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Source Description
Poem and painting, once mounted together as one fan, exemplify the collaboration between imperial patron and court painter. Emperor Lizong’s calligraphy cites a verse from Wang Wei’s (701–761) poem, <em>Walking to where the water ends, I sit and watch when clouds arise</em>.<br><br>Ma Lin’s response is this painting. At the water’s edge, a scholar reclines by a large rock. The view leads across the empty middle ground to a distant mountain. With sparse ink and subtly graded washes, Ma Lin visualizes the poetic verse. The painting suggests the impact of Chan aesthetics through interaction between the palace, literati-officials, and monasteries around Hangzhou.<br><br>The leaf facing Emperor Lizong’s calligraphy has an inscription by Zhang Daqian (1899–1983).
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
136951
label
Poem by Wang Wei in the Cursive Script Style
core
obj
dtoType
object
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
136951
contentType
object
title
Poem by Wang Wei in the Cursive Script Style
description
Poem and painting, once mounted together as one fan, exemplify the collaboration between imperial patron and court painter. Emperor Lizong’s calligraphy cites a verse from Wang Wei’s (701–761) poem, <em>Walking to where the water ends, I sit and watch when clouds arise</em>.<br><br>Ma Lin’s response is this painting. At the water’s edge, a scholar reclines by a large rock. The view leads across the empty middle ground to a distant mountain. With sparse ink and subtly graded washes, Ma Lin visualizes the poetic verse. The painting suggests the impact of Chan aesthetics through interaction between the palace, literati-officials, and monasteries around Hangzhou.<br><br>The leaf facing Emperor Lizong’s calligraphy has an inscription by Zhang Daqian (1899–1983).
date
1256
rights
CC0
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
wikidata
Q60780980
creators
31194
genreSpecific
Calligraphy
imageCount
1
source
import
dimensionsRaw
Image: 25.1 x 25.3 cm (9 7/8 x 9 15/16 in.); with mat: 33.3 x 40.5 cm (13 1/8 x 15 15/16 in.)
cul
China, Southern Song dynasty (1127-1279)
accession
1961.421.2
Source extras
tec
Album leaf; ink on silk
tombstone
Poem by Wang Wei in the Cursive Script Style (王維詩), 1256. Song Lizong (Chinese, 1205–1264). Album leaf; ink on silk; image: 25.1 x 25.3 cm (9 7/8 x 9 15/16 in.); with mat: 33.3 x 40.5 cm (13 1/8 x 15 15/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund, 1961.421.2
titleInOriginalLanguage
王維詩
collection
ASIAN - Album leaf
inscriptions
inscription
行到水窮處 坐看雲起時
inscription_translation
I walk unto where waters end/
And sit down to watch when clouds arise
sortorder
1
inscription
The inscription between the two imperial seals reads, "Presented to Chung-kuei".
sortorder
2
inscription
The top gourd-shaped seal has the cyclical date "bingchen" (丙辰 1256); the lower square seal is the Seal for Imperial Calligraphy.
sortorder
3
inscription
The facing leaf has an inscription by Zhang Daqian 張大千 (1899–1983).
sortorder
4
inscription
1 seal of Chu Sheng-chai (20th Century) remounted onto the facing leaf to the left of the square calligraphy.
sortorder
5
formerAccessionNumbers
1961.422
didYouKnow
Emperor Lizong had little interest in governmental affairs, but he was perhaps the finest calligrapher among the Song emperors.
citations
citation
Lee, Sherman E., and Wai-Kam Ho. “Scattered Pearls beyond the Ocean.” <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em> 51, no. 2 (February 1964): 23–39.
page_number
Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 30, cat. no. 5
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
p. 72, cat. no. 57.
citation
Little, Stephen. “Chinese Calligraphy.” <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em> 74, no. 9 (November 1987): 372–403.
page_number
Mentioned and Reproduced: pp. 377–379, fig. 8a
citation
Harrist, Robert E. Jr. "'Watching Clouds Rise': A Tang Dynasty Couplet and Its Illustration in Song Painting." <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art.</em> Vol. 78, No. 7 (November 1991), pp. 301–323.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 301, fig. 1
citation
Cahill, James. <em>The Lyric Journey: Poetic Painting in China and Japan</em>. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard Univ. Press, 1996.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 30, no. 1.23
citation
Murck, Alfreda. <em>Poetry and Painting in Song China: The Subtle Art of Dissent</em>. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Asia Center for the Harvard-Yenching Institute, 2000.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 200, fig. 46
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. 176–177, no. 58
creditline
John L. Severance Fund
updatedAt
2026-05-29 06:59:38.272000
sourceId
136951
dept
Chinese Art
coll
ASIAN - Album leaf
med
Album leaf; ink on silk
creatorTags
male
thumbnail_url
image_url
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
a1b48df7fba3b18f