Rocky Landscape with Pines

Zhang Xun

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

A native of Suzhou, Zhang Xun maintained a peripatetic existence, supporting himself through tutoring and painting. Contemporaries note that he was widely learned, good at literary compositions, and an excellent calligrapher; in painting, he followed tenth-century prototypes, painting bamboo in the outline drawing method and landscapes in the manner of Juran (active ca. 960–95). Adhering strictly to tenth-century models, this landscape in the Juran mode is uncompromisingly austere and abstract. Written when Zhang was about fifty, the poem echoes the melancholy of the uninhabited landscape: On the rocky [landscape] pine blossoms fall and bloom again. The mountain Ailanthus, useless [for its timber], has grown to full size. No cart has ever reached this woodcutter's path. Now with hair gray, I have passed fifty years in vain.

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