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Source Description
Lan Ying’s painting is a gift to his friend, the Chan monk Wuyun, in which he depicted two sages of the Six Dynasties period: the Buddhist monk Zhidun (314–366 CE), and the Daoist priest Xu Xun (265–420 CE). Meant to be understood as an analogy of the friendship between artist and monk, the painting also offered a retreat into the past, a year before the fall of the Ming dynasty. <br><br>A professional painter born in Hangzhou, Lan Ying is traditionally considered a last representative of the Zhe school. Lan wrote poetic inscriptions and interacted with the literatus Chen Jiru (1558–1639).
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
144920
label
Zhi and Xu's Pure Conversation
core
obj
dtoType
painting
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
144920
contentType
painting
title
Zhi and Xu's Pure Conversation
description
Lan Ying’s painting is a gift to his friend, the Chan monk Wuyun, in which he depicted two sages of the Six Dynasties period: the Buddhist monk Zhidun (314–366 CE), and the Daoist priest Xu Xun (265–420 CE). Meant to be understood as an analogy of the friendship between artist and monk, the painting also offered a retreat into the past, a year before the fall of the Ming dynasty. <br><br>A professional painter born in Hangzhou, Lan Ying is traditionally considered a last representative of the Zhe school. Lan wrote poetic inscriptions and interacted with the literatus Chen Jiru (1558–1639).
date
1643
rights
CC0
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
wikidata
Q60470733
creators
23262
genreSpecific
Painting
imageCount
1
source
import
dimensionsRaw
Painting: 141 x 56 cm (55 1/2 x 22 1/16 in.); Overall with knobs: 246 x 80 cm (96 7/8 x 31 1/2 in.)
cul
China, Ming dynasty (1368–1644)
accession
1970.128
Source extras
tec
Hanging scroll; ink on paper
tombstone
Zhi and Xu's Pure Conversation (支許清言圖), 1643. Lan Ying (Chinese, 1585–after 1664). Hanging scroll; ink on paper; painting: 141 x 56 cm (55 1/2 x 22 1/16 in.); overall with knobs: 246 x 80 cm (96 7/8 x 31 1/2 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Stephen O. K. Chen, 1970.128
titleInOriginalLanguage
支許清言圖
collection
ASIAN - Hanging scroll
inscriptions
inscription
六朝多奇人，寄隱玄與釋。/
支遁許道士，情意合相適。/
長松古巖下，高譚對終日。/
大志擲流水，好句聯袂覓。/
世事世之外，千秋我自識。
五雲禪師道古行潔，與世無涉。喜山水，喜文
墨。至老神逾王。余與方外交，遂作支許清言
圖，乞為開示。
蝶叟藍瑛癸未七月杪。
inscription_translation
Artist's inscription, signature, and 2 seals:
The time of Six Dynasties was full of eccentrics./
They took refuge in Daoism or Buddhism./
Thus came [the pair of] Zhidun and the Daoist priest Xu [Xun]:/
Their sensibilities and ideals were fully in tune./
Under a tall pine and ancient cliff,/
They chatted away all day long. /
Grand ambitions were cast away like the flowing stream/
In quest for linked poetic lines./
Practical affairs were outside of their concerns./
Thousands of autumns later, I come to realize the truth./
Regarding the Chan Master Wuyun, his way is ancient and his actions pure. He has not involved himself in worldly affairs. He loves landscape and also belles lettres. In his old age, his spirit exceeds that of a king. He and I share much in common, he being a priest and I a layman. Consequently, I painted this Zhi Xu qing yan tu, and hope that he would enlighten me.
Diesou Lan Ying, in the end of the seventh month, [the year of] kuiwei [1643].
sortorder
1
inscription
2 additional seals of Cheng Qi 程琦 (1911–1988)
sortorder
2
didYouKnow
This painting serves as an analogy of the friendship between artist and monk.
citations
citation
Cheng, Qi 程琦. <em>Xuanhuitang shuhua lu </em>[萱暉堂書畫錄 = Paintings and calligraphy in the collection of Hsüan-hui-tʻang]. Hong Kong: Xuanhuitang, 1972.
page_number
Reproduced: II, 117(b)–118(a)
citation
Lee, Sherman E. <em>The Colors of Ink: Chinese Paintings and Related Ceramics from the Cleveland Museum of Art</em>. [New York]: Asia Society; distributed by New York Graphic Society, 1974.
page_number
Mentioned: cat. no. 34
citation
Ho, Wai-kam, Sherman E. Lee, Laurence Sickman, and Marc F. Wilson. <em>Eight Dynasties of Chinese Painting: The Collections of the Nelson Gallery-Atkins Museum, Kansas City, and the Cleveland Museum of Art</em>. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, in cooperation with Indiana University Press, 1980.
page_number
Reproduced: cat. no. 196, pp. 252–253
citation
Chou, Ju-hsi and Anita Chung. <em>Silent poetry: Chinese paintings from the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em>. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2015.
page_number
Reproduced: pp. 321–323
citation
Griswold, William, Xiaofei Tian, Richard Von Glahn, Feng Zhao, S. J. Vainker, Masaaki Itakura, Jiang Wu, et al. <em>China’s Southern Paradise: Treasures from the Lower Yangzi Delta</em>. Edited by Clarissa von Spee. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 2023.
page_number
Mentioned and Reproduced: pp. 274–275, no. 128
creditline
Gift of Stephen O. K. Chen
updatedAt
2026-05-29 07:26:56.188000
sourceId
144920
dept
Chinese Art
coll
ASIAN - Hanging scroll
med
Hanging scroll; ink on paper
creatorTags
male
thumbnail_url
image_url
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
ffa9d399c6c06c4d