Returning Peasants in a Spring Evening (early 1600s): Art, History and Details

Returning Peasants in a Spring Evening (early 1600s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Tao Hong (Chinese, active c. 1610–1640).

The work and its context

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

Although little known today, Tao Hong was a versatile artist who here depicts farmers returning home after a day in the fields. The shallow stream and dormant rice fields, the returning birds, and light sprinkles of green foliage all indicate the beginning of the farming season and hope for a good harvest. While this leaf depicts rural life, the second one,1999.224, is of a more poetic nature. A lone crane stands in a bamboo grove. By using light colors and nuanced brushwork, Tao Hong achieves an effect of natural light and luminosity.

Object facts

• Title: Returning Peasants in a Spring Evening
• Date: early 1600s
• Creator attribution: Tao Hong (Chinese, active c. 1610–1640)
• Culture: China, Ming dynasty (1368–1644)
• Type: Painting
• Technique: album leaf, ink and color on silk
• Dimensions: Overall: 24.5 x 26.7 cm (9 5/8 x 10 1/2 in.)
• Collection: ASIAN - Album leaf
• Department: Chinese Art
• Accession number: 1999.223

Collection credit

Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Sherman E. Lee

Further reading listed by the museum

• Cleveland Museum of Art, “Cleveland Museum of Art Acquires Rare Chinese Paintings, Baroque Porcelain Plaque and Other New Acquisitions Exhibited with Hanging Scrolls,” December 20, 1999, Cleveland Museum of Art Archives.

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.