The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 21, 2025

Vertically long hanging scroll depicting trees flanking winding water in the lower third, people with light skin tone gathered in the center, and winding clouds extending across the landscape below Chinese calligraphy (see "Inscriptions") in the upper third. Xuanwen Jun, an old woman wearing layers of robes sits on a platform flanked by rows of standing women, facing in. Below, two rows of men kneel, also facing in. Fine lines outline the scene.

Lady Xuanwen Giving Instruction on the Rites of Zhou

1638

Chen Hongshou

(Chinese, 1598/99–1652)

Image: 172.8 x 55.7 cm (68 1/16 x 21 15/16 in.); Overall: 293.9 x 71 cm (115 11/16 x 27 15/16 in.); with knobs: 293.9 x 79 cm (115 11/16 x 31 1/8 in.)

Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund 1961.89

Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

Chen Hongshou's long inscription at the top of the painting compares his virtuous aunt with the historical exemplar, Lady Xuanwen.

Description

This painting by Chen Hongshou depicts the story of Xuanwen Jun, or Lady of Literary Propagation, at a venerable age, instructing young scholars on the Confucian classics. It was painted for Chen’s aunt in celebration of her 60th birthday.

Chen’s painting style is archaic in the use of fine outlines and brilliant coloring with mineral pigments. In depicting the figures, he uses the “iron-wire” brush style (fine, even lines) with deliberate control. The faces are elongated and exaggerated. A few ritual bronzes lend the scene an antique flavor.

Wan Chengzi 萬承紫 [1775–after 1837]
Xu Weiren 徐渭仁 [1788–1853]
early 20th century
Sun Zutong 孫祖同 [1894–1937]
?–1961
(C. C. Wang 王季遷 [1907–2003], New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
1961–
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Ho, Wai-Kam. “Nan-Ch’en Pei-Ts’ui: Ch’en of the South and Ts’ui of the North.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 49, no. 1 (1962): 1–11. Mentioned and Reproduced: pp. 1–8, Cover, figs. 1–3 www.jstor.org
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Reproduced: p. 265 archive.org
Cahill, James, and Virginia Field. Fantastics and Eccentrics in Chinese Painting. [New York]: Asia Society; distributed by Abrams, 1967. Reproduced: cat. no. 8
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 265 archive.org
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 352 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. 272-273, cat. no. 208
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]. Japan: Nara National Museum, 1998. Reproduced: pp. 66-67, cat. no. 41
Yang, Kathleen 楊凱琳, and Chi-chʻien Wang 王季遷. Through a Chinese connoisseur's eye: private notes of C.C. Wang 王季遷讀書筆記. Beijing: Zhong hua shu ju, 2010. Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 312, no. 32
Cleveland Museum of Art. The CMA Companion: A Guide to the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2014. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 108
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. 314–320
Vinograd, Richard. "Composite Identities: Portraits." In Repentant Monk: Illusion and Disillusion in the Art of Chen Hongshou. Julia M. White, ed., 57-67. Oakland, California: University of California Press, 2017. Reproduced: p. 59, fig. 5.2
Vinograd, Richard Ellis. Facing China: Truth and Memory in Portraiture. London: Reaktion Books, 2022. Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 246, fig. 128
"Permanent Collection Installations: Six Dynasties of Chinese Paintings.” Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 63, no. 4 (2023): 18–19. Reproduced and Mentioned: p. 19 archive.org
Burnett, Katharine. "Weirder than Weird : 'Weird Figure' Painting of Luohans and Literati in Seventeenth-Century China." Artibus Asiae 84, n. 1 (2024): 81–109. Mentioned: p. 108; Reproduced: p. 104, fig. 19.
Six Dynasties of Chinese Painting (Chinese art rotation). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 10, 2023-May 5, 2024).
Main Asian Rotation (Gallery 242). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (November 21, 2013-July 28, 2014).
Main Asian Rotation (Gallery 119). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (July 16-October 28, 2003).
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).
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); The Asia Society Museum, New York, NY (December 3, 1982-February 28, 1983).
Fantastics and Eccentrics in Chinese Painting. The Asia Society Museum, New York, NY (organizer) (March 23-May 28, 1967); Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA (June 20-August 13, 1967); Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, de Young Museum, San Francisco, CA (September 15-November 5, 1967).
Year in Review (1961). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 1-26, 1961).
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https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1961.89