Studio under the Shade of Parasol Trees

This work by two scholar-artists was a collaboration, a common practice of intellectual cultivation. In an open, tile-roofed studio, a man sits by a table set with an inkstone and materials for writing. He expects a young especially women of the upper class, entertainers, and courtesans. Placing a standing figure against an empty backdrop was characteristic of early figure paintings. As verified in his inscription on the painting, the artist copied the brushwork of the Song-dynasty painter Li Gonglin (1049–1106). servant in the courtyard to serve him tea from a boiling kettle. His loose gown and black hat with two wings indicate his social status as a scholar-official. Chinese parasol trees in the background evoke the literati’s accounts of romantic environments well described in classical poetry.