Morning Sun over Heavenly Citadel Peak (1614): Art, History and Details

Morning Sun over Heavenly Citadel Peak (1614) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Ding Yunpeng (Chinese, 1547-c. 1628).

The work and its context

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

A birthday gift, this scroll by Ding Yunpeng from Anhui is among the earliest paintings of Mount Huang (Yellow Mountains), here depicting Heavenly Citadel Peak. The mountains are named after the legendary Yellow emperor who is said to have visited the place to look for the essence of immortality. Deep red strokes accentuate vegetation and allude to cinnabar, the alleged elixir of immortality. Difficult to climb and access, Mount Huang in Anhui province did not become a destination for hikers nor a subject for artists before the late Ming dynasty, when steps were built. Today its towering peaks are a national site and tourist attraction.

Object facts

• Title: Morning Sun over Heavenly Citadel Peak
• Date: 1614
• Creator attribution: Ding Yunpeng (Chinese, 1547-c. 1628)
• Culture: China, Ming dynasty (1368–1644)
• Type: Painting
• Technique: Hanging scroll; ink and light color on paper
• Dimensions: Painting: 212.7 x 55.4 cm (83 3/4 x 21 13/16 in.); Overall with knobs: 344.1 x 87.7 cm (135 1/2 x 34 1/2 in.)
• Collection: ASIAN - Hanging scroll
• Department: Chinese Art
• Accession number: 1965.28

A detail from the museum

Mount Huang, known for its scenic beauty, is one of China's major tourist attractions.

Collection credit

Andrew R. and Martha Holden Jennings Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Dubosc, Jean-Pierre, and Laurence Sickman. A Loan Exhibition, Great Chinese Painters of the Ming and Ch'ing Dynasties, XV to XVIII Centuries: For the Benefit of the Asia Institute, March 11 to April 2, 1949. New York: Wildenstein, 1949.
• Dubosc, Jean Pierre, and Alberto Giuganino. Mostra D'arte Cinese: Catalogo = Exhibition of Chinese Art: Catalogue. Venezia: Alfieri Editore, 1954.
• “Annual Report for 1965.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 53, no. 6 (1966): 137–171.

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.