The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of February 2, 2023

Bodhidharma Meditating Facing a Cliff

late 1200s

China, Song dynasty

(960-1279)

Hanging scroll; ink on silk

Painting only: 116.5 x 46.4 cm (45 7/8 x 18 1/4 in.); Overall with knobs: 203.2 x 63.5 cm (80 x 25 in.)

John L. Severance Fund 1972.41

Location

241C Chinese Buddhist Sculptures

Description

Bodhidharma is the legendary founder of Chan (Zen) Buddhism in China. Here he is seen meditating in front of a cliff, atop Mount Song. Behind him is his disciple Huike, the first recipient of his teaching.

Inscriptions

Inscription

Spurious artist's seal of Yan Ciping 閻次平 [c. 1163–1189]. WKH

Provenance
?–1972
(Kuniyoshi Miura, Tokyo, Japan, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
1972–
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Citations
To-So Gen-Min meigwa tai kwan 唐宋元明名畫大觀. Tōkyō: Ōtsuka Kōgeisha, 1930. vol. I, 72
Okada, Saburōsuke 岡田三郎助, Rinpū Sasagawa 笹川臨風, and Yoneame Iizuka 飯塚米雨. Nihonga taisei 日本畫大成. Tōkyō: Tōhō Shoin, 1931. Reproduced: pt. II, vol. L, pl. 52
Harada, Kinjirō 原田謹次郎. Shina meiga hōkan [支那名畫寶鑒 = The pageant of Chinese painting]. Tōkyō: Ōtsuka Kōgeisha, 1936. Reproduced: pl. 136
Harada, Kinjirō 原田謹次郎. Nihon genzai Shina meiga mokuroku 日本現在支那名畫目錄. Tōkyō: Ōtsuka Kōgeisha, 1938. p. 40
Sirén, Osvald. Chinese Painting: Leading Masters and Principles. New York: Ronald Press, 1956. Mentioned: vol. II, Lists, 89
Lee, Sherman E. “Zen in Art: Art in Zen.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, vol. 59, no. 9, 1972, pp. 239–259. Reproduced: p. 241, figs. 4, 4a 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. cat. no. 9
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. 64, p. 83
Buswell, Robert E. Encyclopedia of Buddhism. New York: Macmillan Reference, USA, 2004. Reproduced: Vol 1, A-L, p. 128
Toda, Teisuke 戸田 禎佑. Mokkei gyokukan 牧谿・玉澗. Tōkyō: Kōdansha,1973. Reproduced: p. 175, pl. 102
Exhibition history

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

Main Asian Rotation (Gallery 119). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (October 29, 2003-March 15, 2004).

Year in Review: 1972. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (February 27-March 18, 1973).

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

Asian Autumn: Masterpieces from the Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 17, 1991-January 5, 1992).

Awakenings: Zen Figure Painting in Medieval Japan. Japan Society Gallery, New York, NY (organizer) (March 22-June 17, 2007).

Inspired by Chinese Landscape and Art – Chinese Gallery Rotation 240a, 241c. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (August 14, 2017-February 5, 2018).

Source URL: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1972.41