Life and career
Puming, also known as Xuechuang, was a Chinese Chan monk associated with the Suzhou region and with ink orchids and bamboo. His precise life dates are uncertain and older records differ. Paintings and their inscriptions, seals and later attributions supply a partial history; works transmitted to Japan also illuminate networks of religious and artistic exchange.
Works across a career
Selected examples, not a complete catalogue. Read date ranges and attributions before inferring a career sequence.
- 01
1300s
1300s
Bamboo in the Wind
- Material / technique
- Hanging scroll; ink on silk
- Attribution / role
- Museum attribution
- Collection / source
- The Cleveland Museum of Art
Broad or uncertain date: not a secure career stage.
John L. Severance Fund · Image: public domain (CC0)Museum catalogue note
Bamboo is an evergreen plant that does not break under the weight of snow or the force of the wind, and thus became a favorite motif in literati painting and Chan Buddhism as a metaphor for the virtue of not yielding to worldly temptations. Xuechuang, also known as monk Puming, was a native of Songjiang, near Shanghai, who spent his life as a monk in Suzhou. In 1338, he presided over Yunyan temple on Tiger Hill. Here, he masterfully depicts a bamboo gently bent in a subtle breeze. Puming’s paintings were revered in Japan and Korea.
Collection text · The Cleveland Museum of Art · CC0 - 02
Yuan dynasty; exact date uncertain
View this work at the source
Reference entry · image not reproducedYuan dynasty; exact date uncertain
Orchids and Rock
- Material / technique
- Painting; consult catalogue for support and medium
- Attribution / role
- Museum attribution
- Collection / source
- Kyoto National Museum, AK235
- 03
1343
View this work at the source
Reference entry · image not reproduced1343
Orchids and Bamboo
- Material / technique
- Painting; see exhibition catalogue
- Attribution / role
- Museum attribution
- Collection / source
- Museum of the Imperial Collections; Hiroshima Prefectural Art Museum exhibition checklist
Compare materials, style and colour
Compare the wind-bent bamboo with the Kyoto orchids and rock and the dated 1343 orchids-and-bamboo entry. The brush can suggest leaves, resilience and movement without a broad palette. Only one example supplies a precise year; the museum and exhibition records do not justify assigning the others to invented early or late phases.
Material
What can this material do? Distinguish a design, an original object and a later impression or cast.
Style
Compare viewpoint, edges, composition and marks. Which choices persist, and which change?
Colour
Compare palette, contrast and light. Consider the support, printing, surface treatment and ageing.
Sources and further reading
Original educational interpretation; catalogue descriptions are separately credited. Each study links to its source. Reference entries without images are not added to the comparison timeline.