The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of June 24, 2025

Garden for Solitary Enjoyment

1515–52
(Chinese, 1494–1552)
China, Ming dynasty (1368–1644)
Handscroll; ink and light 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

Did You Know?

Sima Guang completed his monumental survey of Chinese history, Zizhi tongjian, in the garden depicted in this painting.

Description

Garden of Solitary Enjoyment refers to a site built in 1073 by the statesman Sima Guang (1019–1086) after he had retired to Luoyang, Henan province. Every spring, visitors would flock to his garden. Each of its seven structures references a historic figure. Sima wrote: I channel streams [like Du Mu], to water flowers [like Bai Juyi], or trim bamboo [like Wang Huizhi]. . . . I know of no joy between heaven and earth that could take its place.

Qiu Ying’s painting, created after an 11th-century version of the same theme, must have appealed to garden owners of the Ming dynasty, since it became the template for numerous Suzhou workshop copies
  • Xiang Yuanbian 項元汴 [1525–1590], Jiaxing, China, by descent to his grandson, Xiang Yukui
    by 1644
    Xiang Yukui 項禹揆 [c. late 1500s–1659]
    by 1880–1904
    Weng Tonghe 翁同龢 [1830–1904], Beijing, China, by descent to his family
    ?–1978
    (Wan-go H. C. Weng 翁萬戈 [1918–2020], Lyme, NH, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    1978–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
    Provenance Footnotes
    1 59 seals of Hsiang Yüan-pien [Xiang Yuanbian 項元汴].
    2 1 colophon dated 1644 and 7 seals by Hsiang Yü-k'uei [Xiang Yukui 項元汴].
    3 1 colophon, dated 1880, and 2 seals of Weng Tonghe.
    4 4 seals of Weng Wan-go
  • 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
    Lee, Sherman E. “The Year in Review for 1978.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 66, no. 1 (January 1979): 3–47. Reproduced: p. 34; Mentioned: p. 46, no. 139 www.jstor.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. 166, pp. 206-209
    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. Mentioned and Reproduced: pp. 90–91
    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
    Campbell, Duncan M., Bo Zheng, Kathleen M. Ryor, Carla Nappi, Georges Metailie, Shanshan Liu, Huang Xiao, and Sarah Chen Huang. Growing and Knowing in the Gardens of China. Edited by Michelle Bailey, Nicholas K. Menzies, and Phillip E. Bloom. San Marino: The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens, 2024. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 6, and cat. no. 9, pp. 92–95
  • Pacific Standard Time: Growing and Knowing in the Gardens of China. The Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens, San Marino, CA (organizer) (September 14, 2024-January 6, 2025) https://huntington.org/exhibition/duotiangong-growing-and-knowing-gardens-china.
    China’s Southern Paradise: Treasures from the Lower Yangzi Delta. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 10, 2023-January 7, 2024).
    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.
    Wu School Painting Series: The Art of Qiu Ying. Suzhou Museum, Suzhou, China (organizer) (November 10-December 20, 2015).
    Main Asian Rotation (Gallery 122). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (March 27-June 25, 2001).
    Visions of Landscape: East and West. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 17-March 21, 1982).
    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).
    Gardens in Chinese Art from Private and Museum Collections. China House Gallery, New York, NY (March 21-May 26, 1968)
  • {{cite web|title=Garden for Solitary Enjoyment|url=false|author=Qiu Ying|year=1515–52|access-date=24 June 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1978.67