Pillars of the Country

Yao Shou (Chinese, 1423–1495)

Date: Ming dynasty (1368–1644), 1494
Medium: Handscroll; ink and color on paper
Size: 11¾ × 299 in (29.9 × 759.5 cm)
Museum: Art Institute of Chicago, accession 1953.281. See the museum’s record
Credit: Kate S. Buckingham Endowment

Public domain image courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago (CC0).

Palette

Closest wall colors:

Fits these rooms

Hang it

Pick the furniture and a print size to see it to scale on your wall.

Where Print size

Print: 19¾ × 40 in, the whole painting on 30 × 40 in paper
Center: 53 in (135 cm) from the floor
Above the sofa: 8 in (20 cm) from the sofa to the frame
Ideal width: 56 to 63 in over an 84 in sofa
Why this height: Centered at eye level, this frame would not sit 6 to 10 in above the sofa, so the 8 in gap sets the height.

19¾ × 40 in panoramic print (50 × 102 cm), centered 53 in from the floor, 8 in above the sofa. Drawn to scale on a 12 × 8 ft wall.

Try it on your wall color

Default greige

Print it

No standard paper matches this painting’s proportions closely, so print it whole with a white border, or trim the edges to fill the paper.

Paper	Filling the paper	Printed whole	Frame	Frame with a 2 in mat	Frame with a 3 in mat	Sharpness
5 × 7 in	trims 31.1 %	3½ × 7 in	5 × 7 in ready-made	9 × 11 in custom	11 × 13 in custom	285 dpi, crisp from a step back
12 × 16 in	trims 34.4 %	8 × 16 in	12 × 16 in ready-made	16 × 20 in ready-made	18 × 22 in custom	124 dpi, soft up close
18 × 24 in	trims 34.4 %	11¾ × 24 in	18 × 24 in ready-made	22 × 28 in ready-made	24 × 30 in ready-made	83 dpi, soft up close
20 × 30 in	trims 26.1 %	14¾ × 30 in	20 × 30 in ready-made	24 × 34 in custom	26 × 36 in custom	66 dpi, soft up close
24 × 36 in	trims 26.1 %	17¾ × 36 in	24 × 36 in ready-made	28 × 40 in custom	30 × 42 in custom	55 dpi, soft up close
30 × 40 in	trims 34.4 %	19¾ × 40 in	30 × 40 in ready-made	34 × 44 in custom	36 × 46 in custom	49 dpi, soft up close

Sharpness is worked out from the largest file the museum offers. Above 300 dpi a print holds up at arm’s length; 150 dpi is plenty for a picture seen from across a sofa.

Download

Free for any use, including commercial: this image is public domain (CC0).

Thumbnail (WebP) 560 × 276 px from Room Paintings
Web image 843 × 415 px from Art Institute of Chicago
Print file 2,000 × 984 px from Art Institute of Chicago
The museum’s record of this painting Art Institute of Chicago

Public domain image courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago (CC0). You may print, share, change and sell it without asking. Read what that means on our image license page, and how to get a good result in how to print a public-domain painting.