Scholar and Crane in a Landscape | Yale University Art Gallery

19th century

Despite the fact that he lived and worked in the Guangzhou area, Su Liupeng’s paintings do not show an interest in the Western techniques often found in the work of his contemporaries but rather exhibit the quick and assured brushwork characteristic of the Chinese tradition of xieyi, or painting an idea or a thought. Standing on one leg, a pensive crane turns his head to gaze at an equally absorbed scholar who is dressed in official robes, looking up with an unfocused gaze. These figures, possibly intended to mirror one another, are set in a remote landscape with a rustic hut, an ideal environment for self-reflection.

Medium: Fan mounted as an album leaf; ink and light color on paper
Dimensions: without mounting: 6 7/16 × 20 11/16 in. (16.4 × 52.6 cm)
with mounting: 14 5/8 × 23 9/16 in. (37.15 × 59.85 cm)
Credit Line: S. Sidney Kahn, B.A. 1959, Fund
Accession Number: 1985.54.5
Geography: China
Culture: Chinese
Period: Qing dynasty (1644–1911)
Classification: Paintings
Disclaimer: Note: This electronic record was created from historic documentation that does not necessarily reflect the Yale University Art Gallery’s complete or current knowledge about the object. Review and updating of records is ongoing.

Provenance

Sale, Sotheby's, New York, Novermber 5, 1981, sale 4722Y, lot 102; sold to the Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Conn., 1985

Object copyright

No Copyright - United States

Additional information

Object/Work type

landscapes (representations)

Subject

crane plants scholar

Inscriptions

inscribed, and with one seal of the artist Chen Ch'in, one collector's seal

Signed

Liu-p'eng

Technical metadata and APIs

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