Bamboo and rock

Bamboo and rock

Deng Yu

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Deng Yu, a leading late Yuan literary Daoist, joined the Orthodox Unity sect of Daoism at the age of twelve. By 1360 he had become the abbot of a Daoist temple in Wenzhou, near the Zhejiang coast, and in 1371 he accompanied the 42nd Celestial Master to the Ming capital, where he repeatedly performed miracles of rainmaking. Bamboo and Rock, executed according to the precepts of the early Yuan scholar-artist Zhao Mengfu (1254–1322), demonstrates Deng's familiarity with the literati aesthetic of calligraphic painting. The bamboo leaves are done in clerical script; the stalks, in seal script; and the rocks, drawn in mixed ink tones, simulate the "flying-white" style of calligraphy. A poem inscribed by Liu Renben, the governor-general of Wenzhou under the rebel leader Fang Guozhen, establishes the date of Deng's painting: After fog and rain, in Jiangnan, Few friends of integrity remain. As autumn fills the shores of the Xiao and Xiang Rivers, Clouds paint the bamboo a deep green.

Asian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

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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.