A Han Dynasty Envoy Navigating on a Tree-Raft / Yu Zhiding (Yü Chih-ting)
Viewer
About this Item
Record Details
- Accession Number
- 1985/2.30
- Title
- A Han Dynasty Envoy Navigating on a Tree-Raft
- Artist
- Yu Zhiding (Yü Chih-ting)
- Artist Nationality
- Chinese
- Artist Life Dates
- 1647 - circa 1705
- Medium and Support
- hanging scroll, ink and light color on silk
- Object Creation Date
- 1696
- Object Creation Place
- Asia (continent)
- China (nation)
- Jiangsu (province)
- Yangzhou
- Creation Place 1
- Asia (continent)
- Creation Place 2
- China (nation)
- Creation Place 3
- Jiangsu (province)
- Creation Place 4
- Yangzhou
- Inscription
- Inscription and signature of the artist: "On the Dragon Boat Festival Day [the 5th day of the 5th month] of the bingzi year (1696) of Kangxi's reign. Yu Zhiding of Guanglin. [followed by two seals of the artist]
- Dimensions
- 154.2 cm x 99.1 cm (60 11/16 in. x 39 in.)
- Century
- 17th century
- Primary Object Classification
- Painting
- Primary Object Type
- hanging scroll
- Secondary Object Classification
- Painting
- Secondary Object Type
- figures on landscape
- Physical Description
- This is a dense but muted landscape painting. The lines are very well defined. The colors consit of muted greens and browns, with a bid of red in some places. There is a river flowing through the center of the painting, running down the landscape and toward the viewer. There is a figure sitting on a gnarled tree-raft towards the bottom left of the painting, with another figure looking upon the scene from the opposite bank of the river. There are ornate buildings present toward the top of the panting. The viewer can see a lone figure in an interior covered by stylized clouds.
- Subject Matter
- This painting refers to the legend of Zhang Qian (active 139–87 BCE), who was ordered by the emperor to find the source of the Yellow River, the second longest in China. Zhang Qian navigated up the river on a raft, eventually reaching the Milky Way. There he met two celestial beings, the Herd Boy/cowherd with his buffalo (the figures at right) and the Weaver Maiden (the woman in the pavilion), whose stars appear together in the sky on only one night of the year—the seventh day of the seventh lunar month. When a court astronomer of the time observed a change in the configuration of these stars, it was taken as a sign that Zhang Qian had accomplished his mission.
- Yu Zhiding came from a humble background with no documented formal training in painting. He rose quickly, however, to become a portrait painter of elite scholars and high officials. His mastery of portraiture may be seen here in the clearly defined features of the human faces and the exquisite brushwork of the buildings, figures, trees, and rocks.
- Primary Keywords
- figures (representations)
- houses
- legendary figures
- mountains
- oxen
- rafts
- trees
- waterfalls
- Secondary Keywords
- upward
- animals and creatures
- bodies of water and components of bodies of water
- buildings and the land
- components of bodies of water
- displacement vessels
- dwellings
- landforms
- landforms and landform components
- landforms by shape or position
- landscapes (environments)
- mammals
- natural landscapes
- objects we use
- people
- people (agents)
- people and culture
- people by state or condition
- plants
- residential structures
- settlements and landscapes
- single built works
- single built works by function
- single built works by specific type
- surface craft
- transportation vehicles
- vegetation and vegetation components
- vegetation components
- vehicles
- visual works
- visual works by subject type
- watercraft
- watercraft by displacement
- watercraft by operating environment
- watercraft by specific type
- woody plants
- Rights
- If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please visit https://umma.umich.edu/about/services/request-image/ for more information and to fill out the online Image Rights and Reproductions Request Form.
Technical Details
- Collection
- University of Michigan Museum of Art
- Image Size
- 937 x 1465
- File Size
- 164 KB
- Record
- 1985/2.30
- Link to this Item
-
https://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/musart/x-1985-sl-2.30/1985_2.30.jpg
Rights and Permissions
Related Links
Portfolios
IIIF
- Manifest
-
https://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/i/image/api/manifest/musart:1985-SL-2.30:1985_2.30.JPG
Cite this Item
View the Help Guide for more information.
- Full citation
-
"A Han Dynasty Envoy Navigating on a Tree-Raft; Yu Zhiding (Yü Chih-ting)." In the digital collection University of Michigan Museum of Art. https://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/musart/x-1985-sl-2.30/1985_2.30.jpg. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed March 28, 2024.