元 盛懋 秋林漁隱圖 團扇|Recluse Fisherman, Autumn Trees

Sheng Mao

dated 1349 · Fan mounted as an album leaf; ink and color on silk · Asian Art

Inscribed by the artist: "On the fourth day of the sixth lunar month of the jichou year of the Zhizheng reign era [June 19, 1349], Sheng Mou, Zizhao of Wutang, painted this Recluse Fisherman, Autumn Trees." In the Yuan period, the recluse fisherman became the symbol of the unemployed scholar, out of work either by choice or because traditional employment through the civil service examination was unavailable to him. The true hermit-scholar "fished for fish and not for fame;" others merely pretended to fish while waiting to return to politics.

Artist

Sheng Mao

Date

dated 1349

Medium

Fan mounted as an album leaf; ink and color on silk

Culture

China

Department

Asian Art

Credit line

Ex coll.: C. C. Wang Family, Purchase, Florance Waterbury Bequest and Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Nathan Cummings, by exchange, 1973