Spring Clouds at the Pine Studio

Spring Clouds at the Pine Studio

Zhang Yu

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

A poet, calligrapher, and painter known as one of the Ten Friends of the North Wall, Zhang Yu lived in the Suzhou area before the end of the Yuan dynasty. He accepted an appointment in 1371 to serve the Ming, but despite the loyal services he performed his earlier friendships made him suspect in the eyes of the Ming founder, Zhu Yuanzhang (r. 1368–98), and he was eventually driven to suicide. This landscape, painted two years before the founding of the Ming dynasty, shows the artist in the peaceful state of mind of the recluse. In late Yuan painting the depiction of a thatched studio by a stream became popular as a symbol of the scholar's condition—a life in reclusion. Zhang Yu's poetic sensibility is expressed through the subtle use of ink wash and pale colors and in the suggestion of dense moisture-laden clouds dissipating after a spring shower. The descriptive realism of the work relates the painter to the more conservative styles of the early Yuan period; the horizontal black and blue-green "Mi" dots may have been inspired by Spring Mountains and Pines (National Palace Museum, Taipei), attributed to Mi Fu (1052–1107).

Asian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Spring Clouds at the Pine StudioSpring Clouds at the Pine StudioSpring Clouds at the Pine StudioSpring Clouds at the Pine StudioSpring Clouds at the Pine Studio

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.