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Bamboo and Insects
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
About this work
Wu Bing, a native of Piling, gained Empress Li’s favor and served as a painter-in-attendance at the court in Hangzhou during the Shaoxi reign (1190–94). The round fan painting shows a dragonfly hovering over a stalk of bamboo, a bush cricket ( luowei ) perching on a leaf, and a flying wasp. Yellow leaf tips suggest the late summer or early autumn season. The chirping of the cricket sounds similar to the sound of a working loom; the insect is therefore also called weaving lady ( fangzhi niang ). The weaving season starts when the weather is about to turn cold—the cricket symbolizes early autumn.
Cleveland Museum of Art’s own descriptionCredit lineBamboo and Insects (竹蟲圖), late 1100s. Wu Bing (Chinese, active 1190–1194). Album leaf; fan painting, ink on silk; image: 24.8 x 26.8 cm (9 3/4 x 10 9/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Mrs. A. Dean Perry, 1964.154
