Hall of Lofty Pines (1703): Art, History and Details

Hall of Lofty Pines (1703) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Wang Hui (Chinese, 1632–1717).

The work and its context

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

Wang Hui 王翬, a leading painter in the orthodox school of the early Qing dynasty (1644–1911), was commissioned to paint this landscape with a country estate for Li Duna 勵杜納 (1628–1703), vice minister of justice in Emperor Kangxi’s court. The emperor had honored Li by granting him a piece of calligraphy with the name of Li’s retirement retreat, “Hall of Lofty Pines.” He drew a comparison between pines and Li’s upright character, resilience, and longevity. Wang Hui’s painting was supposed to allow Li to imagine living in a beautiful, secluded compound among the hills and pines. Sadly, Li died before seeing the completed painting and before receiving the emperor’s permission to retire. The landscape begins with peaceful riverbanks and low hills. The pines around the estate in the middle of the handscroll are truly lofty, some stretching even beyond the frame of the painting. Li Duna, the estate’s owner, is shown twice in his serene mountain retreat: first approaching the entrance to the compound with two servants at the right, and then later in the scroll, to the left, reading in the comfort of an inner room.

Object facts

• Title: Hall of Lofty Pines
• Date: 1703
• Creator attribution: Wang Hui (Chinese, 1632–1717)
• Culture: China, Qing dynasty (1644-1911)
• Type: Painting
• Technique: handscroll; ink and color on paper
• Dimensions: Overall: 40.7 cm (16 in.)
• Collection: ASIAN - Handscroll
• Department: Chinese Art
• Accession number: 1997.106

A detail from the museum

One servant carries the estate owner's carefully wrapped qin, a type of zither.

Collection credit

Bequest of Mrs. A. Dean Perry

Further reading listed by the museum

• Five Centuries of Chinese Painting: Ming & Ch'ing Dynasties: [Exhibition] June 27 Through August 8, 1954, Dallas Museum of Fine Arts. Dallas, TX: Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, 1954.
• Goepper, Roger. 1000 Jahre chinesische Malerei. München: Haus der Kunst, 1959.
• Wang, Chi-chʻien, and Victoria Contag. Seals of Chinese painters and collectors of the Ming and Ch'ing periods reproduced in facsimile size and deciphered. Hongkong: Hong Kong University Press, 1966.

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.