Guqin made by Zhang Ruixiu of Suzhou (1584): Art, History and Details

Guqin made by Zhang Ruixiu of Suzhou (1584) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

China’s most prestigious instrument, the guqin can be traced to the Chu culture almost 2500 years ago. By the late Ming dynasty, Jiangnan was a center of high-end guqin production. Coated in black lacquer, this elegantly crafted instrument is inscribed on the inside, stating it was made by Zhang Ruixiu of Suzhou for Mr. Tianchi of Haiyu, also known as Yan Cheng (1547–1625). Yan was a key figure in guqin music history and founder of the Yushan school in Suzhou. Zhang Ruixiu was a guqin maker, known for achieving a supreme tone quality. Ten instruments attributed to him are known, of which this guqin has the earliest date.

Object facts

• Title: Guqin made by Zhang Ruixiu of Suzhou
• Date: 1584
• Culture: China, Ming dynasty (1368–1644)
• Type: Musical Instrument
• Technique: Seven-string Asian long zither, chordophone, made from wood, lacquer, mother of pearl, and silk strings
• Dimensions: Overall: 4.5 x 18.1 x 123.5 cm (1 3/4 x 7 1/8 x 48 5/8 in.)
• Collection: Chinese Art
• Department: Chinese Art
• Accession number: 1918.371

A detail from the museum

The 13 studs in mother-of-pearl inlay indicate finger positions for sounding harmonics.

Collection credit

The Charles G. King Jr. collection; Gift of Ralph King in memory of Charles G. King Jr.

Further reading listed by the museum

• "Accessions." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 5, no. 8/9 (1918): 82–85.
• D. S. M. "Exhibition of Musical Instruments." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 8, no. 9 (1921): 134–143.
• Peng, Wei 彭薇, and Clarissa von Spee. Migrations of Memory: The Poetry and Power of Music by Chinese Artist Peng Wei in Collaboration with the Cleveland Museum of Art = 平沙落雁—音樂的詩意與力量: 中國藝術家彭薇與克利夫蘭藝術博物館合作. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 2021.

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.