明　唐寅　春雷墨竹圖　摺扇|Bamboo in a spring thunderstorm

Tang Yin

17th century · Folding fan mounted as an album leaf; ink on gold-flecked paper · Asian Art

This fan purports to be by the Ming dynasty artist Tang Yin (with a spurious date of 1522), but the brushwork of the painting and the calligraphy indicate that it is a copy by an artist of the seventeenth century. Nevertheless, it is a fine example of bamboo painting, in which multiple tones of ink have been used to suggest depth among the leaf-laden stalks. The poem describes a spring thunderstorm that stirs bamboo before giving way to a clear, moonlit night: The crash of spring thunder sets the lush bamboo moving, Sweeping the ground with its dragon whiskers and long phoenix tails. Looking up from below the curtain I play my flute, The bright moon fills the sky, shining on the Xiao and Xiang Rivers. —Translation by Richard M. Barnhart

Artist

Tang Yin

Date

17th century

Medium

Folding fan mounted as an album leaf; ink on gold-flecked paper

Culture

China

Department

Asian Art

Credit line

Edward Elliott Family Collection, Douglas Dillon Gift, 1988