cun

cun, in Chinese painting, brushstrokes or dabs that give texture, or surface, to the pictorial elements. The Chinese artist does not strive for illusionistic modeling that is dependent upon the manipulation of light and shade; rather, after the forms are outlined, texture strokes are used to give character to the form, ranging from a suggestion of its tactile surface to a summary visual impression.

Over the ages, Chinese painters and critics have codified cun into many different types—including 25 basic ones; there are texture strokes for trees, rocks, raindrops, mountains, and virtually every other kind of natural phenomenon. Various painters are noted for having either invented or specialized in certain types; the artist’s personality and expressive intent is thus specified by the “texture method” (cun fa) that he or she employs.