The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 19, 2024

Insects and Bamboo

Insects and Bamboo

1200s
(1127-1279)
Album leaf; ink and light color on silk
Image: 23.8 x 25.6 cm (9 3/8 x 10 1/16 in.)
The Kelvin Smith Collection, given by Mrs. Kelvin Smith 1985.364
Location: not on view

Description

This painting represents a microcosm (a world in small) of the Jiangnan ecosystem: while the bush cricket feeds on bamboo, the male widow-skimmer dragonfly is a predator of small insects like mosquitos. Mosquitoes, abundant in late summer and early autumn, suggest the fall season.
  • (Heisando Co., Ltd., Tokyo, Japan, sold to Mr. and Mrs. Kelvin Smith)
    ?–1985
    The Kelvin Smith Collection, Cleveland, OH, given by Mrs. Kelvin [Eleanor Armstrong] Smith [1899–1998] to the Cleveland Museum of Art
    1985–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • 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. Reproduced: cat. no. 33, p. 52
    Chou, Ju-hsi and Anita Chung. Silent poetry: Chinese paintings from the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 2015. Reproduced: p. 66
  • China's Southern Paradise: Treasures from the Lower Yangzi Delta. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 10, 2023-January 7, 2024).
    A Private World: Japanese and Chinese Art from the Kelvin Smith Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 14-November 13, 1988).
    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).
  • {{cite web|title=Insects and Bamboo|url=false|author=|year=1200s|access-date=19 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1985.364