Bamboo copied after Wen Tong

Ke Jiusi

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This dramatically cropped image of bamboo reveals neither the plant's base nor its tip; rather, the leaves and branches seem to defy gravity, giving the pendent bough a sense of dynamic movement and growth. The contrasting ink tones and thrusting brushstrokes that define the leaves add to the vitality of the image. Ke Jiusi, a leading connoisseur and curator of the imperial art collection, here demonstrates his scholarly approach to the study of antique models by freely copying a work by the Northern Song master Wen Tong (1019–1079), the patriarch of the monochrome bamboo genre.

Asian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Met's collection of Asian art—more than 35,000 objects, ranging in date from the third millennium B.C. to the twenty-first century—is one of the largest and most comprehensive in the world. Each of the many civilizations of Asia is represented by outstanding works, providing an unrivaled experience of the artistic traditions of nearly half the world.

Metropolitan Museum of Art