Explore key developments in the history and culture of China, from the arts and crafts of the Song Dynasty up to the present day.
The artist Li Kuchan, under his pseudonym Ligong, inscribes: ‘Those I envy most are the flying birds in the sky; but I could not bear to leave the secular world; therefore I see off white clouds, make aged pines my friend, and wander around. In the sixth month it rained heavily without stopping, which made me feel particularly lonely and upset, so I talked to friends and painted this, not knowing that the lotus has blossomed’.
Vainker, Shelagh, Chinese Paintings in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford (Oxford: Ashmolean Museum, 2000), no. 75 on p. 94, illus. p. 95 fig. 75
Objects are sometimes moved to a different location. Our object location data is usually updated on a monthly basis. Contact the Jameel Study Centre if you are planning to visit the museum to see a particular object on display, or would like to arrange an appointment to see an object in our reserve collections.
Objects may have since been removed or replaced from a gallery. Click into an individual object record to confirm whether or not an object is currently on display. Our object location data is usually updated on a monthly basis, so contact the Jameel Study Centre if you are planning to visit the museum to see a particular Eastern Art object.
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