Nine Songs (1361): Art, History and Details

Nine Songs (1361) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Zhang Wo (Chinese, active c.1336–after 1364); Chu Huan (Chinese, active 1361).

The work and its context

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

Painted in the baimiao, or fine-line drawing style, this ancient work demonstrates the literati’s use of abstract calligraphic brushwork for self-expression. The subject of the “Nine Songs”—songs associated with shamanistic rituals in the ancient Chu kingdom—had traditionally provided artists with myths and legends that they could explore and reinterpret in their own works.

Object facts

• Title: Nine Songs
• Date: 1361
• Creator attribution: Zhang Wo (Chinese, active c.1336–after 1364); Chu Huan (Chinese, active 1361)
• Culture: China, Yuan dynasty (1271–1368)
• Type: Painting
• Technique: handscroll; ink on paper
• Dimensions: Overall: 28 x 438.2 cm (11 x 172 1/2 in.)
• Collection: ASIAN - Handscroll
• Department: Chinese Art
• Accession number: 1959.138

A detail from the museum

Divided into eleven sections, the scroll contains illustrations by painter Zhang Wu followed by a transcription of the relevant verse by calligrapher Chu Huan.

Collection credit

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Lu, Shihua 陸時化. Wu Yue suo jian shu hua lu: 6 juan 吳越所見書畫錄 : 六卷. Shunde: Teng shi, 1910.
• Jiao yu bu di er ci quan guo mei shu zhan lan hui zhuan ji [敎育部第二次全國美術展覽會專集 = A special collection of the second National Exhibition of Chinese Art under the auspices of the Ministry of Education]. [Nanjing?]: Shang wu yin shu guan, 1937.
• Dubosc, Jean Pierre, and Alberto Giuganino. Mostra D'arte Cinese: Catalogo = Exhibition of Chinese Art: Catalogue. Venezia: Alfieri Editore, 1954.

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.