Ink Plum (late 1400s–early 1500s): Art, History and Details

Ink Plum (late 1400s–early 1500s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Peng Xu (Chinese, active 1488–1521).

The work and its context

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

Seasonal paintings, including those depicting flowering plum trees in early spring, furnished scholars’ studios or other interior spaces in the house. Peng Xu is considered the foremost follower of the famous plum blossom painter Wang Mian (1287–1359) (see CMA 1974.26). The branches are brushed in the same vigorous manner leaving white streaks in the ink indicating the gnarled bark. The delicate blossoms are drawn in fine lines, while a gray wash covers the entire surface, only leaving the flower petals in reserve.

Object facts

• Title: Ink Plum
• Date: late 1400s–early 1500s
• Creator attribution: Peng Xu (Chinese, active 1488–1521)
• Culture: China, Ming dynasty (1368–1644)
• Type: Painting
• Technique: hanging scroll, ink on silk
• Dimensions: Painting: 127.2 x 66.8 cm (50 1/16 x 26 5/16 in.); Overall with knobs: 218.8 x 75.3 cm (86 1/8 x 29 5/8 in.)
• Collection: ASIAN - Hanging scroll
• Department: Chinese Art
• Accession number: 1970.80

A detail from the museum

Plum trees blossom in the first months of the year; the delicate flowers endure the harsh winter frosts. A popular motif in Chinese ink painting, the plum symbolizes the winter season and is a harbinger of spring.

Collection credit

John L. Severance Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Lee, Sherman Emery, and James Robinson. The Colors of Ink: Chinese Paintings and Related Ceramics from the Cleveland Museum of Art. New York: Asia Society; distributed by New York Graphic Society, 1974.
• The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978.
• Ho, Wai-kam, Sherman E. Lee, Laurence Sickman, and Marc F. Wilson. Eight Dynasties of Chinese Painting: The Collections of the Nelson Gallery-Atkins Museum, Kansas City, and the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, in cooperation with Indiana University Press, 1980.

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.