Flowering Plum in Moonlight and Snow
Original title
Liu Shiru 劉世儒
- Institution
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art ↗
- Accession
- 59.117
- Credit
- Gift of Alan Priest, 1959
- Rights
Ming dynasty painting; the painter was active in the 16th century. The Metropolitan Museum of Art releases this image under CC0 through its Open Access programme.
- Description
- On brown silk, an old plum tree rises from the bottom, its crooked branches scattered with small pale blossoms, and a round moon glows near the top beside a column of inscription.
- Image
- 1033 × 1600
source file retrieved 2026-10-11 - Catalogue no.
- G-009019
coldlibrary.com/g/009019 - Credit line
- Liu Shiru, Flowering Plum in Moonlight and Snow, 16th century. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, public domain (CC0). Via Cold Library: https://coldlibrary.com/g/009019
Liu Shiru was a Ming painter who specialised in plum blossom, a flower that opens in late winter, often while snow is still on the branches; in Chinese painting it stands for endurance and renewal. Here the moon and the blossoms are both small pale lights on dark silk, and they seem to answer each other.
