Collection Online as of March 30, 2023

Poem by Wang Wei in the Cursive Script Style (xingshu)

1256

Part of a set. See all set records

Song Lizong 宋理宗

(Chinese, 1205–1264)

calligrapher

Zhang Daqian 張大千

(Chinese, 1899–1983)

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 1961.421.2

Location

not on view

Description

Emperor Lizong of the Song dynasty reigned for 40 years, but had little interest in governmental affairs. Instead he was perhaps the finest calligrapher among the Song emperors. His handwriting is distinguished by angular strokes and well-spaced characters. The two lines composed by Tang poet Wang Wei (701–about 761), reads from right to left: “I walk unto where waters end—And sit down to watch when clouds arise.”

Inscriptions

Inscription

I walk unto where waters end And sit down to watch when clouds arise

Inscription

行到水窮處坐看雲起時

Song Lizong

Chinese Emperor, reigned 1225–64

Provenance

?–1961

(Nagatani, Inc., Chicago, IL, sold the Cleveland Museum of Art)

1961–

The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH

Citations

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. p. 72, 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. 1 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

Exhibition history

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

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

Chinese Calligraphy. Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA (organizer) (September 25-November 7, 1971); The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO (January 6-February 6, 1972); The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY (March 14-May 7, 1972).

The Colors of Ink. Asia House Galleries (January 10-March 3, 1974); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (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 11-March 29, 1981); Tokyo National Museum (October 4-November 17, 1982).

Visions of Landscape: East and West. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (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, New York, NY (organizer) (September 13-December 9, 2001).

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