Playing the Qin in a Secluded Valley (1548): Art, History and Details

Playing the Qin in a Secluded Valley (1548) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Wen Zhengming (Chinese, 1470–1559).

The work and its context

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

The poem inscribed in this painting reads: "Ten thousand layered lofty mountains are presented to the cultivated eye, A thousand feet of cascading falls cleanse the dusty heart. May the harmonies of my red-stringed tune Be the humble answer to the pine wind's ancient song." Different versions of this painting exist. Scholars have suggested that the solid renderings of the rock masses and the volumetric mountain configurations as seen here appear more characteristic of Lu Zhi 陸治 (1496–1576), Wen Zhengming's pupil.

Object facts

• Title: Playing the Qin in a Secluded Valley
• Date: 1548
• Creator attribution: Wen Zhengming (Chinese, 1470–1559)
• Culture: China, Ming dynasty (1368–1644)
• Type: Painting
• Technique: hanging scroll; ink and light color on paper
• Dimensions: Overall: 132 x 50.5 cm (51 15/16 x 19 7/8 in.)
• Collection: ASIAN - Hanging scroll
• Department: Chinese Art
• Accession number: 1969.60

A detail from the museum

In paintings, Chinese literati often play the instrument in a landscape setting, as the sound of the qin symbolizes harmony between man and nature.

Collection credit

John L. Severance Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Lu, Xinyuan 陸心源. Rang li guan guo yan lu 穰梨館過眼錄. Wuxing: Lu shi, 1891
• Edwards, Richard. The Art of Wen Cheng-Ming (1470-1559). Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan, 1976.
• Oertling, Sewall Jerome. Ting Yün-Pʼeng: A Chinese Artist in the Late Ming Dynasty. PhD diss., University of Michigan, 1980.

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.