Spring Landscape (1666): Art, History and Details

Spring Landscape (1666) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Kuncan (Chinese, 1612–c. 1673).

The work and its context

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

One of the acclaimed "Four Monks" (the other three being Zhu Da, Daoji, and Hongren), Kuncan was known for the rough and rustic style of his landscape paintings. This painting was once part of a large album, painted at the request of his friend Cheng Zhengkui (active 1630–74), with whom he shared a common interest in painting and poetry. The inscription contains a poem, which reads: Wandering through mountains and oblivious of time, We met in casual shoes (and attires). The wind and dew drops harbor a chilling emptiness. Only with patience and silence can the Chan inspiration come. . . .

Object facts

• Title: Spring Landscape
• Date: 1666
• Creator attribution: Kuncan (Chinese, 1612–c. 1673)
• Culture: China, Qing dynasty (1644–1911)
• Type: Painting
• Technique: double album leaf mounted as a handscroll; ink and color on paper
• Dimensions: Overall: 31.8 x 64.5 cm (12 1/2 x 25 3/8 in.)
• Collection: ASIAN - Album leaf
• Department: Chinese Art
• Accession number: 1966.367

A detail from the museum

This spring scene was once accompanied by album leaves of summer (now in the Museum für Asiatiche Kunst, Berlin) and autumn and winter (now in the British Museum).

Collection credit

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Tang Jisheng 唐吉生, and Gao Yongzhi 高邕之. Taishan can shi lou cang hua [泰山殘石樓藏畫 = Painting collection of the Taishan can shi]. Shanghai: Xi leng yin she, 1926-29.
• Cahill, James, and Virginia Field. Fantastics and Eccentrics in Chinese Painting. New York: Asia Society; distributed by Abrams, 1967.
• “Year in Review.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 54, no. 10 (December 1967): 302–346. Published as: Strolling Companions in the Autumn Mountains

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.