kanrin zu 寒林図

Ch: hanlintu. Lit. pictures of a cold grove. A painting theme featuring a grove of leafless trees in a cold or barren landscape, either used alone as the subject or as a motif within a larger landscape. The image first appears in Tang dynasty poetry and in Chinese painting from the Five dynasties. Kanrin zu are associated with the Northern Song painter Li Cheng (Jp: Ri Sei 李成, 919-67), and along with the painting technique of rendering trees called crab-claw branch, kaisōju 蟹爪樹 the motif forms a key feature of the Li-Guo school, Rikaku-ha 李郭派. In Japan, the theme appears in Muromachi ink painting *suibokuga 水墨画 and was popular with *nanga 南画 artists.