Collection Online as of March 25, 2023

Ink Flowers

墨花圖

1361

Zhao Zhong 趙衷

(Chinese, second half of the 1300s)

China, Yuan dynasty

(1271-1368)

Handscroll; ink on paper

Overall: 31.8 x 153.2 cm (12 1/2 x 60 5/16 in.)

John L. Severance Fund 1967.36

Location

not on view

Fun Fact

This handscroll is a very rare example of ink flowers in the linear <em>baimiao</em> style of the fourteenth century.

Description

Zhao Zhong's flowers, each paired with a poem, echo the fine-style colored flowers of the academic tradition, but instead he used only ink. Fine lines define the contours of each plant, as well as the veins within each petal and leaf. Careful ink washes give subtle modeling to the forms.

The combination of lily, narcissus, and peony is unusual as the three belong to no known seasonal or symbolic system popular in the fourteenth century. Zhao’s medical training may have influenced the selection. Powdered lilies, for example, were prescribed to dispel grief, while the bark of tree peony roots was used as a treatment for various blood disorders.

Inscriptions

Inscription

寶帶同心結，香羅合歡扇。/ 繡作錦鴛鴦，雙雙為君獻。/ 薔薇露灑熏籠衣，馨香奉君君勿違。原初并題。 [印] 趙衷原初畫記

Inscription Translation

Artist's first poem: The precious belt, the love knot;/ The scented silk and the round fan for the happy union./ Mandarin duck embroidery in the silk brocade,/ In pairs are they dedicated to you./ I splash the rose dews to the incense brazier,/ The fragrance of flowers, I offer you./ May you not violate the vow! Inscribed by Yuanchu. Seal: “Zhao Zhong Yuanchu huaji”

Inscription

翠袂素羅韈，玉臺黃金盃。浩歌渡弱水。天風卷海三山開，麻姑方平為招飲，蛟宮獻舞銀濤堆。原初并題。 [印] 雲林清趣、[印] 趙衷原初畫記。

Inscription Translation

Artist's second poem: The green long sleeves with the white silk socks;/ On the jade terrace is the golden cup./ Singing the grand song, she crosses the calm river./ The heavenly winds blow and roll up the sea,/ Opening the Three Mountains./ Magu and Fangping summon the drinks./ The Dragon Palace offers the dance,/ Piling up silver waves in the sea. Inscribed by Yuanchu. Two seals: “Yunlin qingqu,” “Zhao Zhong Yuanchu huaji.”

Inscription

右用湯叔雅慶元中所寫墨花法作此卷，又效李長吉體賦詩以題之。詩與畫雖未工，要皆出於古人之餘，譬猶欲成方圓而必求其規矩之用也，識者毋誚焉！至正辛丑八月望日，東吳野人趙衷原初謹識。 [印] 趙原初、[印] 傳世清玩

Inscription Translation

Artist's colophon: I did this scroll, using the ink-flower method of Tang Shuya [i.e. Tang Zhengzhong 湯正仲 (mid 12th–early 13th century)] of the Qingyuan period. I also composed poems in the style of Li Changji [i.e. Li He 李賀 (790–816)] and inscribed herewith. My poems and painting may not be very good; they are nonetheless derived from the heritage of the ancients. It is just as if one wants to draw a square and a circle, one must first know how to use the ruler and the compass. May the connoisseur kindly refrain from laughing at them. The fifteenth day of the eighth month in 1361. Respectfully inscribed by Dong Wu Ye Ren [a rustic of the Eastern Wu], Zhao Zhong, Yuanchu. Two seals: “Zhao Yuanchu,” “Chuanshi qingwan”

Provenance

Li Guochao 李國超 [20th century]

Cheng Qi 程琦 [1911–1988], to his son, Stephen O. K. Chen

?–1967

(Stephen O. K. Chen [20th century], New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)

1967–

The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH

Citations

Tō Sō Gen Min meigaten-gō [唐宋元明名画展号]. Tōkyō: Tōkyō Asahi Shinbun Hakkōjo, 1928. p. 42

Xie, Zhiliu 谢稚柳. Tang wu dai song yuan ming ji 唐五代宋元名迹. Shanghai: Gu dian wen xue chu ban she 古典文学出版社, 1957. Reproduced: no. 35, pl. 107

“Year in Review.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, vol. 54, no. 10, 1967, pp. 302–346. Mentioned: p. 346, no. 157; Reproduced: p. 334 www.jstor.org

Lee, Sherman E., and Wai-kam Ho. Chinese Art Under the Mongols: The Yüan Dynasty, 1279-1368. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art; [distributed by the Press of Case Western Reserve University], 1968. cat. no. 183

The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 262 archive.org

Lee, Sherman. “To See Big within Small: Hsiao-Chung-Chien-Ta.” The Burlington Magazine, vol. 114, no. 830, 1972, pp. 314–312. Reproduced: p. 318, fig. 58 www.jstor.org

Lee, Sherman Emery, and James Robinson. The Colors of Ink: Chinese Paintings and Related Ceramics from the Cleveland Museum of Art. New York: Asia Society; distributed by New York Graphic Society, 1974. Reproduced: cat. no. 20, p. 113, pp. 62-63

The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 346 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: cat. no. 72, pp. 91-92

Cunningham, Michael R., Stanislaw J. Czuma, Anne E. Wardwell, and J. Keith Wilson. Masterworks of Asian Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1998. Reproduced: pp. 78-79

Shanghai bo wu guan. Han mo hui cui: xi du Meiguo cang Zhongguo Wu dai Song Yuan shu hua zhen pin [翰墨薈萃: 细读美国藏中国五代宋元书画珍品 = Masterpieces of early Chinese painting and calligraphy in American collections]. Beijing: Beijing da xue chu ban she, 2012. Reproduced: cat no. 52, pp. 483-491.

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. 154–156

Xie, Zhiliu 谢稚柳. Tang Wu dai Song Yuan ming ji 唐五代宋元名迹. Shanghai: Shanghai ren min chu ban she, 2018. Reproduced: pp. 209–211

Exhibition history

To-So-Gen-Min, II. Tokyo Imperial Museum, Tokyo, Japan (November 24-December 16, 1928).

Chinese Art Under the Mongols: The Yüan Dynasty, 1279-1368. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (October 1-November 24, 1968).

Main Asian Rotation (Gallery 120). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (March 11, 2003-July 13, 2004).

Year in Review: 1967. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 29-December 31, 1967).

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).

Masterpieces of Early Chinese Painting and Calligraphy in American Collections. Shanghai Museum, Shanghai, China (organizer) (November 1, 2012-January 3, 2013).