Monthly Scenes Scroll” by Wu Bin of the Ming Dynasty
Compiled by Wei Zeng / Category: Ming Dynasty, Painting, Art / May 11, 2022

This Monthly Scenes Scroll (Yue Ling Tu Juan), painted by Wu Bin (c. 1573–1620) of the Ming Dynasty, depicts twelve seasonal festivals and customs across a year through a unique horizontal album-leaf format. Each section captures a specific month’s highlights:

1. Lantern Festival (元夜)
2. Silkworm Market (蚕市)
3. Swinging (秋千)
4. Bathing the Buddha (浴佛)
5. Dragon Boat Festival (端阳)
6. Summer Retreat (结夏)
7. Ghost Festival (中元)
8. Moon Appreciation (玩月)
9. Climbing Heights (登高)
10. Military Review (阅操)
11. Great Exorcism (大傩)
12. Snow Viewing (赏雪).

Artistic Features:

• Style: Combining the elegance of the Wen School with Wu Bin’s originality, the scroll exhibits a “quirky and rustic” aesthetic (qi zhuo), breaking free from traditional norms.
• Technique: Delicate brushwork and refined coloring highlight lively figures and landscapes, rendered in an exquisitely detailed manner on silk.
• Signatures: The twelfth panel bears Wu Bin’s inscription in semi-cursive script (xingkai).

Artist Background:
Wu Bin, also known by his courtesy names Wenzhong and Zhi Xian, hailed from Putian, Fujian, and later settled in Nanjing. Renowned for his unconventional figure paintings (particularly Buddhist subjects) and landscapes that rejected imitation of antiquity, he pioneered a distinctive style marked by “strange yet harmonious” compositions. His mastery of baimiao (plain line-drawing) further cemented his legacy as an innovator in Ming art.

Current Location: The scroll is preserved at the National Palace Museum in Taipei.

View the scroll in high resolution (Zoomable digital version available).

Key Translations:

• 月令图卷: Monthly Scenes Scroll
• 吴彬: Wu Bin (styled Wenzhong, literary names Zhi Xian)
• 文派: Wen School (a Ming painting tradition)
• 奇拙之气: “quirky and rustic” aesthetic
• 白描: baimiao (plain line-drawing technique)

This masterpiece not only documents Ming seasonal customs but also showcases Wu Bin’s bold departure from artistic conventions, blending poetic tradition with experimental vision.: Sources integrated from multiple descriptions of the scroll’s content, style, and historical context.