The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 19, 2025

Lineage Portrait of Buddhist Monks

1600s

China, Qing dynasty

(1644–1911)
hanging scroll mounted on a panel (framed); ink, color, and gold on paper
Overall: 171.5 x 99.7 cm (67 1/2 x 39 1/4 in.)
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Robert T. Gow 2003.352
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

The painting has remnants of a Japanese mounting, indicating that it was once kept in Japan.

Description

This painting features 24 Buddhist priests, likely of several generations and members of the same temple or school. The priests are depicted with attention to individual features and appearances, dressed in their formal garments. They may represent monks of the Ōbaku school, a form of Chan (Japanese: Zen) Buddhism founded in Japan by Chinese émigré monks and their Japanese followers.
  • ?–November 18, 1912
    (Yamanaka and Company, London, England, sold to Henri Vever)
    1912–?
    Henri Vever [1854–1942], France
    ?–2003
    Robert [1940–2019] and Kay Gow [b. 1951], Naples, FL, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art
    2003–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Chang, Willow Hai. Song of Life: Chinese Art from the Gow Family Collection. Naples, FL: Naples Museum of Art, 2000. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 23, pp. 70–71.
    Sims, Lowery Stokes. The Persistence of Geometry Form, Content, and Culture in the Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art : [Exhibition] the Cleveland Museum of Art at the Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland, 9 June-20 August 2006. Cleveland, OH: The Museum, 2006. Mentioned: cat. no. 28, p. 117; Reproduced: p. 99
    Nishigori, Ryōsuke 錦織亮介. "黄槃派の祖師源流図について." Obaku Bunka 黄檗文華 vol. 140 (2019–2020), 55–75. Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 71
    Yu, Jing 余靜. “Introduction of Huangbo Calligraphy and Paintings in the Cleveland Museum of Art Collection in the United States = 美國克利夫蘭藝術博物館所藏黃檗書畫譯介.” Research on Fujian Merchant Culture: Special Issue on Huangbo (Ōbaku) Studies 闽商文化研究 黄檗学 特刊（黄檗艺术号) 0105 (2023): 49–53. Mentioned and Reproduced: fig. 1, p. 50
    Shi, Qi 施 錡. "Research on the “Ancestor Origin Painting” of the Obaku that Spread Eastward from China to Japan = 东传日本的黄檗宗“列祖源流图”研究" Journal of Humanities across the Straits 海峡人文学刊 vol. 3, no. 4 (December 2023), 138–149, 156. Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 148, fig. 23
  • Facing the Ancestors: Chinese Portraits and Figure Painting – Chinese Gallery Rotation 240a, 241c. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (August 12, 2019-February 2, 2020).
    The Persistence of Geometry: Form, Content and Culture in the Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland (MOCA), Cleveland, OH (June 9-August 20, 2006).
    Song of Life: Chinese Art from the Gow Family Collection. Naples Museum of Art, Naples, FL (September 11, 2002-April 21, 2003).
  • {{cite web|title=Lineage Portrait of Buddhist Monks|url=false|author=|year=1600s|access-date=19 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2003.352