Artwork Page for Bamboo in Moonlight

Details / Information for Bamboo in Moonlight

Bamboo in Moonlight

월하묵죽도 (月下墨竹圖)

1500s

Korea, Joseon dynasty

(1392–1910)
Medium
hanging scroll; ink on paper
Measurements
Painting only: 85.2 x 33.5 cm (33 9/16 x 13 3/16 in.); Overall: 163 x 43.2 cm (64 3/16 x 17 in.)
Credit Line
Andrew R. and Martha Holden Jennings Fund 1987.186
Public Domain
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Location
Not on view
Print
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Did You Know?

This painting is currently in the Korean art collection, but some stylistic features suggest that it may be Japanese.

Description

This painting depicts the full moon shining through a stand of bamboo, and for Joseon literati it would have conveyed the sense of life in harmony with nature to which they aspired. As one of the "four gentlemen" along with plum trees, orchids, and chrysanthemums, bamboo, which has immense flexibility, allowing it bent to extremes without breaking—symbolize a gentleman's noble virtue. Here, the painter depicted the shining moon rising above a bamboo tree to create a meditative nightly scene.
Vertically long hanging scroll depicting bamboo tree stalks branching out into fine, pointed leaves up to the lower edge of the moon hovering among a beige background. The moon is highlighted by showing the beige background circled with smudging grey. Some of the bamboo leaves appear black, layering over lighter grey ones. An organic, rough-edged rock in dark grey shades and an approximate "C" shape with holes nestles at the base of the bamboo.

Bamboo in Moonlight

1500s

Korea, Joseon dynasty (1392–1910)

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