| Details | The plum tree (Prunus mume) typically blooms during the twelfth lunar month, around the time of the Chinese New Year in late January or early February, when most other vegetation lies dormant. All at once, blossoms sprout along the dark leafless branches, signaling the imminent arrival of spring. The tree itself may live for many years, limbs and trunk slowly growing into oddly shaped knots and angles, but its delicate five-petal flowers only survive a few days in the harsh chill of winter. Accordingly, plum blossoms came to represent a range of interrelated concepts: the transience of beauty, courage and fortitude in the face of adversity, and the promise of rebirth. This talk by curator Stephen Allee will focus on two Yuan dynasty momei (ink plum) paintings in the handscroll format. Both works show a section of tree trunk and a long horizontal branch; however, one is painted on paper and the other on silk, and each represents a different stylistic approach to the genre. Both paintings are the only surviving works by their respective artists, and neither artist is recorded in other sources. Collectors later assembled both scrolls, mounting the paintings together and adding new calligraphic components. From the eighteenth to the twentieth century, both scrolls belonged to the Chinese imperial collection known as the Stone Moat.
Stephen D. Allee is associate curator for Chinese painting and calligraphy at the Freer and Sackler. In 1975, he received his BA in Chinese language and literature from George Washington University. He then pursued graduate studies at the University of Washington and attended the University of Nanjing in China from 1979 to 1980. After receiving his PhD candidacy (1983) and master’s degree from the University of Washington (1986), Allee joined the museum in 1988. Since then, he has curated or co-curated more than fifty exhibitions, and his research and translations have appeared in numerous exhibitions and publications. Register for the event here: https://smithsonian.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_j4yZI-KBR3SNsOrElYWOwg Images:
A Breath of Spring
Zou Fulei (active mid-14th century)
China, Yuan dynasty, 1360
Handscroll; ink on paper
Purchase—Charles Lang Freer Endowment, Freer Gallery of Art F1931.1
Plum Blossoms
Yansou (unidentified)
China, Yuan dynasty, late 13th to mid-14th century
Handscroll; ink on silk
Purchase—Charles Lang Freer Endowment, Freer Gallery of Art F1931.2 |
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