Five Pine Trees

About the Artwork

Li Shan was born into a family of scholars and officials in Yangzhou. The wealth and status of Li's family assured him an educational and cultural advantage, including his appointment at court. The subjects Li Shan chose to paint—orchids, bamboo, pines, and flowers—reflected his literati background. Five Pine Trees, painted late in his career, is an unconventional work. Rather than having focused on a realistic treatment of the subject, Li created the trees with an interplay of richly modulated strokes, while he utilized a semicursive script among the branches to illustrate the kinship between painting and calligraphy.

Inscriptions

Artist's 5 poems (not translated), inscription, signature, and 4 seals: [seal] Chung-yang. A friend asked me to paint the five pines. I associated the straight pine with a statesman, the bald one with a famous general, the one leaning to one side and the one reclining with dragons, the short round one with foliage like a grass-mat with either an immortal or Buddha. And I composed a long poem as inscription. In autumn, the ninth month of the ting-mao year [1747], the twelfth year of the Ch'ien-lung era, I imitated the style of T'ien-ch'ih sheng [Hsü Wei, 1521-1593], at the Sheng-hsien fu-ou Studio in the southern part of the city. Fu-t'ang, Ao-tao jen, Li Shan. [2 seals] Shan-yin; Tsung-yang. [seal, lower left corner] Fu-t'ang, Li Shan. trans. LYSL/WKH; 2 additional seals of Cheng Qi 程琦 (1911–1988)

Exhibition history

Year in Review, 1976. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 1-March 6, 1977). Chinese Paintings: Themes and Techniques. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (February 7-April 5, 1981). Scholar's Studio. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 19-December 17, 1989). Inspired by Chinese Landscape and Art – Chinese Gallery Rotation 240a, 241c. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (August 14, 2017-February 5, 2018). When Salt was Gold: Yangzhou, City of Riches and Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (May 12-November 5, 2023).

Quick Overview

Artist: Li Shan (Chinese, c. 1686–1762)
Date: 1747
Medium: Hanging scroll; ink on paper
Dimensions: Image: 199.9 x 94.3 cm (78 11/16 x 37 1/8 in.); Overall: 260 x 98 cm (102 3/8 x 38 9/16 in.)
Type: Painting
Classification: Painting
Department: Chinese Art
Credit line: Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund
Accession no.: 1976.112

Provenance

?–1976: (Cheng Qi 程琦 [1911–1988], sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) 1976–: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH

Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.