Old Trees by a Wintry Brook
Medium
hanging scroll, ink and light color on paper
Dimensions
114.3 × 47 cm
Classification
Painting
Department
Chinese Art
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Bequest of Mrs. A. Dean Perry
Accession Number
1997.102
Tags
male
About this artwork
Wen Zhengming was one of the most celebrated calligraphers and painters during the Ming dynasty (1368–1644). His inscription, gracefully written in small characters on the upper left corner, reveals Wen’s emotional mood at that moment of creation. "In the fifteenth day of the fifth month, the year of xinhai [1551], [I], Zhengming, playfully write this Old Trees by a Wintry Brook at eighty-two [sui]." How should we understand a wintery landscape painted in the middle of spring? Was it simply insp...