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Crows in Old Trees

Luo Zhichuan Chinese
early 14th century
Not on view
This painting, by the southern artist Luo Zhichuan, demonstrates the renewed interest in the brush idioms of the Northern Song artists Li Cheng (919–967) and Guo Xi (ca. 1000–ca. 1090) that grew after the Mongol conquest forcefully reunified north and south China in 1279. Luo’s painting may be read as a bleak commentary on life under the Mongols, for the image of a wintry grove of trees has long been understood as a metaphor for like-minded men enduring political adversity. Similarly, the two male pheasants on the shore in the foreground symbolize scholars living in reclusion, while the varied pattern (wen) of their plumage is a symbol of literary cultivation (also wen). Luo contrasts their stoic endurance with the agitated movement of dozens of circling crows—a reference to petty opportunists.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • 元　羅稚川　古木寒鴉圖　軸
  • Title: Crows in Old Trees
  • Artist: Luo Zhichuan (Chinese, active ca. 1300–30)
  • Period: Yuan dynasty (1271–1368)
  • Date: early 14th century
  • Culture: China
  • Medium: Hanging scroll; ink and color on silk
  • Dimensions: Image: 52 x 31 5/8 in. (132.1 x 80.3 cm)
    Overall with mounting: 9 ft. 6 1/4 in. x 38 3/4 in. (290.2 x 98.4 cm)
    Overall with knobs: 9 ft. 6 1/4 in. x 42 1/2 in. (290.2 x 108 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: Ex coll.: C. C. Wang Family, Purchase, Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, by exchange, 1973
  • Object Number: 1973.121.6
  • Curatorial Department: Asian Art

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Crows and Bare Trees in Winter, Unidentified artist Chinese, Fan mounted as an album leaf; ink and color on silk, China
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Emperor Xuanzong's Flight to Shu, Unidentified artist Chinese, active mid-12th century, Hanging scroll; ink, color, and gold on silk, China
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Woods and Valleys of Mount Yu, Ni Zan Chinese, Hanging scroll; ink on paper, China
Woods and Valleys of Mount Yu
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Old Trees, Level Distance, Guo Xi Chinese, Handscroll; ink and color on silk, China
Old Trees, Level Distance
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