Peony, Hanging Scroll
Li Shan
Qing Dynasty
- MEDIUM:Ink on paper
- FORMATS:Hanging scroll
- DIMENSIONS:Height 95 cm; Width 53.5 cm
Introduction
Created in 1745, when Li Shan was sixty, this work exemplifies his mature style. In his later years, he moved away from the meticulous precision of his early career toward an unrestrained, boldly expressive approach.
The peony, long hailed as the “king of flowers,” carries connotations of prosperity and peace, yet is also admired by scholars for its dignified defiance of worldly power. Here, the blooms rise gracefully from rocks at the lower right, rendered not in lavish color but in freehand ink. Li uses bold washes of varying intensity to model the petals, contrasting light and dark, fullness and void, in a rhythm both vigorous and refined.
In the upper left, he inscribes a couplet: “While the wealthy compete to purchase peonies of dazzling crimson, I only smile at the spring breeze and paint them in the quiet elegance of pale ink.”
This verse reveals Li Shan’s artistic credo: he refused to cater to the taste for gaudy colors favored by the elite, choosing instead a restrained ink style that expressed his own vision of beauty—serene, unpretentious, and untouched by worldly trends.
