Writing Books under the Pine Trees
c. 1308–85
Medium
Album leaf; ink and color on paper
Dimensions
67.6 × 71.4 cm · image: 66.7 × 70.5 cm
Classification
Painting
Department
Chinese Art
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Bequest of Mrs. A. Dean Perry
Accession Number
1997.94
Tags
About this artwork
Wang Meng, born into a distinguished family in Wuxing (modern Huzhou), Zhejiang province, was the maternal grandson of Zhao Mengfu (1254–1322). Aside from intermittent political commitments under the foreign Mongol and Ming governments, Wang dedicated most of his life to retirement, as conveyed in this painting. By the 1360s, when the Red Turbans began to rebel against the Yuan dynasty leaders, and the Mongols gradually lost control over Jiangnan, Wang Meng withdrew into the mountains north of H...