The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 23, 2023

Eight Views of the Xiao and Xiang Rivers

瀟湘八景図巻

1500s

Sesson Shūkei 雪村周継

(Japanese, c. 1492–c. 1577)

Japan, Muromachi period

(1392–1573)

Handscroll; ink on paper

Overall: 15.7 x 289.5 cm (6 3/16 x 114 in.)

Gift of Sherman E. Lee in memory of John D. Rockefeller, 3rd 1979.77

Location

not on view

Description

Eight Views of the Xiao and Xiang Rivers can be traced to 11th-century Chinese poems and paintings, the depiction of which had also become popular among Korean and Japanese painters. Xiao-Xiang refers to the region in present-day Hunan province where the Xiao and Xiang rivers converge. Few painters of the Eight Views had in fact seen the scenery; rather, they were trying to portray in ink and wash the lyrical qualities of dim light and a misty atmosphere typical of that region. Each of the poetic titles suggests a time of day, a season, or specific atmospheric conditions—subjects that challenged the abilities of the most talented artists.

In this miniature painting (shukuzu) of the Muromachi period, Japanese Zen monk and painter Shukei Sesson depicted all eight views featured in Chinese prototypes: Wild Geese Descending to Sandbar; Returning Sails Off a Distant Coast; Mountain Market in Clearing Mist; River and Sky in Evening Snow; Autumn Moon over Dongting Lake; Night Rain on the Xiao and Xiang; Evening Bell from Mist-Shrouded Temple; and Fishing Village in Evening Glow.

Inscriptions

Inscription

Signature and seal of artist at end of painting.

Provenance
(Setsu Gatodo Co., Ltd., Tokyo, Japan, sold to John D. Rockefeller III)
? before 1978
John D. Rockefeller III [1906–1978], New York, NY
?–1979
Dr. Sherman E. Lee [1918–2008], Cleveland, OH, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art
1979–
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Citations
Tsutomu Kameda 亀田孜. Sesson 雪村, Complete Collection of Japanese Painting, v. 8. Tōkyō: Shūeisha, 1980. Reproduced: pp. 84–85
Akazawa, Eiji, Akio Takamizawa, and Junji Nakajima. Muromachi no suibokuga: Sesshū, Sesson, Motonobu [室町の水墨画 : 雪舟/雪村/元信 = Sesshu, Sesson, Motonobu : ink monochrome painting of Muromachi period]. Tōkyō: Gakushū Kenkyūsha, 1980. Reproduced: p. 169, figs. 75–77
Lee, Sherman E. “The Year in Review for 1979.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, vol. 67, no. 3, 1980, pp. 58–99. Reproduced: fig. 118, pp. 89 and 98 www.jstor.org
Lee, Sherman E., Michael R. Cunningham, and Ursula Korneitchouk. One Thousand Years of Japanese Art (650-1650): From the Cleveland Museum of Art: Catalogue. New York, NY: Japan Society, 1981. Cat. No. 37; Reproduced: pp. 70–71
"Visions of Landscape, East and West," Asia, vol. 4, no. 5 (January-February 1982), pp. 24-29. Reproduced: pp. 28–29
Etō, Shun 衛藤駿, editor. Sesson Shūkei zengashū [雪村周継全画集 = Complete Collection of Paintings by Sesson Shukei]. Tōkyō: Kōdansha, 1982. Reproduced: vol. 1, plate 95
Ōe, Takashi 大江孝. Sesson: Miharu Aizu [雪村 : 三春・会津 = Sesson: His Life in Miharu and Aizu]. Fukushima-ken Tamura-gun Miharu-machi: Kanesan Shoten, 1983. Reproduced: pls. 16–17
Sŭng-hye Sŏn. The Lure of Painted Poetry: Japanese and Korean Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2011. Cat. No. 14
Feltens, Frank, Yukio Lippit, and Aaron M. Rio. Sesson Shūkei: A Zen Monk-Painter in Medieval Japan. Washington, DC: Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian, 2021. Mentioned and reproduced: pp. 38–39, fig. 10; pp. 204–207, no. 19
Exhibition history

One Thousand Years of Japanese Art (650-1650). Japan House Gallery, New York, NY (March 25-May 17, 1981).

Year in Review: 1979. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (February 13-March 9, 1980).

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

Autumn Grasses: Arts of the Momoyama Period (1573-1615). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 4-December 11, 1988).

The Lure of Painted Poetry: Cross-cultural Text and Image in Korean and Japanese Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (April 15-August 21, 2011).

Source URL: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1979.77