The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of July 17, 2026

A hanging scroll in ink on beige paper depicts a vertical landscape with a river separating distant mountains from a rocky bank. Tall, spindly trees grow beside a small building where a seated figure is visible. A wide expanse of water leads to rounded, softly outlined peaks. Numerous columns of Chinese calligraphy and red seals fill the upper portion of the composition (see "Inscriptions"). Light gray washes and dark stippled brushstrokes define the terrain.

A Scholar's Retreat amid Autumn Trees

c. 1403

Wang Fu

(Chinese, 1362–1416)
China, Ming dynasty (1368–1644)
hanging scroll; ink on paper
Painting: 58.1 x 26.8 cm (22 7/8 x 10 9/16 in.); Overall with knobs: 180 x 47 cm (70 7/8 x 18 1/2 in.)
Bequest of Mrs. A. Dean Perry 1997.98
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

Wang Fu painted this going-away present and 3 friends added poems wishing the best for their departing friend Gongyi.
  • Yao Jiheng 姚際恒 [1647–about 1714]
    Qing imperial collection (seals of Emperor Qianlong, r. 1736–1795)
    Aisin-Gioro Mianyi 愛新覺羅綿億 [1764–1815]
    He Zheng 何澂 [d. about 1888]
    Nagao Uzan 長尾雨山 [1864–1942], Kyoto, Japan
    Cheng Qi 程琦 [1911–1988]
    ? by 1968–1997
    Mr. A. Dean Perry [1909–1987] and Mrs. Helen Wade Greene Perry [1911–1996], Cleveland, OH, bequest to the Cleveland Museum of Art
    1997–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Seals of Chinese Painters and Collectors of the Ming and Ch'ing Periods 640
    Yao, Jiheng 姚際恒 . Hao gu tang jia cang shu hua ji 好古堂家藏書畫記. Taipei: Yi wen yin shu guan 藝文印書館, 1964. (preface dated 1699) ch. 2, p. 88
    Harada, Kinjirō 原田謹次郎. Nihon genzai Shina meiga mokuroku 日本現在支那名畫目錄. Tōkyō: Ōtsuka Kōgeisha, 1938. p. 128
    Lee, Sherman E., and Wai-kam Ho. Chinese Art Under the Mongols: The Yüan Dynasty, 1279-1368. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art; [distributed by the Press of Case Western Reserve University], 1968. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 266
    Ishikawa, Jun 石川淳, Yoshitaka Iriya 入矢義高, Yūjirō Nakata 中田勇次郎, and Hironobu Kohara 古原宏伸. Kō Kōbō, Gei San, Ō Mō, Go Chin [黄公望, 倪瓚, 王蒙, 呉鎮]. Tōkyō: Chūō Kōronsha, 1979. Reproduced: p. 178, pl. 87
    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. 117, p. 142
    Suzuki, Kei 鈴木敬. Chugoku kaiga shi [中國繪畫史 = A History of Chinese Painting]. Tōkyō: Yoshikawa Kobunkan, 1981. Reproduced: p. 136, no. 130
    Suzuki, Kei 鈴木敬. Chūgoku kaiga sōgō zuroku [中國繪畫總合圖錄 = Comprehensive Illustrated Catalog of Chinese Paintings], 第 1卷. アメリカ·カナダ篇 [= vol. 1 American and Canadian collections]. Tōkyō: Tōkyō Daigaku Shuppankai, 1982. Reproduced: #A23-005, p. I-286
    Guo li gu gong bo wu yuan 國立故宮博物院. Hai wai yi zhen. Zai xu 海外遺珎. 繪畫. 再續. Taipei: Guo li gu gong bo wu yuan, 1990. Reproduced: p. 78
    Li, Huishu. Exquisite Moments: West Lake & Southern Song Art. New York, NY: China Institute Gallery, China Institute, 2001. Reproduced: cat. no. 7, pp. 72-73
    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: pp. 207-210
    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. Mentioned: p. 208
  • The Fragrance of Ink: Chinese and Japanese Paintings from the Collection of Mrs. A. Dean Perry. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (April 19-August 3, 1997).
    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).
    Chinese Art Under the Mongols: The Yuan Dynasty (1279–1368). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 2-November 24, 1968).
  • {{cite web|title=A Scholar's Retreat amid Autumn Trees|url=false|author=Wang Fu|year=c. 1403|access-date=17 July 2026|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1997.98