PROPERTY OF A PRIVATE INSTITUTION. A PORTION OF THIS SALE IS FOR THE BENEFIT OF ASIAN ART CONSERVATIONWen Zhengming (1470-1559)Ink Bamboo Hanging scroll, ink on paper, inscribed by the artist and signed Zhengming, with an artist's seal Hengshan . 55 x 18in (139.7 x 45.7cm) 文徵明 竹石圖 水墨紙本 立軸 The painting of bamboo with ink, sometimes apanied by orchid or rocks, wasmon practice by the Yuan Dynasty. With an economy of brushstrokes, and relying solely on brush and ink, an artist could showcase his calligraphic technique in pictorial form. Here Wen Zhengming depicts a few stalks of bamboo, with a further clump emerging from behind the briefly described rock. In the inscription, the artist notes he painted this in his 83rd year (on the Western calendar 1553). Among his late work, paintings of ink cypress, pine and bamboo were favored subjects of Wen Zhengming. Like this scroll, they embrace the austere, free of unnecessary adornment.