Winter landscape with fisherman

Shi Zhong

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

A professional painter from Nanjing, Shi Zhong was noted for his eccentric manner and unrestrained style of painting. Employing a dazzling combination of pale ink washes, dark outlines, and texture strokes, Shi's spontaneous execution led him to favor winter scenery in which his scratchy trees and jagged rocks would stand forth against the unpainted white of the paper background. On this work, the artist, who signs himself "Old Fool," has added an enigmatic poem suggesting that his spontaneous style represents an effort to attain an unencumbered naturalness: The Hall of the Xiang River immortal is as clean as water, May my brush be as truthful as that of an old fool. It seems that the waterfalls and rocks can avoid vulgarity, I, too, know that in attaining samadhi [enlightenment] one may achieve the divine.

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