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A Pair of Peafowl
Lin Liang (Chinese, 1416–1480)
late 1400s-early 1500s
- Medium
- hanging scroll, ink on silk
- Classification
- Painting
- Dimensions
- Painting: 160 x 106 cm (63 x 41 3/4 in.); Overall with knobs: 256.5 x 133.3 cm (101 x 52 1/2 in.)
- Culture
- China, Ming dynasty (1368–1644)
- Museum
- Cleveland Museum of Art, Chinese Art
- Credit line
- Severance and Greta Millikin Collection
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Teens profiles and older: its museum says too little about what it shows to place it for younger viewers. How works are placed
View at the Cleveland Museum of Art
About this work
The peacock, identified by the flamboyant tail, is paired with a female peahen to its right. In lowering her head, the hen seems to show respect to the male peacock.
With his articulate brushstrokes and strong contrasting tones, Lin Liang’s representation in black ink appears as vivid as Yin Hong’s colorful peacock (1974.31). The painter skillfully uses wet and dry ink as well as broad and thin washes to represent the plumage of the bird. The surface of the rocks, depicted in powerful sweeping strokes, recalls the landscape painting style of the Zhe School, which specialized in expressive brushwork.
