The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 19, 2025

Calligraphy in Semi-Cursive Style (xing-caoshu)

c. 1660–1709

Yueshan Daozong

(Chinese, 1629–1709)
China, Qing dynasty (1644-1911)
hanging scroll; ink on paper
Painting only: 128.9 x 29 cm (50 3/4 x 11 7/16 in.); Overall with knobs: 179 x 36.4 cm (70 1/2 x 14 5/16 in.)
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Robert T. Gow 2003.354
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

The Ōbaku school of Chan (Zen in Japanese) Buddhism was founded in Japan by Chinese monks in the 1600s. The monk Yueshan emigrated from the Chinese province of Fujian to serve as priest and later abbot at Manpukuji, the headquarters of the Ōbaku school in Japan.

Description

This bold calligraphy written by Yueshan, an Ōbaku school monk, consists of five characters tentatively translated as “Pine trees singing in the wind.”

The line is from Cold Mountain Poems (Hanshan shi). Cold Mountain is the pen name (hao) of the poet monk Han Shan, as well as the name of a place. In one poem Han describes getting lost on the road to Cold Mountain, perhaps an allusion to the search for religious enlightenment.
  • Private Collection, Maine
    (Chinese Porcelain Factory, NY, sold to Mr. and Mrs. Robert Gow)
    ?–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. 25, p. 73
    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. 3, p. 52
  • Power and Possession: Chinese Calligraphy and Inscribed Objects – Chinese Gallery Rotation 240a, 241c. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (August 13, 2018-February 3, 2019).
  • {{cite web|title=Calligraphy in Semi-Cursive Style (xing-caoshu)|url=false|author=Yueshan Daozong|year=c. 1660–1709|access-date=19 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2003.354