The Cleveland Museum of Art
Collection Online as of April 19, 2024
Mt. Biyan (Green Cliff)
c. 1588
(Chinese, 1525-c. 1606)
Sheet: 26.4 x 28.4 cm (10 3/8 x 11 3/16 in.)
Location: not on view
Description
This album of landscape paintings depicts the famous scenic areas located in and around the city of Wuxing in southeastern China. These places were all known for their natural beauty, but in addition, a number were distinguished by their links to eminent historical figures and events. The artist, Song Xu, was not a native of Wuxing, but must have visited it when he accepted the commission, for he carefully depicted all eighteen views and wrote comments on each of them.Song's gazetteer-like notation on this leaf reads:
Green Cliff Mountain used to have a primeval forest, with a temple hidden within it. Now, those primeval forests have been wantonly and completely cut down. Consequently, with its devastated look, few travelers are coming. Still, with its peaks, cliffs, waterfall, there is no lack of scenic beauty.
- ?–1998(Kaikodo America Inc., New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)1998–The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
- 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. 287-295
- China's Southern Paradise: Treasures from the Lower Yangzi Delta. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 10, 2023-January 7, 2024).
- {{cite web|title=Mt. Biyan (Green Cliff)|url=false|author=Song Xu|year=c. 1588|access-date=19 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}
Source URL:
https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1998.78.4