Artwork Page for The Poet Lin Bu Wandering in the Moonlight

Details / Information for The Poet Lin Bu Wandering in the Moonlight

The Poet Lin Bu Wandering in the Moonlight

陪月閒行圖

late 1400s

Du Jin 杜堇

(Chinese, 1446-c. 1519)
Culture
China, Ming dynasty (1368–1644)
Medium
Hanging scroll; ink and color on paper
Measurements
Image: 156.4 x 72.4 cm (61 9/16 x 28 1/2 in.); Overall with knobs: 286.4 x 99 cm (112 3/4 x 39 in.)
Credit Line
John L. Severance Fund 1954.582
Public Domain
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Location
Not on view
Print
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Did You Know?

Lin Bu withdrew from prestigious government service and lived as a hermit by the West Lake in Hangzhou.

Description

Lin Bu (967–1028), a Northern Song (960–1127) poet and hermit who lived at the West Lake in Hangzhou, was known for having plum trees for his female companions and cranes for his children. This hanging scroll depicts the poet walking in the moonlight and looking at the plum tree, a scene described in his most well-known poem on plum blossoms.

Surviving works signed by Du Jin are rare and this painting is one of them. Here, the artist used lively brushwork to depict the plum tree and rocks, exemplified in varying dots and strokes, and sweeps in different shades of ink.
A hanging scroll in black ink depicts Lin Bu, a man with light skin tone, walking to our right and looking up at a gnarled plum tree in a rocky landscape. Lin Bu, wears a robe and has a sparse mustache and goatee. Over the tree fine swirls layer and streaking branches in darker shades, alongside dark dots and streaks on the tree and rocks. Text extends down from the upper left (see "Inscriptions").

The Poet Lin Bu Wandering in the Moonlight

late 1400s

Du Jin

(Chinese, 1446-c. 1519)
China, Ming dynasty (1368–1644)

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