Crane on a Pine Branch

Description

Inscription: “In the mountains, there is an old man with a bristled beard … Zhang Qi.”
Two seals of the artist
One collector’s seal
Zhang Qi was a talented yet little-known painter whose calligraphy and painting were both quite skillful. This large scroll displays a lone crane standing upright on the trunk of a pine tree. The crane is usually used as a metaphor for a distinguished gentleman. The gnarled pine tree, on the other hand, conjures comparisons to an old wrinkled sage.
The poem inscribed by the artist may be rendered as:
In the mountains, the pine resembles an old man with a green bristled beard,
From where did his gentleman guest (the crane) fly?
Standing alone, upright and gallant, he attempts to search out the dark and void origin of the universe.
Preening his feathers and freshening his demeanor, he keeps himself spotlessly white.