Object Details
Artist
Shen Xiang
Date
1530-1580
Medium
Hanging scroll: ink on silk
Credit Line
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Rodney P. Henricksen
Object
Number
2002.173.004
Shen Xiang was a scholar-official who specialized in paintings of plum trees executed in ink. In Chi(…)
Shen Xiang was a scholar-official who specialized in paintings of plum trees executed in ink. In China the symbol of plum blossom usually refers to endurance under adversity. Shen’s preference for painting plum might be associated with his family history: his father and two of his younger brothers were executed on trumped-up charges after his father stood up to the tyrannical behavior of the eunuch Yan Song. For Shen Xiang the plum must have been a particularly poignant symbol of perseverance under adversity. Although this painting is not dated and cannot therefore be given a specific place within Shen’s chronology, it shows how a popular cultural image could be reinterpreted to bring personal meaning to individual experience. (“Tradition, Transmission, and Transformation in East Asian Art,” curated by Cornell PhD student Yuhua Ding under the supervision of Ellen Avril and presented at the Johnson Museum January 23-June 12, 2016)
