Cleveland Museum of Art

The Poet Lin Bu Wandering in the Moonlight

Du Jin

Date

late 1400s

Medium

Hanging scroll; ink and color on paper

Culture

China, Ming dynasty (1368–1644)

Department

Chinese Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

Lin Bu (967–1028), a Northern Song (960–1127) poet and hermit who lived at the West Lake in Hangzhou, was known for having plum trees for his female companions and cranes for his children. This hanging scroll depicts the poet walking in the moonlight and looking at the plum tree, a scene described in his most well-known poem on plum blossoms. Surviving works signed by Du Jin are rare and this painting is one of them. Here, the artist used lively brushwork to depict the plum tree and rocks, exemplified in varying dots and strokes, and sweeps in different shades of ink. Lin Bu withdrew from prestigious government service and lived as a hermit by the West Lake in Hangzhou.

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