On silk, in the vertical scroll format, the vinegar jar three sages theme finds its natural home in this painting scroll painting. The work reads as a whole from across the room and rewards a closer look too. It belongs with the best of elegant chinese wall scroll, the sort that settles into a room from day one.
The pines are painted with character, each one bent by its own imagined wind. Here the three sages takes its place in the composition's larger rhythm. Against the silk ground, the vinegar jar reads clearly at any distance. There is weather in this picture, even when the sky is clear. The scene is specific in its details and universal in its feeling.
As chinese painting for home decor, it asks for nothing more than a good wall and soft light. It does not shout, and that is exactly its strength. Give it time; the best pictures are slow company.
