May 6, 2010
Apr 2, 2004
May 6, 2010
May 6, 2010
May 6, 2010

Conversation in Autumn

Conversation in Autumn

講秋圖

1732

Hua Yan 華喦

(Chinese, 1682–c. 1765)

Hanging scroll, ink and light color on paper

Overall: 218.5 x 71.7 cm (86 x 28 1/4 in.)

John L. Severance Fund 1954.263

Location

Did you know?

A barren tree on the lower left has a hole in its lower trunk through which is visible a young servant carrying food to the gentlemen in the cottage.

Description

Two figures sit conversing in a thatched cottage. This painting illustrates two poetic lines:

My guest came to sit beyond the dust,
In a narrow room, we talked about the autumnal sounds of autumn.

Hua Yan presented an intimate world—simple and rustic—amid a landscape. The cool wilderness depicted in this work conveys an aloofness that may reveal the inner world of a scholar-artist who failed the civil service examination but preserved a sense of pride and endurance in his humble surroundings.

See also

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