Liu Haichan (1300s): Art, History and Details

Liu Haichan (1300s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

Liu Haichan is a Daoist immortal sometimes included in the Eight Immortals. He is often shown as a young man wearing bangs across his forehead. He was said to have lived during the Five Dynasties period (907–979) and left his position as a grand councilor to become a hermit. Usually depicted carrying a string of coins and accompanied by a three-legged toad, Liu Haichan became a god of wealth and his toad symbolizes wealth as well. In this scroll, Liu is teasing the three-legged toad with a string of coins tied to his waist

Object facts

• Title: Liu Haichan
• Date: 1300s
• Culture: China, Yuan dynasty (1271-1368)
• Type: Painting
• Technique: Hanging scroll; ink and color on silk
• Dimensions: Image: 105 x 38 cm (41 5/16 x 14 15/16 in.); Overall with knobs: 182.8 x 59.1 cm (71 15/16 x 23 1/4 in.)
• Collection: ASIAN - Hanging scroll
• Department: Chinese Art
• Accession number: 1982.29.2

A detail from the museum

Because the immortal Liu Haichan is usually depicted with bangs, his eponym, liúhǎi 劉海, means "bangs" in Chinese.

Collection credit

Edward L. Whittemore Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Lee, Sherman E. “Year in Review for 1982.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 70, no. 1 (January 1983): 3–55.
• Delacour, Catherine. La Voie du Tao: un Autre Chemin de L'être: Galeries Nationales, Grand Palais, 29 Mars-5 Juillet 2010. Paris: Reunion des Musees Nationaux, 2010.

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.