Alternate Views

Scholar Reclining and Watching Rising Clouds, Poem by Wang Wei

1225-75

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Ma Lin

(Chinese, c. 1185-after 1260)

China, Southern Song dynasty

(1127-1279)

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.)

John L. Severance Fund 1961.421.1

Location

not on view

Description

Artists at the Southern Song Painting Academy were often trained in illustrating poetry. Here, Ma Lin responds to a poem composed by Tang poet Wang Wei (701–about 761) and written by emperor Song Lizong: “I walk unto where waters end—And sit down to watch when clouds arise.” While two thirds of the round fan leaf remain empty, Ma Lin paints a scholar who gazes at a vast landscape panorama with a shore shrouded in mist and faint mountain ranges in the distance.

This leaf and the emperor's calligraphy were originally mounted together and must have made a precious imperial gift when bestowed on a worthy official or high dignitary.

Artist biography

Ma Lin

active mid 1200s

Inscriptions

Inscription

Artist's signature: Your subject, Ma Lin. 2 seals on mounting of Chu Sheng-chai (20th c.).

Provenance

?-1961

(Nagatani, Inc., Chicago, IL, ?-1961)

1961-present

The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH, 1961 to present

Citations

Lee, Sherman E. Tea Taste in Japanese Art. New York, NY: The Asia House Gallery, dist. by H. Abrams, 1963. cat. no. 1

The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Reproduced: p. 259 archive.org

The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 259 archive.org

Wang, Chi-chʻien. Album Leaves from the Sung and Yuan Dynasties: [Exhibition], March 26 Through May 30, 1970. New York: The Gallery [China House Gallery], 1970. Reproduced: cat. no.35

The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 342 archive.org

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. 72-73, cat. no. 57

Harrist, Robert E. Jr. "'Watching Clouds Rise': A Tang Dynasty Couplet and Its Illustration in Song Painting." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Vol. 78, No. 7 (Nov., 1991), pp. 301-323. Reproduced: pp. 301-323, fig. 2 www.jstor.org

Cahill, James. The Lyric Journey: Poetic Painting in China and Japan. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard Univ. Press, 1996. Reproduced: p. 30, no. 1.23

Murck, Alfreda. Poetry and Painting in Song China: The Subtle Art of Dissent. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Asia Center for the Harvard-Yenching Institute, 2000. Reproduced: p. 200, fig. 46

Li, Huishu. Exquisite Moments: West Lake & Southern Song Art. New York, NY: China Institute Gallery, China Institute: Distributed by Art Media Resources, Ltd., 2001. Reproduced: pp. 104-105, cat. no. 23

Exhibition history

Asia House Gallery, New York, 1963: Lee, Tea Taste, cat. no. 1.

The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1981: Eight Dynasties of Chinese Painting, cat. no. 57, p. 72.

The Cleveland Museum of Art; Main Asian Rotation (Gallery 120); July 22 - October 26, 2003.

Year in Review - 1962. The Cleveland Museum of Art (October 24-November 25, 1962).

Wang Chi-ch'ien, Album Leaves from the Sung and Yuan Dynasties. China House Gallery.

The Colors of Ink. The Cleveland Museum of Art (April 9-May 12, 1974).

Eight Dynasties of Chinese Painting. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art (November 7, 1980-January 4, 1981); The Cleveland Museum of Art (February 10-March 29, 1981); Tokyo National Museum (October 4-November 17, 1982).

Visions of Landscape: East and West. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (February 17-March 21, 1982).

Asian Autumn: Masterpieces from the Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 17, 1991-January 5, 1992).

West Lake and the Mapping of Southern Song Art. China Institute Gallery (organizer) (September 13-December 9, 2001).

"Power and Possession – Chinese Calligraphy and Inscribed Objects" – Chinese Gallery Rotation 240a, 241c – August 2018-February 2019. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (August 13, 2018-February 3, 2019).

Cite this page

{{cite web|title=Scholar Reclining and Watching Rising Clouds, Poem by Wang Wei|url=https://clevelandart.org/art/1961.421.1|author=Ma Lin|year=1225-75|access-date=15 November 2019|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

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Scholar Reclining and Watching Rising Clouds, Poem by Wang Wei

Scholar Reclining and Watching Rising Clouds, Poem by Wang Wei

Ma Lin

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Ma Lin

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