A Pair of Peafowl (late 1400s-early 1500s): Art, History and Details

A Pair of Peafowl (late 1400s-early 1500s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Lin Liang (Chinese, 1416–1480).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

The peacock, identified by the flamboyant tail, is paired with a female peahen to its right. In lowering her head, the hen seems to show respect to the male peacock. With his articulate brushstrokes and strong contrasting tones, Lin Liang’s representation in black ink appears as vivid as Yin Hong’s colorful peacock (1974.31). The painter skillfully uses wet and dry ink as well as broad and thin washes to represent the plumage of the bird. The surface of the rocks, depicted in powerful sweeping strokes, recalls the landscape painting style of the Zhe School, which specialized in expressive brushwork.

Object facts

• Title: A Pair of Peafowl
• Date: late 1400s-early 1500s
• Creator attribution: Lin Liang (Chinese, 1416–1480)
• Culture: China, Ming dynasty (1368–1644)
• Type: Painting
• Technique: hanging scroll, ink on silk
• Dimensions: Painting: 160 x 106 cm (63 x 41 3/4 in.); Overall with knobs: 256.5 x 133.3 cm (101 x 52 1/2 in.)
• Collection: ASIAN - Hanging scroll
• Department: Chinese Art
• Accession number: 1964.242

Collection credit

Severance and Greta Millikin Collection

Further reading listed by the museum

• Jiao yu bu di er ci quan guo mei shu zhan lan hui zhuan ji [敎育部第二次全國美術展覽會專集 = A special collection of the second National Exhibition of Chinese Art under the auspices of the Ministry of Education]. [Nanjing?]: Shang wu yin shu guan, 1937.
• Sirén, Osvald. Chinese Painting: Leading Masters and Principles. New York: Ronald Press, 1956.
• Goepper, Roger. 1000 Jahre chinesische Malerei. München: Haus der Kunst, 1959.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.