Cleveland Museum of Art

Bamboo and Insects

Wu Bing

Date

late 1100s

Medium

Album leaf; fan painting, ink on silk

Culture

China, Southern Song dynasty (1127-1279)

Department

Chinese Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

Wu Bing, a native of Piling, gained Empress Li’s favor and served as a painter-in-attendance at the court in Hangzhou during the Shaoxi reign (1190–94). The round fan painting shows a dragonfly hovering over a stalk of bamboo, a bush cricket ( luowei ) perching on a leaf, and a flying wasp. Yellow leaf tips suggest the late summer or early autumn season. The chirping of the cricket sounds similar to the sound of a working loom; the insect is therefore also called weaving lady ( fangzhi niang ). The weaving season starts when the weather is about to turn cold—the cricket symbolizes early autumn.

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