Five Water Buffalo

Qi Baishi Chinese

Not on view

This work shows water buffalo in different postures and from various angles to playfully convey a sense of the beloved animal's personality. The artist's inscription reveals that his family found it impossible to part with the delightful image:

I painted this for a family friend. My family persuaded me to repeat the composition and keep it for ourselves, since it is rather amusing.

(Wen Fong, trans., Between Two Cultures: Late-Nineteenth- and Early-Twentieth-Century Chinese Paintings from the Robert H. Ellsworth Collection in The Metropolitan Museum of Art [New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2001], p. 167)

Five Water Buffalo, Qi Baishi (Chinese, 1864–1957), Hanging scroll; ink on paper, China

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painting

Five Water Buffalo, Qi Baishi (Chinese, 1864–1957), Hanging scroll; ink on paper, China
Five Water Buffalo, Qi Baishi (Chinese, 1864–1957), Hanging scroll; ink on paper, China

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