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Five Pine Trees
Li Shan (Chinese, c. 1686–1762)
1747
- Medium
- Hanging scroll; ink on paper
- Classification
- Painting
- Dimensions
- Image: 199.9 x 94.3 cm (78 11/16 x 37 1/8 in.); Overall: 260 x 98 cm (102 3/8 x 38 9/16 in.)
- Culture
- China, Qing dynasty (1644–1911), Qianlong reign (1736–95)
- Museum
- Cleveland Museum of Art, Chinese Art
- Credit line
- Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Little Ones profiles and older: it shows gentle subjects for the very young. How works are placed
View at the Cleveland Museum of Art
About this work
Li Shan was born into a family of scholars and officials in Yangzhou. The wealth and status of Li's family assured him an educational and cultural advantage, including his appointment at court. The subjects Li Shan chose to paint—orchids, bamboo, pines, and flowers—reflected his literati background. Five Pine Trees, painted late in his career, is an unconventional work. Rather than having focused on a realistic treatment of the subject, Li created the trees with an interplay of richly modulated strokes, while he utilized a semicursive script among the branches to illustrate the kinship between painting and calligraphy.
