Cleansing Medicinal Herbs in the Stream on a Spring Day (1703): Art, History and Details

Cleansing Medicinal Herbs in the Stream on a Spring Day (1703) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Yu Zhiding (Chinese, 1647–c. 1716).

The work and its context

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

A famous portraitist, Yu Zhiding here depicts the likeness of Shi Shenyi 史申義 (1661–1712), an official and poet. Master Shi, a sickly man, was deeply interested in medicinal science. The opening section of the scroll features a boy washing a fungus in fresh spring water, a basket of medicinal herbs by his side. Other servants carry a fan, a bundle of scrolls, and a cup of tea or hot wine. Master Shi sits in a bamboo grove, surrounded by fields of herbs. Returning swallows, pink peach blossoms, and blooming magnolia indicate spring, whereas the fungus conveys wishes for long life. The spring theme may express the artist’s wish for his friend’s recovery.

Object facts

• Title: Cleansing Medicinal Herbs in the Stream on a Spring Day
• Date: 1703
• Creator attribution: Yu Zhiding (Chinese, 1647–c. 1716)
• Culture: China, Qing dynasty (1644-1911)
• Type: Painting
• Technique: Handscroll; ink and color on silk
• Dimensions: Painting only: 36.2 x 132.5 cm (14 1/4 x 52 3/16 in.); Overall in heigh: 38.7 cm (15 1/4 in.)
• Collection: ASIAN - Handscroll
• Department: Chinese Art
• Accession number: 2000.69

A detail from the museum

In the pavilion are some of Shi Shenyi’s scholarly accoutrements: a stack of books, an antique zun 尊 (wine vessel), a brush holder, an ink stone, and a small chime.

Collection credit

Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Suzuki, Kei 鈴木敬. Chūgoku kaiga sōgō zuroku [中國繪畫總合圖錄= Comprehensive Illustrated Catalog of Chinese Paintings], 第1卷. アメリカ·カナダ篇[= vol. 1 American and Canadian collections]. Tōkyō: Tōkyō Daigaku Shuppankai, 1982.
• Zhou, Zhaoxiang 周肇祥, Zhao Heng 趙珩, and Hai Bo 海波. Liulichang za ji 琉璃厂杂记. Beijing Shi: Beijing Yan shan chu ban she, 1995.
• Cleveland Museum of Art, “Recent Acquisitions Press Release,” October 6, 2000, Cleveland Museum of Art Archives.

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.