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Here the natural appearance of a gnarled and vine-entangled pine has been transformed into a rhythmic abstraction of brushstrokes and ink tonalities, with unifying opposites—opening and closing, rising and falling—that provide the design across the horizontal scroll. The artist's inscription reads: "The force of change beyond restraint; / The dragon's whiskers are likened to a forest of spears."

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Details

  • Title: Old Pine Tree
  • Creator: Wen Zhengming (Chinese, 1470-1559)
  • Date Created: late 1530s
  • Physical Dimensions: Painting: 28 x 139.3 cm (11 x 54 13/16 in.); Overall: 29.3 x 596.9 cm (11 9/16 x 235 in.)
  • Provenance: Qian Shisheng 錢士昇 [1575–1652], Qing imperial collection (seals of Emperors Qianlong, r. 1736–1795; Jiaqing, r. 1796–1820; and Xuanzong, r. 1909-11), (Jean-Pierre Dubosc [1904–1988], Paris, France, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art), The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Type: Painting
  • Rights: CC0
  • External Link: https://clevelandart.org/art/1964.43
  • Medium: handscroll, ink on paper
  • Original Title: 畫松圖
  • Inscriptions: 變化勢難縛,虬髯似戟森. 徵明 [印]文徵明印; 衡山, 2 partial seals of Qian Shisheng 錢士昇 (1575-1652), 8 imperial seals: 6 of the Qianlong emperor (r. 1736-95); 1 of the Jiaqing emperor (r. 1796-1821); 1 of the Xuantong emperor (r. 1909-11).
  • Department: Chinese Art
  • Culture: China, Ming dynasty (1368–1644)
  • Credit Line: Andrew R. and Martha Holden Jennings Fund
  • Collection: ASIAN - Handscroll
  • Accession Number: 1964.43

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