Collection Online as of May 24, 2022

The Garden for Solitary Enjoyment

1515-52

Qiu Ying 仇英

(Chinese, 1494-1552)

China, Ming dynasty

(1368–1644)

Handscroll, ink and slight color on silk

Painting: 28 x 518.5 cm (11 x 204 1/8 in.); Overall: 32 x 1290.2 cm (12 5/8 x 507 15/16 in.)

John L. Severance Fund 1978.67

Location

not on view

Inscriptions

Inscription

Accompanying text of an essay together with seven poems of Ssu-ma Kuang and one poem of Su Shih written by Wen Cheng-ming in 1558. 2 colophons and 82 seals: 4 seals of Wen Cheng-ming (1470-1559); 59 seals of Hsiang Yüan-pien (1525-1590); 1 colophon, dated 1644, and 7 seals of Hsiang Yü-k'uei (16th-17th c.); 1 colophon, dated 1880, and 2 seals of Weng T'ung-ho (1830-1904); 2 seals of Ch'eng Chen-i (19th c.); 1 seal of Han Ch'ung (19th c.); 4 seals of Weng Wang-go (20th c.); 3 seals unidentified. Colophon by Hsiang Yü-kuei: The painting of The Garden for Self-enjoyment on the right by Shih-chou, Mr. Ch'iu [Ch'iu Ying] is in the style of Li Lung-mien. Its mood is peaceful, as if meeting the ancient gentlemen face to face among the brushes and silk; it lifts one above the sordid bustle of life. Formerly, my late father handed me this scroll which had only the painting without the written essay. I considered asking a good calligrapher to write the essay to add to it but was afraid that the quality of the writing would not match the painting. Several years later, I saw at a friend's house this essay and poems (of Ssu-ma Kuang] written by Heng-shan [Wen Cheng-ming], once owned by my grandfather; so I spared no expense to obtain it. I rejoiced at this and said: "The divine swords are finally united. How things are pre-destined!" Now my friend Chang Kung-chao's technique for mounting [painting and calligraphy] is excellent. Therefore by daring to take them out and join them together, I can preserve this beautiful story of singular reunion. Hsiang Yü-k'uei recorded at Hai-yeh-t'ang [hall] two days before New Year's Eve in the chia-sheng year of the Ch'ung-chen era [1644]. trans. LYSL/HK/WKH

Provenance

Xiang Yuanbian 項元汴 [1525–1590], Jiaxing, China, by descent to his grandson, Xiang Yukui ¹

by 1644

Xiang Yukui 項禹揆 [c. late 1500s–1659] ²

by 1880–1904

Weng Tonghe 翁同龢 [1830–1904], Beijing, China, by descent to his family ³

?–1978

(Wan-go H. C. Weng 翁萬戈 [1918–2020], Lyme, NH, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) ⁴

1978–

The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH

Provenance Footnotes

¹59 seals of Hsiang Yüan-pien [Xiang Yuanbian 項元汴].

²1 colophon dated 1644 and 7 seals by Hsiang Yü-k'uei [Xiang Yukui 項元汴].

³1 colophon, dated 1880, and 2 seals of Weng Tonghe.

⁴4 seals of Weng Wan-go

Citations

Weng, Wango H. C. Gardens in Chinese Art from Private and Museum Collections. New York: China Institute in America, 1968. Reproduced: cat. no. 6, figs. 6,8

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. 166, pp. 206-209

Tanenbaum, Mary. Fishing on the Terrace: A Collection of Writings, edited by Heather Parks. [Redwood City, CA]: Stanford University Press, 2018. Reproduced: pp. 44-45

Whiteman, Stephen H. Where Dragon Veins Meet: The Kangxi Emperor and His Estate at Rehe. Seattle [Washington]: University of Washington Press, 2020. Mentioned and reproduced: pp. 202-203, fig. 6.6

Exhibition history

Gardens in Chinese Art from Private and Museum Collections. China House Gallery, New York, NY (March 21-May 26, 1968)

Eight Dynasties of Chinese Painting. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (February 11-March 29, 1981)

Year in Review: 1978. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 13-March 18, 1979).

Visions of Landscape: East and West. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (February 17-March 21, 1982).

Wu School Painting Series: The Art of Qiu Ying. Suzhou Museum, Suzhou, China (organizer) (November 10-December 20, 2015).

Where the Truth Lies: The Art of Qiu Ying. Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA (organizer) (February 9-May 17, 2020) https://www.lacma.org/art/exhibition/where-truth-lies-art-qiu-ying.