Farewell at a
Spring River, 1499.

Artist

Shen Zhou 沈周 (1427–1509), Ming dynasty

Work

Farewell at a Spring River 春江送别图, 1499

Medium

Handscroll, ink and colour on paper

Collection

Princeton University Art Museum, 1998-94. Bequest of John B. Elliott

Used with

绳峡留白 The Space Between — its main reading

Entered the work

September 2026, after the design

A handscroll is read slowly, from right to left, a section at a time.

In this one, Shen Zhou paints a parting: a boat and figures on the bank take leave of each other beside a wide river. The museum places the painting in the tradition of farewell paintings — pictures that keep a parting, and the friendship behind it.

A narrower question

We came to it with a narrower question. On the right, trees and rocks are dense and dark; moving left, the brush gives the water fewer and fewer strokes, until the open paper does most of the work. The small boat and the figures don’t try to fill that space.

What we saw in the bracelet

Looking at 绳峡留白 afterwards, we noticed a similar change: a weighty run of brown, ivory and pale green beads, then the light, open line of twin cords, with a knot as a pause among the lines. We chose to keep that difference.

What we did not take

What we took is the balance of dense and open. We did not take the boat, the figures or the farewell itself, and we don’t present the bracelet as a farewell gift. The painting gave us one way of looking — you might simply like the colours.

The piece

绳峡留白 The Space Between

Full beads and light lines, kept side by side in one circle.

See the piece