Who painted Untitled?

Untitled was painted by Yun Shouping in 1667.

Where can I see Untitled?

Untitled is held by Metropolitan Museum of Art.

What movement is Untitled?

Untitled is associated with Baroque.

Untitled by Yun Shouping (1667) · Meaning & Museum

About this work

Technique & Style

According to the catalog entry, Yun Shouping painted Untitled in 1667 in China, employing ink wash to render a landscape composition that exemplifies the genre.

The work is executed as a hanging scroll in ink on paper, a format typical of Chinese literati painting. According to the catalog entry, Yun Shouping painted Untitled in 1667 in China, employing ink wash to render a landscape composition that exemplifies the genre. The scroll measures 98.7 cm in height by 33.3 cm in width and is housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where it remains part of the museum’s collection.

The piece is classified as a painting within the landscape genre, reflecting the artist’s mastery of brushwork and atmospheric perspective characteristic of 17th-century Chinese art.

History & Provenance

The untitled hanging scroll by Yun Shouping was created in 1667 as an ink-on-paper work. It is presently held in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, under accession number 13.220.35. A hanging scroll measuring 98.7 by 33.3 centimeters, it was created in China.

The available sources do not record any earlier owners, commissions, or exhibition history prior to its entry into the museum's collection.

Context

Yun Shouping’s hanging scroll Untitled (1667) exemplifies his engagement with traditional Chinese landscape subjects despite his reputation for bird-and-flower imagery. Executed in ink on paper, the work is catalogued as a landscape painting and is part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s collection, reflecting the Qing-dynasty artistic milieu in which the artist operated. Scholarship situates the piece within the broader trajectory of Chinese literati painting, noting its compositional balance and subtle atmospheric treatment as characteristic of mid-seventeenth-century scholarly aesthetics.

The scroll’s presence in a major Western museum underscores its significance in the global reception of Chinese art.

Overview

This hanging scroll, Untitled, was created by Yun Shouping in 1667. Executed with ink on paper, it exemplifies the landscape painting tradition that flourished during the early Qing dynasty in China. Yun Shouping was a prominent artist of his era, recognized as one of the "Six Masters" of the period, whose work significantly shaped the artistic direction of his time.

Subject & Meaning

The composition features a serene natural scene, rendered with soft gray tones that evoke a sense of mist and distance. Dominant are towering mountains, subtly defined, alongside a scattering of bare trees. A solitary, diminutive figure can be discerned traversing a path, inviting contemplation on humanity's place within the vastness of nature. This approach reflects a long-standing tradition in Chinese landscape art.