Artwork Page for Five Pine Trees

Details / Information for Five Pine Trees

Five Pine Trees

五松圖

1747

Li Shan 李鱔

(Chinese, c. 1686–1762)
Culture
China, Qing dynasty (1644–1911), Qianlong reign (1736–95)
Medium
Hanging scroll; ink on paper
Measurements
Image: 199.9 x 94.3 cm (78 11/16 x 37 1/8 in.); Overall: 260 x 98 cm (102 3/8 x 38 9/16 in.)
Credit Line
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1976.112
Public Domain
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Location
Not on view
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Did You Know?

The writing among the branches illustrates the kinship between painting and calligraphy.

Description

Li Shan was born into a family of scholars and officials in Yangzhou. The wealth and status of Li's family assured him an educational and cultural advantage, including his appointment at court. The subjects Li Shan chose to paint—orchids, bamboo, pines, and flowers—reflected his literati background. Five Pine Trees, painted late in his career, is an unconventional work. Rather than having focused on a realistic treatment of the subject, Li created the trees with an interplay of richly modulated strokes, while he utilized a semicursive script among the branches to illustrate the kinship between painting and calligraphy.
A hanging scroll in black and gray ink strokes depicts a dense cluster of gnarled pine trees with Chinese calligraphy throughout (see "Inscriptions"). Thick, interlocking trunks with textured bark fill the composition, while dark masses of needle-like foliage cover the branches. Multiple columns of text wind between the trunks, concentrated toward our right and bottom. The monochromatic palette uses varying ink shades against off-white paper to create an interlocking, textured forest scene.

Five Pine Trees

1747

Li Shan

(Chinese, c. 1686–1762)
China, Qing dynasty (1644–1911), Qianlong reign (1736–95)

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