Layered Peaks and Splashing Waterfall: Portrait of Hua Yan as a Young Man (1705): Art, History and Details

Layered Peaks and Splashing Waterfall: Portrait of Hua Yan as a Young Man (1705) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Hua Yan (Chinese, 1682–c. 1765); Wei Shijie (Chinese, 1667–after 1747).

The work and its context

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

This portrait was jointly executed by Wei Shijie and Hua Yan himself who painted the landscape in the background. Hua Yan is shown here at the age of about 23. The sword at his back is a reference to his early desire for a military career, while the scholar’s robe suggests an opposing aspiration. Together these are signs of a complex personality. The painting also reveals Hua Yan’s early talent in painting. While Wei Shijie is little known, Hua Yan would later become a well-known painter. In addition to Wei Shijie and Hua Yan, nine of Hua Yan’s contemporary friends left inscriptions on the painting.

Object facts

• Title: Layered Peaks and Splashing Waterfall: Portrait of Hua Yan as a Young Man
• Date: 1705
• Creator attribution: Hua Yan (Chinese, 1682–c. 1765); Wei Shijie (Chinese, 1667–after 1747)
• Culture: China, Qing dynasty (1644-1911)
• Type: Painting
• Technique: Hanging scroll; ink and color on silk
• Dimensions: Painting: 130 x 47.2 cm (51 3/16 x 18 9/16 in.); Overall: 281 x 95 cm (110 5/8 x 37 3/8 in.)
• Collection: ASIAN - Hanging scroll
• Department: Chinese Art
• Accession number: 2001.120

A detail from the museum

Hua Yan's autobiographical inscription, full of remorse and insecurity, is squeezed into the contour of a hill in the upper left.

Collection credit

Gift of various donors by exchange

Further reading listed by the museum

• Fukunaga, Takehiko 福永武彥, and Howard L. Rogers. Kinnō, Bunjinga suihen. chiyūgo (9) 金農, 文人画粋編. 中国篇 9. Tōkyō: Chūōkoronsha, 1986.
• Christie's, New York. Important Classical Chinese Paintings. Thursday, June 1, 1989, at 10:00 A.M.
• Li dai wen wu cui zhen: Min qiu jing she san shi zhou nian ji nian zhan [历代文物萃珍: 敏求精舍三十周年纪念展 = Selected Treasures of Chinese Art, Min Chiu Society Thirtieth Anniversary Exhibition Catalogue]. Hong Kong: Min qiu jing she, 1990.

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.