# Herbaceous Peony

**Yun Shouping** (Chinese, 1633–1690)  
1685  
Hanging scroll; ink and color on silk  
Painting: 118.7 x 71.8 cm (46 3/4 x 28 1/4 in.); Overall with knobs: 226 x 84.4 cm (89 x 33 1/4 in.)

Courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art, 1967.192. [The museum's record](https://clevelandart.org/art/1967.192).

## About this work

Yun Shouping came from Piling (modern Changzhou), Jiangsu province, a center of floral, plant, and insect painting. He had joined the anti-Manchu resistance, was briefly imprisoned, and witnessed the death of family members in 1644. Like other artists, Yun Shouping expressed his Ming loyalism in coded pictures. The peony, king of flowers, and a spring garden motif developed new meaning during the Qing dynasty. The inscription indicates that Yun turns the flower into a motif representing the glorious past. The herbaceous peonies here appear somewhat withered and pale, with faint reddish veins running through its broken branches, perhaps a coded message. The inscription reads, An old painting by an anonymous painter of the Northern Song Dynasty has five varieties of flowers painted in the boneless manner. Its colors are so beguiling and beautiful, that even after several hundred years its lead pigments are like new. The skill with which the ink and colors were applied and the subtlety of its composition find no equal among modern followers .

_Text from the Cleveland Museum of Art._

Yun Shouping painted this in 1685, aged 52. It is now at the Cleveland Museum of Art.

### How it was made

- **Hanging scroll.** A painting mounted on silk with a wooden roller at the foot. It was rolled up for storage and brought out to hang for a season, a guest or an occasion.
- **Ink and colour on silk.** Silk was sized with glue and alum so it would hold a crisp brushline, and mineral colours were built up in thin layers. The sheen of the weave still shows through.

### [Yun Shouping](https://www.ochreeditions.com/artists/yun-shouping)

Chinese, 1633–1690

## Facts

- Type: Painting
- Culture: China, Qing dynasty (1644-1911)
- The artist was 52
- Real size: about 89 × 29 in (226 × 75 cm). The original is larger than our largest print, 18 × 24 in, so every print is a reduction.
- Century: 17th century
- Movement: [Chinese painting](https://www.ochreeditions.com/movements/chinese-painting)
- Colour: olive
- Rights: public domain (CC0 1.0); free to use for any purpose.

## Get it

- Free download, full resolution: https://img.ochreeditions.com/m/667.jpg?dl=1
- Image: https://img.ochreeditions.com/a/667/1920.jpg
- Giclée reproduction on Hahnemühle Photo Rag: 8 × 10 in $28; 11 × 14 in $38; 12 × 16 in $42; 16 × 20 in $56; 18 × 24 in $68
- Framed reproduction: 8 × 10 in $78; 11 × 14 in $98; 12 × 16 in $108; 16 × 20 in $138; 18 × 24 in $164
- Canvas reproduction: 8 × 10 in $58; 11 × 14 in $72; 12 × 16 in $79; 16 × 20 in $98
- Print-ready file: 8 × 10 in $2; 11 × 14 in $2; 12 × 16 in $3; 16 × 20 in $3; 18 × 24 in $3

Sizes stop where the museum's file would print below 150 pixels per inch. Everything sold is a reproduction, made to order. [Order a print](https://www.ochreeditions.com/art/herbaceous-peony-cma-143237).