New Bamboo after Spring Rain

This is a masterpiece of ink bamboo painting created by Ni Zan in 1371 (the 4th year of Hongwu reign, Ming Dynasty), when he was 71 years old, in his late years. It is an ink‑on‑paper work, measuring 70.7 cm in height and 38.6 cm in width, and is now collected in the National Palace Museum, Taipei. Unlike his iconic minimalist landscape with the "one river, two banks" composition, this painting focuses entirely on a single stalk of fresh bamboo thriving in the misty spring rain, showing his outstanding skill in ink‑bamboo and his consistent pursuit of expressing inner spirit rather than rigidly imitating form.

In terms of brush and ink techniques, the bamboo stem is slender and slightly curved in an S‑shape, showing the tenacity of new shoots breaking through. The tender leaves, bathed in spring rain, droop gently at their tips, which is a subtle detail different from the upright leaves in ordinary bamboo paintings. The painter mainly uses the central brush with occasional side brush for the leaves, with scattered density and alternating light and dark ink tones to create a distinct sense of layers. The ink color is fresh and elegant, without redundant color rendering, perfectly presenting the pure and delicate texture of new bamboo. It embodies Ni Zan’s artistic view of painting to express the free spirit in the chest as he claimed in his postscripts.

The painting is accompanied by multiple inscriptions and poems, including Ni Zan’s own note: "Painted bamboo shoots and poems in the autumn of Xin Hai, presented to Cizong Huishi". The inscriptions and seals by later generations also add cultural connotations to the work. The quiet and fresh artistic conception not only conveys the beauty of nature’s vitality, but also symbolizes the noble integrity and seclusion sentiment of literati. As a representative work of Ni Zan’s late ink‑bamboo paintings, it is an important material for studying the evolution of his artistic style and the ink‑bamboo tradition of Yuan Dynasty literati painting.