The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 19, 2024

Zhi and Xu's Pure Conversation

Zhi and Xu's Pure Conversation

1643
(Chinese, 1585–after 1664)
China, Ming dynasty (1368–1644)
Hanging scroll; ink on paper
Painting: 141 x 56 cm (55 1/2 x 22 1/16 in.); Overall with knobs: 246 x 80 cm (96 7/8 x 31 1/2 in.)
Gift of Stephen O. K. Chen 1970.128
Location: not on view

Did You Know?

This painting serves as an analogy of the friendship between artist and monk.

Description

Lan Ying’s painting is a gift to his friend, the Chan monk Wuyun, in which he depicted two sages of the Six Dynasties period: the Buddhist monk Zhidun (314–366 CE), and the Daoist priest Xu Xun (265–420 CE). Meant to be understood as an analogy of the friendship between artist and monk, the painting also offered a retreat into the past, a year before the fall of the Ming dynasty.

A professional painter born in Hangzhou, Lan Ying is traditionally considered a last representative of the Zhe school. Lan wrote poetic inscriptions and interacted with the literatus Chen Jiru (1558–1639).
  • Cheng Qi 程琦 [1911–1988], by descent to his son, Stephen O. K. Chen
    ?-1970
    Stephen O. K. Chen [20th century], New York, NY, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art
    1970-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Cheng, Qi 程琦. Xuanhuitang shuhua lu [萱暉堂書畫錄 = Paintings and calligraphy in the collection of Hsüan-hui-tʻang]. Hong Kong: Xuanhuitang, 1972. Reproduced: II, 117(b)-118(a)
    Lee, Sherman E. 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. Published: cat. no. 34
    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. 196, pp. 252-253
    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: pp. 321-323
  • China's Southern Paradise: Treasures from the Lower Yangzi Delta. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 10, 2023-January 7, 2024).
    Conversations: Past and Present in Asia and America. Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin, OH (organizer) (August 30-December 23, 2016).
    Main Asian Rotation (Gallery 119). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (March 12, 2003-July 16, 2003).
    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 Colors of Ink. Asia House Galleries (January 10-March 3, 1974); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (April 9-May 12, 1974).
    Year in Review: 1970. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 10-March 7, 1971).
  • {{cite web|title=Zhi and Xu's Pure Conversation|url=false|author=Lan Ying|year=1643|access-date=19 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1970.128