Collection Online as of April 2, 2023

Man, Buffalo, and Calf

1205 or 1265

Li You 李祐

(Chinese, 1200s)

China, Southern Song dynasty

(1127-1279)

Album leaf; ink and color on silk

Image: 25 x 26.7 cm (9 13/16 x 10 1/2 in.); with mat: 33.3 x 40.5 cm (13 1/8 x 15 15/16 in.)

Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund 1960.41

Location

not on view

Fun Fact

Li You included such tiny details as circular patterns of hair on the buffalo’s hindquarters.

Description

This round fan painting by Li You depicts a rustic theme. His rendering of the scene was bold, exquisite, and detailed. In such a small format, Li took care to portray the warm relationship between cow and calf. In a small space under the tree, he shows an indifferent herder, who turns away from his charges to focus on a small falcon, which obviously was more compelling to him.

Inscriptions

Inscription

Artist's inscription: [In] the yichou 乙丑 year, Li 李 [second character not identified] painted.

Inscription

3 seals: 1 of Wu T'ing (c. 1600); 1 of An Kuo (1481–1534); 1 of Li Pao-hsün (1858–1915)

Provenance

?-1960

(J.T. Tai sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)

1960-

The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH

Citations

Cleveland Museum of Art, “Recent Acquisitions Press Release,” October 4, 1960, Cleveland Museum of Art Archives. archive.org

Cahill, James. The Art of Southern Sung China. New York: Asia House, 1962. cat. no. 26

Lee, Sherman E. and Wai-Kam Ho. "Scattered Pearls beyond the Ocean." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, Vol. 51, No. 2 (Feb., 1964), pp. 23-39. Reproduced: pp. 23-39, cat. no. 9 www.jstor.org

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

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: cat. no. 41, pp. 56-57

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. 44, cat. no. 21

"Art of Japan: Paintings, Prints and Screens: Selected articles from Orientations 1984-2002." Orientations Magazine (2002). Reproduced: fig. 9, p. 136

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. Reproduced: p. 99, fig. 1

Exhibition history

The Art of Southern Sung China. Asia House Gallery, New York, NY (1962).

Album Leaves from the Sung and Yuan Dynasties. China House Gallery, New York, NY (March 26-May 30, 1970).

Main Asian Rotation (Gallery 120). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (March 11-July 13, 2004).

Year in Review - Nineteen Hundred Sixty. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 30, 1960-January 1, 1961).

The Art of Southern Sung China. The Asia Society Museum, New York, NY (organizer) (February 15-April 15, 1962).

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).

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).