Ming Dynasty

For this week’s blog I chose to share a Ming Dynasty painting Called Dragon Pine.  It was painted by Wu Boli a Daoist  priest fro the Daoist pope Zhang Yuchu. The trunk of the pine seems to resemble the back and scales of a dragon.  It is thought that the dragon like tree in this painting could represent the Daoist state or the state of having transcended to the state of a perfect being.  I enjoy this piece because the tree does look like a dragon, or at least the depictions of dragons from Chinese history.  The ink gives a simplistic feel to the artwork while the detail in the branches adds complexity.  I enjoy the balance that the two create.  I find it interesting that although the background in this print is nearly nonexistent, it works.  The detail of the tree branches allow the background to just fade out and not be needed to continue the sense of space.  Very interesting.  The information on the print as well as the photograph were found at http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/ming/hd_ming.htm.