Chinese Literatus Viewing a Valley (possibly mid- to late 1500s–1600s): Art, History and Details

Chinese Literatus Viewing a Valley (possibly mid- to late 1500s–1600s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

This painting depicts a well-recognized scene in East Asian painting most often associated with the Chinese Southern Song dynasty painter Ma Yuan: a figure, most likely a retired government official, contemplating a high mountain valley from a scenic overlook. The lower left corner of the painting has a tripod-shaped seal resembling that of Kano Hideyori. The work appears to have either been made or repurposed to hang as a pair with a painting by Hideyori.

Object facts

• Title: Chinese Literatus Viewing a Valley
• Date: possibly mid- to late 1500s–1600s
• Culture: Japan, Muromachi period (1392–1573) to Edo period (1615–1858)
• Type: Painting
• Technique: hanging scroll; ink and light color on paper
• Dimensions: Mounted: 137 x 46.3 cm (53 15/16 x 18 1/4 in.)
• Collection: ASIAN - Hanging scroll
• Department: Japanese Art
• Accession number: 2015.593

Collection credit

Gift from the Collection of George Gund III

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.