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Artist:
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Xi Cao
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Title:
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Crippled Zhang Meets Hunchback Li
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Date:
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17th century
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Medium:
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Ink on paper
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Dimensions:
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41 15/16 x 11 1/2 in. (106.52 x 29.21 cm) (image)
79 13/16 x 19 7/8 in. (202.72 x 50.48 cm) (without roller)
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Credit Line:
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Gift of Ruth and Bruce Dayton
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Location:
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Gallery 203
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The late Ming artist Cao Xi excelled at fan painting. He was from Suzhou but lived and worked primarily in Hangzhou where he absorbed the dynamic brushwork of the Zhe school style indigenous to that region.
Two lively rustic sages are shown here discoursing expressively under a dripping old pine tree. The inscription however adds a layer of political commentary to this work, which was executed around the time of the collapse of the increasingly corrupt Ming court resulting in the Manchu takeover in 1644. It reads:
Crippled Zhang, carrying dishes of food, off to visit kin,
meets hunchbacked Li along the way, and
talks "causality" with him.
The two men clap their hands in glee,
and laugh out loud: Ha, ha!
Nowhere in this world is there a man
who stands quite straight!
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Artist/Creator(s)
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Name:
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Cao, Xi
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Nationality:
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Chinese
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Life Dates:
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active 1600 - 1637
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Object Description
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Inscriptions:
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Inscription and Stamp
URC, in black: "Crippled Chang, carrying dishes of food off to visit kin, M see inscriptions
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Classification:
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Paintings
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Physical Description:
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two old bearded men, wearing tunics and pants, greet each other with outstretched hands; tree root in LLC; tree branch at L overhead
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Creation Place:
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, China, , ,
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Accession #:
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2007.6.3
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Owner:
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The Minneapolis Institute of Arts
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