Woodcutter Receiving a Drink at a Fishing Boat
Classification
Painting
Department
Smithsonian Collection
Museum
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Credit
Gift of Charles Lang Freer
Accession Number
F1918.8
Tags
Charles Lang Freer collectionChinaChinese ArtMing dynasty (1368 - 1644)boatlandscapewillow treewood-gathering
About this artwork
Having laid aside his carrying pole of bundled twigs and sticks, a wood-gatherer stops at a fishing boat moored by the choppy river and accepts a drink from a barefoot fisherwoman wearing a loose, patched robe. A young child leans back on the deck of the roughly roofed boat, casually observing their interaction. While the destitute condition of these ordinary country folk is neither idealized nor obscured, the potential starkness of their poverty is greatly tempered by the simple human warmth an...