The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 28, 2024

Bamboo and Insects

Bamboo and Insects

late 1100s
(Chinese, active 1190–1194)
Image: 24.8 x 26.8 cm (9 3/4 x 10 9/16 in.)
Location: not on view

Description

Wu Bing, a native of Piling, gained Empress Li’s favor and served as a painter-in-attendance at the court in Hangzhou during the Shaoxi reign (1190–94). The round fan painting shows a dragonfly hovering over a stalk of bamboo, a bush cricket (luowei) perching on a leaf, and a flying wasp.

Yellow leaf tips suggest the late summer or early autumn season. The chirping of the cricket sounds similar to the sound of a working loom; the insect is therefore also called weaving lady (fangzhi niang). The weaving season starts when the weather is about to turn cold—the cricket symbolizes early autumn.
  • (C. C. Wang 王季遷 [1907–2003], New York, NY, sold to Mr. and Mrs. A. Dean Perry)
    ?–1964
    Mr. A. [Albert] Dean Perry [1910?–1987] and Mrs. A. Dean [Helen Wade Greene] Perry [1911–1996], Cleveland, OH, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art
    1964–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Wang, Chi-chʻien. Album Leaves from the Sung and Yuan Dynasties: [Exhibition], March 26 Through May 30, 1970. New York: The [China House] Gallery, 1970. cat. no. 33
    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. Reproduced: cat. no. 32, p. 51
    Chou, Ju-hsi and Anita Chung. Silent poetry: Chinese paintings from the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2015. Reproduced: pp. 65-67
    Tanenbaum, Mary. Fishing on the Terrace: A Collection of Writings, edited by Heather Parks. [Redwood City, CA]: Stanford University Press, 2018 Reproduced: p. 32
  • China's Southern Paradise: Treasures from the Lower Yangzi Delta. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 10, 2023-January 7, 2024).
    Eight Dynasties of Chinese Painting. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art (November 7, 1980-January 4, 1981); The Cleveland Museum of Art (February 11-March 29, 1981); Tokyo National Museum (October 4-November 17, 1982).
    Album leaves from the Sung and Yuan dynasties. China House Gallery, New York, NY (March 26-May 30, 1970).
  • {{cite web|title=Bamboo and Insects|url=false|author=Wu Bing|year=late 1100s|access-date=28 March 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1964.154