Artwork Details
Artist
Creation Date
Materials
Object Types
Dimensions
62-7/8 16-5/16 in. (image) 94-3/16 x 23 in. (mount) 94-3/16 x 26-1/4 in. (installed)
Period
Dynasty
Accession Number
Credit Line
Gift of Dr. Merrill Grayson
Copyright
Collection
Asian Art (Chinese and other Asian)
Color Palette
Gallery Labels
綠竹
乾隆五十又三年四月子餘顧鶴慶寫畫
During the fourth month of the fifty-third year of the Qianlong reign [1788] Ziyu, Gu Haoqing painted [this].
Bamboo became the symbol of the gentleman because it embodies the virtues of humbleness, rectitude and purity. It bends in the wind (of adversity) and does not break as a rigid tree might.
About a thousand years ago, an examiner was bored while waiting for students to finish their exams, so he used red ink to paint some bamboo. Later, someone complained about the painting being unnatural because the artist hadn't used black ink. The artist replied by asking who had ever seen black bamboo.
Gu Haoqing's use of a soft, thin green ink instead of black ink, though perhaps a more natural color, makes this image unusual in the long tradition of bamboo painting.
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