Crabs and Seagrass
Original Language Title传陈道复 蟹藻图
Artist
Unknown
Artist After
Chen Chun
(Chinese, 1483 - 1544)
Date1538?
MediumHanging scroll; ink on paper
DimensionsOverall: 35 1/2 × 13 3/4 inches (90.17 × 34.93 cm)
Credit LinePurchase: William Rockhill Nelson Trust
Object number46-89
On View
Not on viewCollections
Exhibition HistoryPomona (CA) College, 1948.
Oriental art exhibition, Washington University, St. Louis. January 23-March 4, 1966.
The Chinese love eating freshwater crabs, which appear on the market around the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival. This was not the main reason why painters liked to paint them. The Chinese word for crab, xie, sounds similar to the word for harmony. A painting of crabs is a visual pun expressing a wish for harmony in life.
Tonying and Co.;
Purchased from Tonying and Co. by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1946.
Osvald Siren, Chinese Painting: Leading Masters and Principles, Part. II, vol. vi, (New York: Ronald Press, 1958), pl. 247.
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