A sixth work in the East Asian ink tradition — and the most reduced and structurally spare of all. A single ink mark descends vertically from approximately one-third down the picture field, beginning as a thin controlled line and gradually thickening as it descends, ending in a broad pooled mass at the very bottom. This mark is the trunk or stem — a single continuous brushstroke that carries all the energy of the work in its variation from thin to thick, controlled to released.
At the top of the descent, where the mark is still thin, two groups of leaf-forms branch laterally: at upper left, three broad leaf marks in heavy ink; at upper right, a more complex cluster. These leaf forms are painted with the characteristic East Asian leaf-mark vocabulary — a single loaded brushstroke pressed and lifted to create a form that is simultaneously stroke and shape.
At the midpoint of the descending trunk, a small cluster of round fruit or blossom forms appears in darker ink — the only concentrated mass in the composition, the point of biological focus.
The paper is pale blue-gray — a distinct ground that gives the black ink a cooler, more atmospheric quality than the warm cream papers of the portraits. On this cool ground the ink reads almost like a shadow or a reflection rather than a mark on a surface.
Of all the East Asian works, this is the one most directly concerned with the single brushstroke as a complete artistic act. The descending trunk mark is drawn in one pass. You can see the breath in it.