Drinking and Composing Poetry

Drinking and Composing Poetry

Yao Shou

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Yao Shou left government service in 1468 and retired to Jiaxing, hometown of the Yuan artist Wu Zhen (1280–1354), to devote himself to self-cultivation and the arts. Taking Wu Zhen's paintings as his model, Yao Shou had an important influence on Suzhou (Wu school) artists through his friendship with the Suzhou amateur Shen Zhou (1427–1509). Yao's round brush lines, vigorous dotting, and subtle ink washes in Drinking to the Accompaniment of Letters derive from Wu Zhen; the same vocabulary of brushstrokes forms the basis of Shen Zhou's painting style. In subject matter, too, Yao's focus on his garden retreat—represented by the Yuan convention of a thatched hut—presages Wu school artists' fondness for depicting the gardens and specific topographic sites where they gathered to create or appreciate poetry and paintings.

Asian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Drinking and Composing PoetryDrinking and Composing PoetryDrinking and Composing PoetryDrinking and Composing PoetryDrinking and Composing Poetry

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.