The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 20, 2025

Album of Miscellaneous Subjects

1788

Min Zhen

(Chinese, 1730–after 1788)
China, Qing dynasty (1644-1911)
Album of twelve leaves; ink on paper
Each leaf: 29 x 18.4 cm (11 7/16 x 7 1/4 in.); Overall with mount: 35.6 x 22.1 cm (14 x 8 11/16 in.)
John L. Severance Fund 1985.71
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

This album was painted for his friend Dailili Shanren in exchange for a scholar’s stone.

Description

Min Zhen, who was orphaned at age 12 and developed an eccentric personality, was trained by Tang Yin (1682–1756), a writer, playwright, and superintendent of the imperial porcelain workshops in Jingdezhen. The connection to him may have enabled Min to stay in Beijing for a decade from around 1773. It is not clear whether he ever resided in Yangzhou, but his style is in many instances reminiscent of that of Yangzhou artist Huang Shen. This album demonstrates Min’s versatility and mature style in the last years of his life.
  • 1788–?
    Daili Shanren 戴笠山人 [active late 1700s]
    Ni Yun 倪耘 [d. 1864]
    Yan Shiqing 顏世清 [1873–1929]
    Xu Xiaopu 徐小圃 [1887–1961]
    c. mid-1900s
    Ding Nianxian 丁念先 [1906–1969]
    ?–1985
    (Eskenazi Ltd., London, England, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    1985–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Ding, Nianxian 丁念先. Nian sheng lou du hua xiao ji [念聖樓讀畫小紀 = Chinese calligraphy and painting of various dynasties in the collection of Nianshenglou]. Taibei: Wen xing za zhi she, 1961. Mentioned: p. 41, no. 85
    Fukunaga, Takehiko 福永武彥, and Howard L. Rogers. Kinnō, Bunjinga suihen. chiyūgo (9) 金農, 文人画粋編. 中国篇 9. Tōkyō: Chūōkoronsha, 1976. Mentioned and Reproduced: pls. 94–97, p. 179, fig. 30
    Sotheby's, Parke, Bernet, New York. Fine Chinese Paintings. June 3, 1985 sale. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 69
    Turner, Evan H. “The Year in Review for 1985.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 73, no. 2 (February 1986): 26–71. Reproduced: p. 51; Mentioned: p. 70, no. 186 www.jstor.org
    Chou, Ju-hsi and Anita Chung. Silent poetry: Chinese paintings from the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2015. Mentioned and Reproduced: pp. 462–465
  • {{cite web|title=Album of Miscellaneous Subjects|url=false|author=Min Zhen|year=1788|access-date=20 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1985.71