Bamboo in the Wind (1300s): Art, History and Details

Bamboo in the Wind (1300s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Puming (Xuechuang) (Chinese, active before 1274–after 1329).

The work and its context

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

Bamboo is an evergreen plant that does not break under the weight of snow or the force of the wind, and thus became a favorite motif in literati painting and Chan Buddhism as a metaphor for the virtue of not yielding to worldly temptations. Xuechuang, also known as monk Puming, was a native of Songjiang, near Shanghai, who spent his life as a monk in Suzhou. In 1338, he presided over Yunyan temple on Tiger Hill. Here, he masterfully depicts a bamboo gently bent in a subtle breeze. Puming’s paintings were revered in Japan and Korea.

Object facts

• Title: Bamboo in the Wind
• Date: 1300s
• Creator attribution: Puming (Xuechuang) (Chinese, active before 1274–after 1329)
• Culture: China, Yuan dynasty (1271–1368)
• Type: Painting
• Technique: Hanging scroll; ink on silk
• Dimensions: Painting: 77.6 x 45.7 cm (30 9/16 x 18 in.); Overall with knobs: 209.5 x 75.5 cm (82 1/2 x 29 3/4 in.)
• Collection: ASIAN - Hanging scroll
• Department: Chinese Art
• Accession number: 1953.246

A detail from the museum

Bamboo, pine, and plum, often referred to as the "three friends of winter," are popular motifs in Chinese literati art.

Collection credit

John L. Severance Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Harada, Yoshito 原田淑人 and Kazuchika Komai 駒井和愛. Shina koki zukō 支那古器圖攷. Tōkyō: Tōhō Bunka Gakuin Tōkyō Kenkyūjo, Shōwa 7 [1932].
• Dubosc, Jean-Pierre. Mostra D'arte Cinese = Exhibition of Chinese Art. Venezia: Alfieri Editore, 1954.
• Sirén, Osvald. Chinese Painting: Leading Masters and Principles. New York: Ronald Press, 1956.

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.