A refuge since its discovery in the fourth century, Mount Tiantai is a legendary dwelling place of Buddhist holy men; its natural stone bridge is a fabled point of connection between this world and the paradise of the immortals. Dai Benxiao, whose Ming-loyalist father committed suicide after being injured in a battle against Qing forces, focuses here on the mountain's pines. Symbolic of survival in times of adversity, the pines, having been suddenly threatened, reflect the artist's uncertainty about his ability to find spiritual sanctuary in a world from which he feels alienated:
The strangely shaped pine trees of Mount Tiantai have been depicted by artists of previous periods. . . . I have decided to portray this theme, drawing upon my own imagination. I have heard recently that most of these strange pines have met the sad fate of extinction. It seems that once the natural wonders of the sky, earth, mountains, and rivers are exposed to the intimate scrutiny of the dusty world, they do not last long. This is indeed cause for lamentation.
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清 戴本孝 天台異松圖 軸 紙本
Title:The Strange Pines of Mount Tiantai
Artist:Dai Benxiao (Chinese, 1621–1693)
Period:Qing dynasty (1644–1911)
Date:1687
Culture:China
Medium:Hanging scroll; ink on paper
Dimensions:Image: 66 7/8 in. × 30 in. (169.9 × 76.2 cm) Overall with mounting: 10 ft. 2 3/4 in. × 37 1/16 in. (311.8 × 94.1 cm) Overall with knobs: 10 ft. 2 3/4 in. × 41 in. (311.8 × 104.1 cm)
Classification:Paintings
Credit Line:Gift of Marie-Hélène and Guy Weill, in honor of Douglas Dillon, 1991
Accession Number:1991.256
Inscription: Artist’s inscription and signature (5 columns in semi-cursive script)
The strangely shaped pine trees of Mount Tiantai have been depicted by artists of previous periods. Lu Guimeng [of the Tang dynasty] has recorded and written a eulogy for one of these paintings. I have seen a copy of this painting at the home of a collector and was not impressed by it. Therefore I have decided to portray this theme drawing upon my own imagination. I have heard recently that most of these strange pines have met the sad fate of extinction. It seems that once the natural wonders of the sky, earth, mountains, and rivers are exposed to the intimate scrutiny of the dusty world, they do not last long. This is indeed cause for lamentation. [Dai] Benxiao, Heavenly Root Gatherer of Mount Ying’e did this for the amusement of Jun, my elder brother in the Way. On the summer solstice of the dingmao year [1687].[1]
[1] Dawn Ho Delbanco, trans., in Dawn Ho Delbanco and Wan-go H. C. Weng, Selections of Chinese Art from Private Collections, New York: China Institute in America, 1986, cat. no. 38, p. 96.
Marie-Hélène and Guy A. Weill , New York (until 1991; donated to MMA)
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Orthodoxy and Individualism: 17th Century Chinese Painting," September 2, 1986–January 31, 1987.
New York. China Institute in America. "Selections of Chinese Art from Private Collections," October 15, 1986–January 4, 1987.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Mountains of the Mind (Part II): Nature and Self in Later Chinese Landscape Painting," April 11–August 27, 1989.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Traditional Scholarly Values at the End of the Qing Dynasty: The Collection of Weng Tonghe (1830–1904)," June 30–January 3, 1999.
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. "Cultivated Landscapes: Reflections of Nature in Chinese Painting with Selections from the Collection of Marie-Hélène and Guy Weill," September 10, 2002–February 9, 2003.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Dreams of Yellow Mountain: Landscapes of Survival in Seventeenth-Century China," September 13, 2003–February 22, 2004.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Douglas Dillon Legacy: Chinese Painting for the Metropolitan Museum," March 12–August 8, 2004.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Journeys: Mapping the Earth and Mind in Chinese Art," February 10–August 26, 2007.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Art of the Chinese Album," September 6, 2014–March 29, 2015.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Streams and Mountains without End: Landscape Traditions of China," August 26, 2017–January 6, 2019.
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