This monumental work is one of the monk-painter Hongren's many portraits of the powerfully eccentric pines on Mount Huang, a scenic spot in Anhui Province. He was a guiding figure of the Anhui school of painters, whose common bond was their fascination with the rugged scenery of Mount Huang. Hongren favored a dry linear style that echoed the lofty moral character of the Yuan dynasty recluse-painter Ni Zan (1306–1374). Intense emotion lurks beneath the surface of Hongren's seemingly cool and detached style.
A staunch Ming loyalist, Hongren became a Buddhist monk after the Manchu conquest of the south in 1645. His poem, inscribed on this painting, alludes to the theme of endurance and survival, long associated with the great pine:
Coiled above a mountain peak, his physique is superb. How old is he? What man can tell? the elixir of immortality, at the beginning of time, [The pine's] dense scales and claws were already fully grown.
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清 倣弘仁 黃山蟠龍松圖 軸
Title:Dragon Pine on Mount Huang
Artist:Unidentified artist
Artist: After Hongren (Chinese, 1610–1664)
Period:Qing dynasty (1644–1911)
Date:ca. 1660
Culture:China
Medium:Hanging scroll; ink and pale color on paper
Dimensions:Image: 76 1/4 x 31 in. (193.7 x 78.7 cm) Overall with mounting: 120 1/4 x 38 1/2 in. (305.4 x 97.8 cm) Overall with knobs: 120 1/4 x 41 3/4 in. (305.4 x 106 cm)
Classification:Paintings
Credit Line:Gift of Douglas Dillon, 1976
Object Number:1976.1.2
Inscription: Artist’s inscription and signature (5 columns in semi-cursive script)
Coiled above a mountain peak, his physique is superb. How old is he? What man can tell? When the Yellow Emperor was compounding the elixir of immortality [at the beginning of time], [The pine’s] dense scales and claws were already fully grown [1].
The Dragon Pine on the Yellow Mountain, singled out to present to Master Fuan [Sun Mo, 1613–1678] for his advice. Hongren
Douglas Dillon American, New York (until 1976; donated to MMA)
University Art Museum, University of California at Berkeley. "Shadows of Mount Huang: Chinese Painting and Printing of the Anhui School," January 21, 1981–March 15, 1981.
Detroit Institute of Arts. "Shadows of Mount Huang: Chinese Painting and Printing of the Anhui School," July 15, 1981–September 15, 1981.
University Art Museum, University of Texas at Austin. "Shadows of Mount Huang: Chinese Painting and Printing of the Anhui School," October 9, 1981–November 22, 1981.
Princeton University Art Museum. "Shadows of Mount Huang: Chinese Painting and Printing of the Anhui School," December 12, 1981–January 23, 1982.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The New Chinese Galleries: An Inaugural Installation," 1997.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The World of Scholars' Rocks: Gardens, Studios, and Paintings," February 1–August 20, 2000.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "When the Manchus Ruled China: Painting under the Qing Dynasty (1644–1911)," February 2–August 18, 2002.
Washington, DC. Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution. "Yellow Mountain: The Ever-Changing Landscape," May 31, 2008–August 24, 2008.
Guo Wei 郭威, ed. Dafeng Tang mingji 大風堂名蹟 (Masterpieces from the collection of the Dafeng Tang Studio) [Taipei?]: Yayun Tang, 1954, vol. 1, pl. 33.
Chō Dai-sen 張大千. Taifudo meiseki 大風堂名蹟 (Masterpieces from the collection of the Dafeng Tang Studio) Kyoto: Benrido, 1955–56, vol. 1, pl. 33.
Suzuki Kei 鈴木敬, ed. Chûgoku kaiga sogo zuroku: Daiikan, Amerika-Kanada Hen 中國繪畫總合圖錄: 第一卷 アメリカ - カナダ 編 (Comprehensive illustrated catalog of Chinese paintings: vol. 1 American and Canadian collections) Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press, 1982, p. 163, cat. no. A18-024.
Howard, Kathleen, ed. The Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1983, p. 283, fig. 50.
Wang Shiqing 汪世清, and Wang Cong 汪聪. Jianjiang ziliao ji 漸江資料集 (Collected materials on Jianjiang [Hongren]) Revised ed., Hefei: Anhui renmin chubanshe, 1984, p. 77.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Asia. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1987, p. 95, pl. 59.
Burn, Barbara, ed. Masterpieces of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1993, p. 184.
Howard, Kathleen, ed. The Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide. 2nd ed., New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1994, p. 115, fig. 50.
Chen Chuanxi 陈传席. Zhongguo shanshui hua shi 中国山水画史 (The history of Chinese landscape painting) Tianjin: Tianjin renmin meishu chubanshe, 2001, p. 463.
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