1788
unspecified
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
Dominant colour
Lu Tong and Servant is a 1788 unspecified by Min Zhen, a Chinese Orthodox School work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.
You see a man in a long robe sitting on a rock, holding a scroll, while a younger servant stands beside him with a teapot. This painting shows Lu Tong, a poet from the Tang dynasty, but it was made 900 years later. The artist, Min Zhen, loved old stories and painted them in his own loose, quick style. The servant’s face is barely sketched, while the poet’s robe has careful folds—like the artist changed his mind halfway. If you like this, look up *china, qing dynasty (1644-1911)* for more paintings of scholars and servants.
Min Zhen, who was orphaned at age 12 and developed an eccentric personality, was trained by Tang Yin (1682–1756), a writer, playwright, and superintendent of the imperial porcelain workshops in Jingdezhen. The connection to him may have enabled Min to stay in Beijing for a decade from around 1773. It is not clear whether he ever resided in Yangzhou, but his style is in many instances reminiscent of that of Yangzhou artist Huang Shen. This album demonstrates Min’s versatility and mature style in the last years of his life.
Lu Tong (d. 835) was a Tang dynasty poet and tea aficionado.
Read the full account in the museum source.
Min Zhen was a Chinese painter and seal carver born in Nanchang, Jiangxi, who spent most of his life in Hubei.
See the richer artist page
