Bamboo in Snow (1818): Art, History and Details

Bamboo in Snow (1818) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Hong Fan (Chinese, active late 1700s–early 1800s).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Hong Fan’s bamboo stalks amidst rocky boulders bend gently forward. Light washes of ink suggest a misty, wintry atmosphere. Fan was inspired in style and concept by the poet, calligrapher and painter, Su Shi (1037-1101) who considered bamboo an ideal subject to express the calligraphic qualities of brushwork. Bamboo that bends, but does not break under the heavy snow, was also an image for the upright scholar who withstands adverse times.

Object facts

• Title: Bamboo in Snow
• Date: 1818
• Creator attribution: Hong Fan (Chinese, active late 1700s–early 1800s)
• Culture: China, Qing dynasty (1644–1911)
• Type: Painting
• Technique: hanging scroll; ink on paper
• Dimensions: Painting only: 164.5 x 87.6 cm (64 3/4 x 34 1/2 in.); Overall with knobs: 288 x 121.7 cm (113 3/8 x 47 15/16 in.)
• Collection: ASIAN - Hanging scroll
• Department: Chinese Art
• Accession number: 2023.161

A detail from the museum

Hong Fan’s bamboo stalks and rocky boulders fill the picture plane almost entirely and recede and fade in the background, suggesting the depth of a grove and a wintry, hazy atmosphere.

Collection credit

Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.