The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of November 29, 2023

Morning Sun over Heavenly Citadel Peak

天都曉日圖

1614

Ding Yunpeng 丁雲鵬

(Chinese, 1547-c. 1628)

China, Ming dynasty

(1368–1644)

Hanging scroll; ink and light color on paper

Painting: 212.7 x 55.4 cm (83 3/4 x 21 13/16 in.); Overall with knobs: 344.1 x 87.7 cm (135 1/2 x 34 1/2 in.)

Andrew R. and Martha Holden Jennings Fund 1965.28

Location

003 Special Exhibition Hall

Fun Fact

Mount Huang, known for its scenic beauty, is one of China's major tourist attractions.

Description

A birthday gift, this scroll by Ding Yunpeng from Anhui is among the earliest paintings of Mount Huang (Yellow Mountains), here depicting Heavenly Citadel Peak. The mountains are named after the legendary Yellow emperor who is said to have visited the place to look for the essence of immortality. Deep red strokes accentuate vegetation and allude to cinnabar, the alleged elixir of immortality.

Difficult to climb and access, Mount Huang in Anhui province did not become a destination for hikers nor a subject for artists before the late Ming dynasty, when steps were built. Today its towering peaks are a national site and tourist attraction.

Inscriptions

Inscription

Artist's inscription, signature, and 2 seals: Clouds arise from the dale of the "Dark Plateau," The morning sun is over the peak of the Heavenly Citadel. In mid-spring of the chia-yen year of the Wan-li era [1614], painted as a fiftieth birthday present to Mr. Chung-lu. Junior Friend of Family Alliance, Ting Yün-p'eng [seals] Yün-p'eng chih yin; Ting Nan-yü.

Inscription

10 additional seals: 5 of Kao Hsiang-ling (dates unknown); 5 unidentified.

Provenance
Chin Ch'uang-sheng
?–1965
(Jean-Pierre Dubosc [1903–1988], Paris, France, and Lugano, Switzerland, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
1965–
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Citations
Dubosc, Jean-Pierre, and Laurence Sickman. A Loan Exhibition, Great Chinese Painters of the Ming and Ch'ing Dynasties, XV to XVIII Centuries: For the Benefit of the Asia Institute, March 11 to April 2, 1949. New York: Wildenstein, 1949. cat. no. 32
Dubosc, Jean Pierre, and Alberto Giuganino. Mostra D'arte Cinese: Catalogo = Exhibition of Chinese Art: Catalogue. Venezia: Alfieri Editore, 1954. cat. no. 842
“Annual Report for 1965.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 53, no. 6 (1966): 137–171. Mentioned: pp. 149–150 www.jstor.org
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 356 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. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 203, pp. 260–261
McDermott, Joseph. “The Making of a Chinese Mountain, Huangshan: Politics and Wealth in Chinese Art.” Ajia Bunka Kenkyu アジア文化研究 17: 145–176. Reproduced: p. 175, fig. 64
Exhibition history

Great Chinese Painters of the Ming and Ch'ing Dynasties, XV to XVIII Centuries: For the Benefit of the Asia Institute. Wildenstien Galleries, New York, NY (March 11–April 2, 1949).

Mostra D'arte Cinese. Palazzo Ducale, Venice, Italy (1954).

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).

Main Asian Rotation (Gallery 119). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (March 16–July 13, 2004).

Main Asian Rotation (Gallery 242). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (January 7–July 7, 2015).

Year in Review: 1965. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 27-November 14, 1965).

Chinese Paintings: Themes and Techniques. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (February 7-April 5, 1981).

Mountains, Rocks, and Water: Landscape Painting in Asia. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 2-December 13, 1987).

China's Southern Paradise: Treasures from the Lower Yangzi Delta. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 10, 2023-January 7, 2024).

Source URL: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1965.28