Dwarf Potted Trees in Paintings, Scrolls
and Woodblock Prints

CHINA  -- THE  PORTRAYALS


This Page Last Updated: June 26, 2016

To Song
Song and Ming
Qing


The images presented here are done so in the interest of education.  The original artwork image has been cropped so just the relevant portion is shown here.  The footnote numbers below the images correspond to the appropriate footnotes on the text pages where the full image is described.  Those footnotes not included here belong to images which either are too small to do justice to the subject or have not yet been gotten.  Please note that as most of the portrayals depict these magical miniature landscapes as part of a larger human scene, the images cannot always be completely separated from the surrounding figures or background.


For each of the portrayals below, we can ask:
* Who designed and who owned the composition?
* If it wasn't an actual magical miniature landscape being depicted, what was the artist's inspiration and experience with, and what was being symbolized besides, for example, good taste and breeding?
* Did the plants originally come from mountain, forest, field, or garden?
* When and where were the rocks collected and when were they wed to the plants?
* How long was the composition in that particular container?
* How long had the composition been so assembled, and how much longer after the portrayal did it or its components survive?
* Are any genetic descendants from cuttings, etc. of any of these plants here still extant either as dwarf potted plants or landscape specimens?
* How many owners did each of these have?
* Were there any other compositions by any of these designers or owners which were noteworthy or celebrated?


From  China -- Up to the SONG DYNASTY

Liben, 7th century
Liben, mid-7th cent. [1]  Actually a copy from the Ming or early Qing.

Zhang Huai tomb mural
Zhang Haui, c.706 [2] c.706 (detail) [2]

Zhang Huai tomb mural
Zhang Haui, c.706 [2] c.706 (detail) [2]

Wu Daozi
Wu Daozi, early 8th cent. (detail) [3]


From  China -- SONG through MING DYNASTIES

                                
Zhang Zeduan, late 11th-early 12th cent. [1]
Lou Shou, 12th cent. [2]



Lou Shou, 12th cent. [2] Lou Shou, 12th cent. [2]

Chao Meng-chien, 13th cent. [3]   Wang Zhenpeng, early 14th cent. [4]   Li Shixing, early 14th cent. [5]

Du Qiong, mid-15th cent. [7]
Wu Wei, late 15th cent. [8]
Tang Yin, early 16th cent. [9]

Detail from Qiu Ying
Lu Zhi, c. 1554 [10]
Qiu Ying, early 16th cent. [12]

Qiu Ying, early 16th cent. [11]
Qiu Ying, early 16th cent. [12]
Qiu Ying, early 16th cent. [12]
Qiu Ying, early 16th cent. [13]

1637 [14]
c.1625-1650 [16]
c.1625-1650 [16]



From  CHINA -- QING DYNASTY

from Twelve-panel screen, 1674
from Yuan Jiang's Grazing Garden
Twelve-panel screen, 1674 [1]
Yuan, fl. 1690-1746 [2]

Pleasure During Snowy Weather
Castiglione, c.1738 [3]
Ye Fang-lin, 1743 [4]
  Saucer, 1730-40 [5]
Tea Bowl, c.1750 [6]


Zhang Weibang, mid-18th cent. [7]

  Ming Chun, late 18th cent. [8]
Qian Long, late 18th cent. [9]
Qian Long, late 18th cent. [9]
1788 [10]

Chin Ting-piao, Qing [11]
  gouache, early 19th cent. [14]
  Canton Dish (1796-1820) [16]
gouache, c.1810 [17]
  oil on canvas, c.1835 [19]

Gothaer Penjing Album, c.1800 [13]
Gothaer Penjing Album, c.1800 [13]

Gothaer Penjing Album, c.1800 [13]
Gothaer Penjing Album, c.1800 [13]

Gothaer Penjing Album, c.1800 [13]
Gothaer Penjing Album, c.1800 [13]

Pan Kwauqua's Garden
watercolor, 19th century [20]

The Exalted Gentlemen's Book of Rewards and Punishments
woodcut, 1881 [22]
woodcut, end of 19th cent. [23]

Wu Yu-ji, late 19th cent. [24]
  Wu Yu-ji, late 19th cent. [25]

  Wu Yu-ji, late 19th cent. [26]

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