Eastern Art Online, Yousef Jameel Centre for Islamic and Asian Art

Ashmolean − Eastern Art Online, Yousef Jameel Centre for Islamic and Asian Art

Chinese Paintings in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford

A catalogue of the Ashmolean collection of Chinese paintings by Shelagh Vainker (published Oxford, 2000).

Chinese Paintings in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford by Shelagh Vainker

Publications online: 222 objects

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Man and boy watching a crane

  • Literature notes

    Min Zhen was born in Nanchang, Jiangxi province but lived mostly in Hankou, Hubei. He was orphaned at an early age and it is said that the indifferent quality of his family's ancestral portraits prompted him to apply himself particularly keenly to studying painting. He was also a skilled seal carver.
  • Description

    The man holding a feather fan (left) refers to the Northern Song dynasty scholar and poet Lin Bu (AD 967-1028), also known as Lin Hejing. Unlike other scholars, Lin Bu refused civil duties but spent his life as a recluse by the West Lake in Hangzhou. He never married but enjoyed living among plum trees and cranes, claiming the plum blossoms were his wife, and the cranes his sons. The boy behind Lin (right) is his servant, who would set the cranes flying to signal Lin when his friends came to visit, since he spent much of his time on the lake. The artist Min Zhen, also known as Min Zhengzhai or Min Aizi, was born in Nanchang, Jiangxi province and is best known for his figure painting.

  • Details

    Associated place
    Asia China (place of creation)
    Date
    mid - late 18th century
    Artist/maker
    Min Zhen (1730 - after 1788) (artist)
    Associated people
    Lin Bu (AD 967 - 1028) (subject)
    Material and technique
    ink on paper
    Dimensions
    mount 83.9 x 50.8 cm (height x width)
    painting 79 x 49 cm (height x width)
    Material index
    Technique index
    Object type index
    No. of items
    1
    Credit line
    Purchased, 1964.
    Accession no.
    EA1964.83
  • Further reading

    Vainker, Shelagh, Chinese Paintings in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford (Oxford: Ashmolean Museum, 2000), no. 102 on p. 118, illus. p. 118 fig. 102

Past Exhibition

see (1)

Location

    • currently in research collection

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Publications online

  • Chinese Paintings in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford by Shelagh Vainker

    Chinese Paintings in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford

    Min Zhen was born in Nanchang, Jiangxi province but lived mostly in Hankou, Hubei. He was orphaned at an early age and it is said that the indifferent quality of his family's ancestral portraits prompted him to apply himself particularly keenly to studying painting. He was also a skilled seal carver.
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