The Metropolitan Museum of Art - The Pure Whiteness of Winter

Art Object

A Conversation with Tan Dun: A New "Peony Pavilion" in an Old Context

Composer Tan Dun and Maxwell K. Hearn, Douglas Dillon Curator in Charge of Asian Art, discuss Tan Dun's new version of Peony Pavilion which was staged in The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Astor Court. Inspired by Chinese gardens and previous versions of the Chinese opera, Tan Dun's restaged the classic kunqu opera by condensing it into four acts and presenting it within the confines of the Astor Court, a replica of a Chinese Garden.

This program is presented in conjunction with the exhibition Chinese Garden: Pavilions, Studios, Retreats, on view August 18, 2012–January 6, 2013.

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Sunday at the Met: Cambodian Rattan Discussion
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Sunday at the Met: Cambodian Rattan Performance
(00:28:04) 118 views

The Pure Whiteness of Winter

Xu Jing (Chinese, active first half 15th century)

Period:: Ming dynasty (1368–1644)
Date:: dated 1441
Culture:: China
Medium:: Hanging scroll; ink on silk
Dimensions:: Image: 58 7/8 x 30 in. (149.5 x 76.2 cm) Overall with mounting: 107 3/4 x 37 1/4 in. (273.7 x 94.6 cm) Overall with knobs: 107 3/4 x 41 1/4 in. (273.7 x 104.8 cm)
Classification:: Paintings
Credit Line:: Ex coll.: C. C. Wang Family, Edward Elliott Family Collection, Purchase, The Dillon Fund Gift, 1982
Accession Number:: 1982.1.5

This artwork is not on display

Description

Flowering through snow and cold, plum blossoms are popular symbols of court beauties and of reclusion; as such, they embody romance, tears, lost loves, and the eternal return of springtime. Xu Jing entitled his painting The Pure Whiteness of Winter, partaking of a tradition of imagery in poetry and painting that goes back one thousand years.
See also
Who
Xu Jing (1)
What
Silk (33,917)

Ink (28,428)

Paintings (12,453)

Scroll paintings (1,554)

Scrolls (1,344)

Hanging scrolls (1,247)
Where
Asia (68,122)

China (17,349)
When
A.D. 1400-1600 (20,608)
In the Museum
Asian Art (35,187)
Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History
China, 1400–1600 A.D.

Central and North Asia, 1400–1600 A.D.
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Xu Jing (Chinese, active first half 15th century)

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A Conversation with Tan Dun: A New "Peony Pavilion" in an Old Context

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The Pure Whiteness of Winter

Xu Jing (Chinese, active first half 15th century)

Met Media

Met Kids

Met Store