Mountains of the Immortals (1300–1370): Art, History and Details

Mountains of the Immortals (1300–1370) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Chen Ruyan (Chinese, c. 1331–1371); Ni Zan (Chinese, 1301–1374).

The work and its context

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

The landscape in deep green tones offers a view into a secluded mountain valley, populated by ancient figures surrounded by deer and cranes, all under high pine trees. A red-robed immortal in the air steers his crane toward the paradise land. This idyllic scene was presumably created amid the tumultuous transition from the Yuan to the Ming dynasty. Chen from Suzhou supported major rebel leaders, first Zhang Shicheng (1321–1367) with his base in Suzhou and then his rival Zhu Yuanzhang in Nanjing, after the latter had established the Ming dynasty. Chen was executed in 1371.

Object facts

• Title: Mountains of the Immortals
• Date: 1300–1370
• Creator attribution: Chen Ruyan (Chinese, c. 1331–1371); Ni Zan (Chinese, 1301–1374)
• Culture: China, Yuan dynasty (1271-1368)
• Type: Painting
• Technique: Handscroll; ink and color on silk
• Dimensions: Painting only: 33.4 x 97.3 cm (13 1/8 x 38 5/16 in.); height: 35 cm (13 3/4 in.)
• Collection: ASIAN - Handscroll
• Department: Chinese Art
• Accession number: 1997.95

A detail from the museum

Such blue and green landscapes often evoke nostalgia for the idealized ancient times.

Collection credit

Bequest of Mrs. A. Dean Perry

Further reading listed by the museum

• Du, Mu 都穆. Yu yi bian [寓意編 = The Dwelling of Ideas; notes on painting and calligraphy]. Shanghai: Shanghai gu ji chu ban she, 1987. (Original text dated c. 1500s)
• Wang, Keyu 汪砢玉 . Shan hu wang 珊瑚網. Chengdu: Cheng du gu ji shu dian, 1985. (Preface dated 1643)
• Wu, Qizhen 吴其貞. Shu hua ji = 書畫記. Shanghai: Shanghai ren min mei shu chu ban she, 1962. (Original text dated c. 1677)

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.