Who painted Yang Pu Moving His Family?

Yang Pu Moving His Family was painted by Unknown in 1324.

Where can I see Yang Pu Moving His Family?

Yang Pu Moving His Family is held by Art Institute of Chicago.

What movement is Yang Pu Moving His Family?

Yang Pu Moving His Family is associated with Song dynasty painting.

Artwork

Yang Pu Moving His Family

Unknown , 1324

Yang Pu Moving His Family is an ink painting by the Song dynasty painting artist Unknown. It dates from 1324 and is held in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago. The hand‑scroll illustrates a scholar, identified by his official cap with long streamers, leading his family across a narrow river.

Accession no.: 76279
Credit line: Kate S. Buckingham Endowment

About this work

Overview

The hand‑scroll illustrates a scholar, identified by his official cap with long streamers, leading his family across a narrow river. Servants accompany him, bearing children, household items, a chicken and other belongings. Rendered in ink and light colour on paper, the fragment captures a moment of departure that was a common motif in Chinese visual and literary culture.

Subject & Meaning

The central figure is thought to represent Yang Pu, a character from twelfth‑ and thirteenth‑century narratives who reluctantly accepts a bureaucratic posting far from his hometown. The scene conveys the melancholy of forced relocation, a practice mandated by law to curb regional bias, and subtly references the willow‑branch custom of offering small twigs to departing friends.

Technique & Style

Executed with delicate ink lines and muted washes, the artist blends realistic detail, such as the precise rendering of the cap’s tassels and the textures of the cargo, with exaggerated, almost caricatured gestures of the servants. This combination creates a lively yet restrained visual tone, characteristic of late‑Song or early‑Yuan scroll painting.

History & Provenance

The scroll is an anonymous work; no signature or colophon identifies its creator. It survives as a small segment of a larger composition, likely produced for a literati audience familiar with the Yang Pu anecdote. The fragment entered the museum’s collection through a 20th‑century acquisition, though its exact prior ownership remains undocumented.

Context

During the Song and Yuan periods, literature and painting frequently depicted the sorrow of officials sent to distant capitals, emphasizing the personal cost of state service. This piece reflects that tradition, aligning with poetic treatments of parting and the visual genre of journey scenes that populated private studios and album leaves.