Steed in Spring, Hanging Scroll
Jin Nong
Qing Dynasty
- MEDIUM:Ink on paper
- FORMATS:Hanging scroll
- DIMENSIONS:Height 70.5 cm; Width 42.5 cm
Introduction
Few of Jin Nong’s horse paintings survived. This work was created when he was 71. The horse turns its head and gazes back, its posture vigorous and spirited. Jin Nong inscribed a poem:
“Old battlefields bear scars of arrows,
A lonely steed recalls the past.
Now in the waning sunlight over withered grass,
Man regards it like oxen and sheep.”
The lines convey the steed’s unfulfilled ambition, echoing Jin Nong’s own reflections on age and limitation. The inscription is executed in his characteristic “scripted regular script” (xiejing-style kaishu), inspired by ancient Buddhist sutra calligraphy: square, sharply angled, compact, and slightly tilted.
This painting was once collected by Tang Shaopo from the late Qing dynasty, later by Huang Xing, a founder of the Republic of China, and bears the appreciation seal of contemporary bamboo carving artist Zhong Shanyin.
