Conversation in a Bamboo Forest

Date16th–17th century

Label TextA Buddhist master and a layperson are having a profound conversation deep inside a bamboo grove. The image might depict an imagined first encounter between Chan (Zen) master Yaoshan and Confucian scholar Li Ao (active ca. 840 CE), who felt disappointed and said, “Seeing your face is not as good as hearing your name.” Yaoshan replied, “Would you distrust your eye and value your ear?” Pointing above and below, the master explained that ultimate reality lies in what is right before the eyes, like “clouds in the sky and water in a vase.” The painting’s refined brushwork and style appear to follow the 12th-century tradition of monk-painter Fanlong, whose surviving masterwork depicts the sixteen Luohan (enlightened beings), each engaging in distinctive indoor and outdoor pursuits.

Object number2025.15

Provenanceparents of George W.S. Wen (Seattle, Washington; Pullman, Washington); to their son George W.S. Wen (Wappingers Falls, New York); gift to Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington, 2025

Photo CreditPhoto: Scott Leen

Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Seattle Asian Art Museum, Boundless: Stories of Asian Art, February 8, 2020 - ongoing [on view April 16, 2025 – December 3, 2025].

Credit LineGift of George W.S. Wen

DimensionsImage: 16 × 16 in. (40.6 × 40.6 cm) Overall (Mat size): 24 × 22 in. (61 × 55.9 cm)

MediumInk and gold paint on indigo-dyed silk