The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of September 13, 2026

A horizontally oriented ink and color painting depicts a mountain village nestled beneath craggy peaks. To our left, figures in small boats float near a weeping willow. Centered, traditional houses cluster at the mountains' base where robed people walk. Vertical columns of calligraphy and red seals occupy the upper left. Tall, rocky mountains rise in the distance, their forms suggested by fine ink lines and partially obscured by soft gray mist.

Mountain Market in Clearing Mist, from Eight Views of Xiao-Xiang

1788

Tani Bunchō

(Japanese, 1763–1841)
Japan, Edo period (1615–1868)
album leaf remounted as a hanging scroll; ink and color on paper
Painting: 29.6 x 49.2 cm (11 5/8 x 19 3/8 in.); Mounted: 128.7 x 61.5 cm (50 11/16 x 24 3/16 in.)
Andrew R. and Martha Holden Jennings Fund 1980.188.1
Location: Not on view

Description

This painting was part of a set of album leaves representing the Eight Views of Xiao-Xiang, a theme originating in Chinese poetry and painting that spread to both Korea and Japan. Southern China’s Xiao-Xiang area, where the mist-covered banks of the Xiang River created a complex landscape shifting like the moods and minds of people, captured the imaginations of generations of painters and calligraphers. Inscriptions on these works suggest that they were possibly ordered by newly prominent Japanese Confucian scholars.
  • ?-1980
    (Katsuhiro Kobayashi, Tokyo, Japan, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    1980-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Lee, Sherman E. “The Year in Review for 1980.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 68, no. 6 (June 1981): 163–219. Mentioned: p. 210, no. 267 www.jstor.org
    Chance, Frank L. “Tani Bunchō’s Eight Views of Xiao and Xiang: Origins, Ideas, Implications.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 76, no. 8 (October 1989): 266–279. Mentioned: p. 266-279; reproduced: Cover, p. 272, fig. 4 www.jstor.org
    Sŏn, Sŭng-hye. The Lure of Painted Poetry: Japanese and Korean Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2011. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 17a
  • To the River's South in Japanese Painting. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 15, 2023-June 2, 2024).
    The Lure of Painted Poetry: Japanese and Korean Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (April 15-August 21, 2011).
    Year in Review: 1980. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (June 24-July 19, 1981).
  • {{cite web|title=Mountain Market in Clearing Mist, from Eight Views of Xiao-Xiang|url=false|author=Tani Bunchō|year=1788|access-date=13 September 2026|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1980.188.1