Listening to the Qin (Zither) (1150–after 1225): Art, History and Details

Listening to the Qin (Zither) (1150–after 1225) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Liu Songnian (Chinese, c. 1150-after 1225).

The work and its context

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

Listening to the Qin recalls the story of Bo Ya, a musician who loved to play the qin (a seven-stringed zither) for Zhong Ziqi, who was a discerning listener. The cool shade of the pine trees and the incense wafting from the burner complemented the atmosphere created by the music. After Zhang died, Bo refused to play the instrument ever again. The intimate format of the album leaf focuses on the music as the key to stir the heart and soul of both player and listener.

Object facts

• Title: Listening to the Qin (Zither)
• Date: 1150–after 1225
• Creator attribution: Liu Songnian (Chinese, c. 1150-after 1225)
• Culture: China, Southern Song dynasty (1127-1279)
• Type: Painting
• Technique: Album leaf; ink and slight color on silk
• Dimensions: Image: 23.8 x 24.6 cm (9 3/8 x 9 11/16 in.); with mat: 33.3 x 40.5 cm (13 1/8 x 15 15/16 in.)
• Collection: ASIAN - Album leaf
• Department: Chinese Art
• Accession number: 1983.85

A detail from the museum

The three figures are painted with "nail-head and mouse-tail" brushstrokes.

Collection credit

Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Turner, Evan H. “Year in Review for 1983.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 71, no. 2 (February 1984): 38–79. Published as: High Mountain and Flowing Water
• Lee, Sherman E. “Listening to the Ch'in by Liu Sung-Nien.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, vol. 73, no. 9, 1986, pp. 372–387.
• Tōyō kaiga no seika: tokubetsuten: Kurīvurando Bijutsukan no korekushon kara [東洋絵画の精華 : 特别展 : クリーヴラント美術館のコレクションから = Highlights of Asian painting from the Cleveland Museum of Art]. Japan: Nara National Museum, 1998.

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.