Xie Shichen
Pines and Fungus
1500-1532
Physical Qualities
Ink and slight color on paper, 79 5/16 x 38 1/4 in. (201.5 x 97 cm.)
Credit Line
Julius Levy Memorial Fund
Object Number
1952.4
Inscription reads, 'The pine is just at the peak of its perfection; its flourishing color is of rare excellence. The wind and frost have made it strong. Rosy clouds shine on its beautiful patterns. It reaches to the mountains as a standard, rising grandly above towers and pavilions. It is like the upright and moral scholar who sweeps evil away from temples and halls. Peril attends honest criticism and the sharp tongue lacks wealth. Great, indeed, you evergreen! It is hard for grass and tree to share the same fragrance. Painted by Xie Shichen of Suzhou.'
The Baltimore Museum of Art by purchase, 1952; Howard C. Hollis, Cleveland
Mary S. Lawton, The David and Alfred Smart Gallery, The University of Chicago, "Hsieh Shih-ch'en: A Ming Dynasty Painter Reinterprets the Past," Jan. 12-Feb. 26, 1970, no. 17, p. 53, ill.
Inscribed: Signature preceeded by a poem.
