After the Line “Idly Watching Children Catch Willow Flowers After the Line “Idly Watching Children Catch Willow Flowers”


After the Line "Idly Watching
   Children Catch Willow Flowers"

Chou Ch'en (ca. 1460-after 1535),
    Ming Dynasty
Hanging scroll, ink and colors on silk,
    116.6 x 63.5 cm
    Outside a hall in the shade of willows, a scholar watches three children trying to catch willow flowers in the spring breeze. The theme appears to be based on two lines of poetry. One by Po Chu-i reads, "Who is more at play than children, searching the spring breeze for willow flowers?" The other by Yang Wan-li reads, "I listlessly rise from my nap, idly watching children grasp at willow flowers."

    The composition here is dominated by the foreground. Like the Che School style, it derives from the Ma Yuan and Hsia Kuei tradition, but without the powerful brushwork. The style here is from the lyrical one of the Southern Sung court. The fine-line figure painting of Chou's student Ch'iu Ying originates with the manner in this painting.