Lotuses on a summer evening 18th century

Yun Shouping painted "Lotuses on a Summer Evening" using ink and color on paper in seventeenth-century China. In this period, the old Ming Dynasty had collapsed and the Qing Dynasty, ruled by Manchus, had been established. The lotus flower in Confucianism represents purity and integrity, but here the lotus is presented in a very literal style. Unlike the precise and polished styles favored by the court painters, Yun cultivated a deliberately rough and spontaneous style, aiming to capture the immediate sensation of direct observation. Yun Shouping abandoned an early ambition to become an official, choosing instead to live as a professional artist. His choice reflects a move among literati artists away from political life and toward a more individualistic expression. The painting embodies this tension between tradition and individual expression, revealing the shifting social and political landscape of seventeenth-century China. To delve deeper, explore the rich archives of the Qing Dynasty and the biographies of literati artists to better understand the social and political context of Yun’s life and art.