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Your galleryYellow Chrysanthemums and Red Osmanthus in the Style of Wang Yuan
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Start with the two birds at the top, one in flight, then follow the osmanthus branches and their tiny orange flowers down to the great rock and the yellow chrysanthemums.
Shen Zhou painted this huge scroll, almost three meters tall without its mounting, in the ninth month of 1468, when chrysanthemums and red osmanthus both bloom. His inscription says he followed the brush conception of the Yuan painter Wang Yuan, yet the Cleveland Museum of Art sees in its colored strokes and washes a forecast of the later flower painting of Yun Shouping. His poem imagines facing the flowers with a cup of wine, untroubled, as a guest knocks at the gate.
hanging scroll; ink on paper · Overall: 397.1 x 127.4 cm · Cleveland Museum of Art · Chinese painting: Ming
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Details and source
- Museum title
- Yellow Chrysanthemums and Red Osmanthus in the Style of Wang Yuan
- Artist
- Shen Zhou (Chinese, 1427–1509)
- Date
- 1468
- Medium
- hanging scroll; ink on paper
- Dimensions
- Overall: 397.1 x 127.4 cm (156 5/16 x 50 3/16 in.); Painting only: 288.5 x 106.3 cm (113 9/16 x 41 7/8 in.)
- Credit line
- Bequest of Mrs. A. Dean Perry
- Image license
- CC0 1.0 · Public domain
- Museum record
- Cleveland Museum of Art
Artist’s life 1427–1509
View in the AtlasGaller’s rooms and hanging scale are imagined. The image is the museum’s original digital reproduction.