The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 20, 2025

Su Dongpo

1788

Min Zhen

(Chinese, 1730–after 1788)
China, Qing dynasty (1644-1911)
album leaf, ink on paper
Sheet: 29 x 18.4 cm (11 7/16 x 7 1/4 in.)
John L. Severance Fund 1985.71.6
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

Su Dongpo 蘇東坡 (1037–1101) is the likely model, but the gentleman is holding an incense burner instead of an ink stone more commonly associated with the famed poet.

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
    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. Reproduced: pp. 462–465
  • Main Asian Gallery Rotation (Gallery 122). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (March 10–April 7, 2004).
    Gallery 122 Rotation. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (August 8–November 14, 2000).
    Gallery 122 Rotation. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (July 21–October 29, 1999).
  • {{cite web|title=Su Dongpo|url=false|author=Min Zhen|year=1788|access-date=20 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1985.71.6