Tea Picking, Hanging Scroll
Huang Shen
Qing Dynasty
- MEDIUM:Ink and color on paper
- FORMATS:Hanging scroll
- DIMENSIONS:Height 238 cm; Width 104 cm
Introduction
Tea picking was a common practice among farmers in southern China. As a native of Ninghua, Fujian, Huang Shen was intimately familiar with the pleasures of this activity. In the painting, distant mountains rise in layers, shrouded in clouds and mist. A gently flowing stream winds through the landscape, partially hidden by clusters of pine trees, while two elderly men sit in a pavilion, returning from tea picking and chatting leisurely.
At the upper left, Huang Shen inscribed a poem:
“Plucking tea deep among the deer and elk,
My robe was brushed green by the leaves I hand-picked.
I lodge among the thirty-six peaks,
Finding relief from worries, thanks to Wuyi（The Mountain）.”
The poem praises the serene beauty of the Wuyi Mountains and their soothing effect. Huang Shen frequently depicted tea picking in his works, often featuring elderly figures to evoke a sense of leisure and detachment; the tea pickers in this painting may even represent the artist himself.
This painting bears a marginal inscription by the modern calligrapher and connoisseur Xu Linlu, who acclaimed it as a masterpiece of Huang Shen.
