A Myriad Bamboo

In Chinese tradition, the resilient, evergreen bamboo symbolizes the gentleman who sustains his moral integrity despite adverse conditions. Starting in the eleventh century, bamboo became an especially popular motif among the emerging class of scholar-artists who applied techniques of calligraphic brushwork to the subject and developed a style of painting bamboo using only ink. Created in 1369, the second year of the Ming dynasty, this short handscroll is an excellent example of an approach that arose during the fourteenth century. Rendered in varying shades of ink, several groves of bamboo grow along the slopes and bluffs above a stream, each tapered leaf and jointed stem individually rendered. Landscape elements are simply drawn, with long, dragged lines of pale, dry ink indicating volume and contour, and occasional dark, wet dabs used to accent the softly rounded, geometric land forms.

While Song Ke is best known as one of the leading calligraphers of the early Ming dynasty, several of his paintings have also survived, all of which depict bamboo in landscape settings. As with most of his existing works, Song Ke painted this handscroll as a gift for a friend.


To learn more about this and similar objects, visit http://www.asia.si.edu/SongYuan/default.asp Song and Yuan Dynasty Painting and Calligraphy.