The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 24, 2024

Portrait of An Qi

Portrait of An Qi

1715
(Chinese, 1632–1717)
(Chinese, active c. 1715)
(Chinese, 1644–1728)
China, Qing dynasty (1644-1911)
hanging scroll; ink and color on paper
Image: 122 x 53.6 cm (48 1/16 x 21 1/8 in.); Overall: 259.7 x 80.1 cm (102 1/4 x 31 9/16 in.)
John L. Severance Fund 1971.17
Location: not on view

Did You Know?

Seven of An Qi's close friends wrote poetic inscriptions on the silk brocade mount around his portrait.

Description

An Qi, the subject of the portrait, was a second-generation salt merchant from Korea. He used part of his wealth to collect art. At the time this painting was commissioned, An was less than 40 years old. He is represented as a Daoist recluse in nature, informally dressed with attributes such as books and a wrapped guqin instrument, a portrait convention for literati-scholars since the Six Dynasties period (220–589 CE). The local Taihu rock, banana plants, and crane suggest a southern garden and a life in seclusion. An’s portrait is evidence of merchants aspiring to the scholar-official class.

According to the inscription, this painting was the joint effort of three men, the eldest and most famous was Wang Hui. While the garden setting is homogenous in style, it contrasts with the application of opaque pigments and shading employed for the depiction of An Qi’s face.
  • An Qi 安岐 [c. 1683–c. 1744]
    Xu Bojiao 徐伯郊 [1913–2002]
    Cheng Qi 程琦 [1911–1988], to his son, Stephen O. K. Chen
    Stephen O. K. Chen [20th century], New York/Tokyo, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art
    1971-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Ōmura, Seigai 大村西崖 and Ōmura Kidō 大村文夫. Chūgoku meigashū. 8 [中国名画集. 第8冊 = Collection of famous Chinese paintings]. Tōkyō: Ryūbunshokyoku, 1945. Reproduced: VIII, pl. 80
    Sirén, Osvald. Chinese Painting: Leading Masters and Principles. New York: Ronald Press, 1956. Mentioned: VII, Lists, 430 (Wang Hui), 453 (Yang Jin)
    Guo, Weiqu 郭味蕖. Song Yuan Ming Qing shu hua jia nian biao 宋元明清書畫家年表. Beijing: Zhongguo gu dian yi shu chu ban she, 1958. p. 321
    Lawton, Thomas. "The <<Mo-yüan hui-kuan>> by An Chʻi [安岐之<<墨緣彙觀>>]." In Qing zhu Jiang Fucong xian sheng qi shi sui lun wen ji [Symposium in honor of Dr. Chiang Fu-tsung on his 70th birthday = 慶祝蔣復璁先生七十歲論文集]. Shilin: Guo li gu gong bo wu yuan, 1969. Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 27, pl. 1
    Cheng, Qi 程琦. Xuanhuitang shuhua lu [萱暉堂書畫錄 = Paintings and calligraphy in the collection of Hsüan-hui-tʻang]. Hong Kong: Xuanhuitang, 1972. pp. 166(b)-168(b)
    Hung, Shou-hao. "Liu Hua Han-kuo shu-hua-chia yü shou-ts'ang-che t'an-k'ao" [Investigation of the Korean calligraphy, painters, and collectors in China]. Meishu xue bao 美術學報, no. 7 (January 1973), pp. 1071-1186. Reproduced: p. 1165
    Lee, Sherman E. “Varieties of Portraiture in Chinese and Japanese Art.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, vol. 64, no. 4, 1977, pp. 118–136. Mentioned and Reproduced: pp. 124, 125, figs. 6, 7 25159523
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 358 archive.org
    Hironobu Kohara 古原宏伸, Tamaki Ogawa 小川環樹, and Roderick Whitfield. Un Juhei, Ō Ki 惲壽平 王翬. Tōkyō: Chūō Kōronsha, 1979. Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 150, fig. 18
    Loehr, Max. The Great Painters of China. Oxford: Phaidon, 1980. Mentioned and Reproduced: pp. 316, 319, figs. 181, 182
    Ho, Wai-kam, Sherman E. Lee, Laurence Sickman, and Marc F. Wilson. Eight Dynasties of Chinese Painting: The Collections of the Nelson Gallery-Atkins Museum, Kansas City, and the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, in cooperation with Indiana University Press, 1980. Reproduced: pp. 351-352, cat. no. 259
    Murashige, Yasushi 村重寧. Tennō to kuge no shōzō [天皇と公家の肖像 = Japanese Portrait Paintings of Emperors and the Nobility]. Tōkyō: Shibundō, 1998. p. 31
    Tōyō kaiga no seika: tokubetsuten: Kurīvurando Bijutsukan no korekushon kara [東洋絵画の精華: 特别展: クリーヴラント美術館のコレクションから= Highlights of Asian painting from the Cleveland Museum of Art]. Nara, Japan: Nara National Museum, 1998. Reproduced: p. 72, cat. no. 44
    Honour, Hugh, and John Fleming. A World History of Art. London: Laurence King, 1999. Mentioned and Reproduced: no. 16.4, p. 695
    Honour, Hugh, and John Fleming. A World History of Art. London: Laurence King, 2005. Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 689, fig. 16.4
    Chou, Ju-hsi and Anita Chung. Silent poetry: Chinese paintings from the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2015. Mentioned and Reproduced: pp. 416–418
  • When Salt was Gold: Yangzhou, City of Riches and Art (Chinese art rotation). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (May 12-November 5, 2023).
    Inspired by Chinese Landscape and Art – Chinese Gallery Rotation 240a, 241c. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (August 14, 2017-February 5, 2018).
    Highlights of Asian Paintings from The Cleveland Museum of Art. Nara National Museum (organizer) (February 21-March 29, 1998); Suntory Museum of Art (April 28-June 21, 1998).
    Portraiture: The Image of the Individual. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 22, 1983-January 22, 1984).
    Eight Dynasties of Chinese Painting. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art (November 7, 1980-January 4, 1981); The Cleveland Museum of Art (February 11-March 29, 1981); Tokyo National Museum (October 4-November 17, 1982); The Asia Society Museum, New York, NY (December 3, 1982-February 28, 1983).
    Year in Review: 1971. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 28, 1971-February 6, 1972).
  • {{cite web|title=Portrait of An Qi|url=false|author=Wang Hui, Tu Luo, Yang Jin|year=1715|access-date=24 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1971.17