Waterfowl and Reeds (early 1200s): Art, History and Details

Waterfowl and Reeds (early 1200s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Liang Kai (Chinese, mid-1100s–early 1200s).

The work and its context

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

This album leaf now mounted as a hanging scroll is attributed to the 13th-century artist Liang Kai, who served for a time in the Southern Song court as a court painter. In recognition of Liang’s outstanding talent, Emperor Ningzong (reigned 1195–1224) granted him the “Gold Belt,” the highest honor reserved for court painters. The artist, however, left his prestigious position in pursuit of the simple life in Buddhist monasteries. The so-called one-corner composition (leaving empty space on one side as the artist did here) was popular in both the imperial court and Buddhist monasteries. This distinctive composition allowed the artist to render a sense of space. Liang Kai’s abbreviated style and expressive monochromatic brushwork were often understood to embody ideals of Chan (Zen) Buddhism, and were continued by later Buddhist painters.

Object facts

• Title: Waterfowl and Reeds
• Date: early 1200s
• Creator attribution: Liang Kai (Chinese, mid-1100s–early 1200s)
• Culture: China, Southern Song dynasty (1127-1279)
• Type: Painting
• Technique: Hanging scroll; ink on silk
• Dimensions: Painting only: 23.4 x 23.5 cm (9 3/16 x 9 1/4 in.); Overall with knobs: 108 x 42.4 cm (42 1/2 x 16 11/16 in.)
• Collection: ASIAN - Hanging scroll
• Department: Chinese Art
• Accession number: 1984.42

Collection credit

Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Turner, Evan H. “The Year in Review for 1984.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 72, no. 2 (April 1985): 163–207.

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.