Two Riders Searching for Plum Blossoms

Object Details

• Artist

  Formerly attributed to Xia Gui 夏珪 (active ca. 1195-1230)

• School/Tradition

  Zhe School

• Label

  This chilly winter scene focuses on a pair of riders and their servants traveling up a mountain trail, where they have come upon a blossoming plum tree. A huge, almost cylindrical rock leans above them, while the looming spires of distant snow-covered peaks project above the group of large buildings, perhaps a temple complex, that might have been their starting place. In paintings such as this, it is difficult to know if the travelers have set out intentionally to find plum blossoms or have simply encountered them along the road.

  This unsigned work is a typical example of Zhe School painting, which flourished during the early to mid-Ming dynasty (1368-1644) in the area of Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, the former imperial capital of the Southern Song dynasty (1127-1279). With the Zhe School revival of Song styles in the early Ming dynasty, monumental ink-landscape paintings with heavily contoured and sculpted mountain forms became more common, while the expressive possibilities of brushwork and the evocation of mood generally took precedence over the technical niceties of execution. In the present painting, the main trunk of the plum tree has been trimmed along the right edge, leaving only a few limbs and twigs to whet the viewer's imagination.

• Provenance

  To 1919

  You Xiaoxi (late 19th-early 20th century), Shanghai, to 1919 [1]

  1919

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from You Xiaoxi in 1919 [2]

  From 1920

  Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [3]

  Notes:

  [1] See Original Kakemono and Makimono List, L. 1336, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives.

  [2] See note 1.

  [3] The original deed of Charles Lang Freer's gift was signed in 1906. The collection was received in 1920 upon the completion of the Freer Gallery.

• Collection

  Freer Gallery of Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  Three Friends of Winter: Pine, Bamboo, and Plum in Chinese Painting (August 12, 2001 to February 3, 2002)

• Previous custodian or owner

  You Xiaoxi 游篠溪 (late 19th-early 20th century) (C.L. Freer source)

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)

• Origin

  China

• Credit Line

  Gift of Charles Lang Freer

• Type

  Painting

• Restrictions and Rights

  CC0 - Creative Commons (CC0 1.0)

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1500s, 1600s

• Name

  Freer, Charles Lang, You, Xiaoxi

• Place

  China

• Topic

  Mountains, Charles Lang Freer collection, Landscapes, Art, Winter, Chinese Art, Ming dynasty (1368 - 1644)

• Culture

  Chinese

• Object Type

  Paintings