Paintings after Ancient Masters: Portrait of Tao Yuanming (1598–1652): Art, History and Details

Paintings after Ancient Masters: Portrait of Tao Yuanming (1598–1652) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Chen Hongshou (Chinese, 1598/99–1652).

The work and its context

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

Poet Tao Yuanming (365–427 CE) turned down a career as an official in politically turbulent times to return to his home estate, northwest of Mount Lu, to write poetry and enjoy his garden and wine. Having an ailing foot, he was carried in a basket or walked with a staff. As he grew chrysanthemums, Tao is associated with this flower. The artist Chen Hongshou, active in Zhejiang province, suffered through the violent transition from the Ming to the Qing dynasty around 1644. By portraying the poet who lived a millennium earlier during similarly fraught times, Chen intentionally chose an archaistic style.

Object facts

• Title: Paintings after Ancient Masters: Portrait of Tao Yuanming
• Date: 1598–1652
• Creator attribution: Chen Hongshou (Chinese, 1598/99–1652)
• Culture: China, Ming dynasty (1368–1644)
• Type: Painting
• Technique: Album leaf; ink and color on silk
• Dimensions: Overall: 30.2 x 26.7 cm (11 7/8 x 10 1/2 in.)
• Collection: ASIAN - Album leaf
• Department: Chinese Art
• Accession number: 1979.27.1.5

A detail from the museum

Chen Hongshou made this double-album with twenty paintings for a friend, Lin Zhongqing.

Collection credit

John L. Severance Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Griswold, William, Xiaofei Tian, Richard Von Glahn, Feng Zhao, S. J. Vainker, Masaaki Itakura, Jiang Wu, et al. China’s Southern Paradise: Treasures from the Lower Yangzi Delta. Edited by Clarissa Von Spee. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 2023.

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.