Cleansing Medicinal Herbs in the Stream on a Spring Day
Medium
Handscroll; ink and color on silk
Dimensions
painting only: 36.2 × 132.5 cm · overall in heigh: h. 38.7 cm
Classification
Painting
Department
Chinese Art
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund
Accession Number
2000.69
Rights
Public Domain
Tags
About this artwork
A famous portraitist, Yu Zhiding here depicts the likeness of Shi Shenyi 史申義 (1661–1712), an official and poet. Master Shi, a sickly man, was deeply interested in medicinal science. The opening section of the scroll features a boy washing a fungus in fresh spring water, a basket of medicinal herbs by his side. Other servants carry a fan, a bundle of scrolls, and a cup of tea or hot wine. Master Shi sits in a bamboo grove, surrounded by fields of herbs. Returning swallows, pink peach blossoms, an...