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Summer and Paulownia Tree (A Page from the Jie Zi Yuan)

Shen Zhou

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

The image depicts a black and white drawing of a landscape with a large mountain, trees, and buildings. The mountain is large and gray, with vertical lines indicating texture. It is positioned in the center of the image, taking up most of the top half. There are several trees in the foreground, one of which is a large tree with bare branches on the left side. In the background, there are more trees and buildings that appear to be a village or town. The sky is not visible, but there are some lines suggesting mountains in the distance. On the left side of the image, there is a column of Chinese characters written vertically. There is also a red seal or stamp near the top-left corner. The entire image has a thin black border around it. The background of the image is a light brown color, possibly parchment or paper. The title of the image is "Summer and Paulownia Tree (A Page from the Jie Zi Yuan)" and the artist is Shen Zhou.

Artwork Details

Date
first edition printed in 1679
Medium
Polychrome woodblock print; ink and color on paper
Culture
China
Dimensions
390 × 624 px
Public Domain
Yes
Museum Record
View original
Palette