COLLECTION NAME:
National Palace English
Record
Work ID:
M01E00195
Title:
Three Friends of the Cold Winter
Creation Date:
Song Dynasty
Start Year Date:
A.D.960
End Year Date:
A.D.1279
Dynasty:
39 Song Dynasty (A.D. 960~1279)
Creator:
Zhao Meng-jian
Creation Place:
China
Measurements:
32.2 x 53.4 cm
Material:
Ink on paper
Form:
Ce-ye (album leaf)
Type:
Painting
Subject:
Flowers and Plants
Repository:
The National Palace Museum, Taipei
Description:
Zhao Mengjian has painted in ink the "three friends of the cold winter"- the pine, bamboo, and plum. For the pine, he stacks and aligns the pine needles so that their arrangement shows rich variations. To depict plum, he uses dark ink and a thin brush, drawing circles and hooks to represent the petals, and then pale ink wash to color the lining. For the bamboo, he turns single brushstrokes into leaves. As we can see, the techniques for painting pine, bamboo, and plum differ. The result must be lively and moving as the artist strives to paint a likeness and to convey a more abstract idea. In 1127, the Song Dynasty moved its capital to the south. In this environment Zhao Mengjian painted mostly plum, orchids, bamboo and rocks, narcissus and the like, all subjects that had qualities of virtue and of being above the fray of politics. These subjects came to signify metaphorically a situation in which one may be near a chaotic world yet remain virtuous and lofty. Because of this political situation Zhao and others of later generations who moved south shared a common set of emotional responses.
ImageV ID:
M01E00195AS005
Rights:
Lee & Lee Communications