folding fan mounted as an album leaf; ink on gold paper
Dimensions:7 7/32 x 21 7/8 in. (18.4 x 55.6 cm)
Classification:Paintings
Credit Line:John Stewart Kennedy Fund, 1913
Object Number:13.100.70
Inscription: Artist's inscription and signature (3 columns in semi-cursive script)
Painted for Wuchi, the third of the [Yan] brothers, in the tenth month of the guichou year (1613). [Signed] Li Liufang [1]
癸丑十月為無敕三兄作。李流芳
Artist's seal
Liufang zhi yin 流芳之印 (intaglio)
[1] Wuchi is the courtesy name of Yan Chi嚴敕 (16th‒17th c.), one of the three Yan brothers who were active in the literary circle of Hangzhou in the early 17th century.
John C. Ferguson American, until 1913; sold to MMA]
University Art Museum, University of California at Berkeley. "Shadows of Mount Huang: Chinese Painting and Printing of the Anhui School," January 21, 1981–March 15, 1981.
Detroit Institute of Arts. "Shadows of Mount Huang: Chinese Painting and Printing of the Anhui School," July 15, 1981–September 15, 1981.
University Art Museum, University of Texas at Austin. "Shadows of Mount Huang: Chinese Painting and Printing of the Anhui School," October 9, 1981–November 22, 1981.
Princeton University Art Museum. "Shadows of Mount Huang: Chinese Painting and Printing of the Anhui School," December 12, 1981–January 23, 1982.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Streams and Mountains without End: Landscape Traditions of China," August 26, 2017–January 6, 2019.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Companions in Solitude: Reclusion and Communion in Chinese Art," July 31, 2021–August 14, 2022.
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. 207.
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. 27, cat. no. A1-132.
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