The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 25, 2024

Old Trees by a Wintry Brook

Old Trees by a Wintry Brook

1551
(Chinese, 1470–1559)
China, Ming dynasty (1368–1644)
hanging scroll, ink and light color on paper
Image: 114.3 x 47 cm (45 x 18 1/2 in.)
Bequest of Mrs. A. Dean Perry 1997.102
Location: not on view

Description

Wen Zhengming was one of the most celebrated calligraphers and painters during the Ming dynasty (1368–1644). His inscription, gracefully written in small characters on the upper left corner, reveals Wen’s emotional mood at that moment of creation.

"In the fifteenth day of the fifth month, the year of xinhai [1551], [I], Zhengming, playfully write this Old Trees by a Wintry Brook at eighty-two [sui]."

How should we understand a wintery landscape painted in the middle of spring? Was it simply inspired by a surprisingly late spring snow? Or can it be that the “wintery” brook reflects the octogenarian’s feelings about aging and his inevitable, approaching mortality? The junipers’ gnarled forms are a poignant symbol of aging and suffering, yet the ink-dot leaves on some branches suggest that the trees are still alive, awaiting the warmth of spring.
  • Mou Yueqi 繆曰芑 [18th century]
    Hiyoshi collection, Japan
    (Jean-Pierre Dubosc [1904–1988], Paris, France, sold to Mr. and Mrs. A. Dean Perry)
    ?-1997
    A. [Albert] Dean Perry [1909-1987] and Helen Wade Greene Perry [1911-1996], Cleveland, OH, bequest to the Cleveland Museum of Art
    1997-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Naitō, Torajirō 內藤虎次郎. Min shitaika gafu [明四大家畫譜 = Paintings by the four great masters of the Ming dynasty]. Osaka: Hakubundō, 1924. p. 50
    Sirén, Osvald. A History of Later Chinese Painting. London: The Medici Society, 1938. Mentioned and Reproduced: I, 110, pl. 78, and Lists, 241
    Sirén, Osvald. Kinas konst under tre årtusenden. Stockholm: Natur och kultur, 1942. Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 525, fig. 486
    Sirén, Osvald. Chinese Painting: Leading Masters and Principles. New York: Ronald Press, 1956. Mentioned and Reproduced: IV, 184, and VI, pl. 211-B, and VII, Lists, 260
    Masterpieces of Asian Art in American Collections II; An Offering of Treasures Celebrating the Tenth Anniversary of Asia House Gallery. New York: Distributed by New York Graphic Society, 1970. cat. no. 42
    Clapp, Anne de Coursey. Wen Cheng-Ming: The Ming Artist and Antiquity. Ascona: Artibus Asiae Publishers, 1975. Reproduced: pp. 85, 86, fig. 46
    Edwards, Richard. The Art of Wen Cheng-Ming (1470-1559). Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan, 1976. cat. no. 50
    Hironobu Kohara 古原宏伸. Shin Shū, Bun Chōmei [沈周, 文徴明 = Shen Zhou, Wen Zhengming]. Tōkyō: Chūō Kōronsha, 1978. Reproduced:pp. 151, 170, pl. 76
    Loehr, Max. The Great Painters of China. Oxford: Phaidon, 1980. Reproduced: p. 281, fig. 150
    Ho, Wai-kam, Sherman E. Lee, Laurence Sickman, and Marc F. Wilson. Eight Dynasties of Chinese Painting: The Collections of the Nelson Gallery-Atkins Museum, Kansas City, and the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, in cooperation with Indiana University Press, 1980. Reproduced: cat. no. 176, p. 222
    Clunas, Craig. Pictures and Visuality in Early Modern China. London: Reaktion Books, 1997. Reproduced: p. 145, left, no. 77
    Chou, Ju-hsi and Anita Chung. Silent poetry: Chinese paintings from the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 2015. Reproduced: pp. 270-278
    Chou, Ju-hsi and Anita Chung. Silent poetry: Chinese paintings from the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 2015.
    Mentioned: p. 274
  • Chinese Gallery 240a Rotation – August 2016. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (August 1, 2016-February 6, 2017).
    The Fragrance of Ink: Chinese and Japanese Paintings from the Collection of Mrs. A. Dean Perry. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (April 19-August 3, 1997).
    Visions of Landscape: East and West. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (February 17-March 21, 1982).
    Eight Dynasties of Chinese Painting. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art (November 7, 1980-January 4, 1981); The Cleveland Museum of Art (February 10-March 29, 1981); Tokyo National Museum (October 4-November 17, 1982).
    The Art of Wen Cheng-ming. University of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor, MI (January 25-February 29, 1976); Asia House Gallery, New York, NY (April 7-June 7, 1976)
    Masterpieces of Asian art in American collections II; an offering of treasures celebrating the tenth anniversary of Asia House Gallery. Asia House Gallery, New York, NY (Spring 1970).
  • {{cite web|title=Old Trees by a Wintry Brook|url=false|author=Wen Zhengming|year=1551|access-date=25 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1997.102