The Cleveland Museum of Art
Collection Online as of December 24, 2025
Chinese Literatus in an Autumn Landscape
late 1400s
(Japanese, active c. 1489–1500)
Mounted: 111 x 56.2 cm (43 11/16 x 22 1/8 in.)
Location: Not on view
Description
In this painting, Sesshū Tōyō’s disciple Sōen depicts a Chinese scholar-official astride a donkey with his attendant behind. Framing their passage on the right side of the scene are two bare willows, and on the left, geese in flight, the cries of which capture the pair’s attention. These elements suggest that the season is late autumn. Sōen, who famously received Sesshū’s 1495 Splashed-ink Landscape as a certificate of his success as a pupil, studied with the master in Suō, presentday Yamaguchi, after which he returned to his native province in the Kanto region.- ?–2015George Gund III [1937–2013], bequest to the Cleveland Museum of Art2015–The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
- "Exhibitions.” Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 57, no. 4 (July/August 2017): 4–5. Reproduced and Mentioned: p. 4 archive.org
- Reeds and Geese: Japanese Art from the Collection of George Gund III. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (May 21-September 3, 2017).
- {{cite web|title=Chinese Literatus in an Autumn Landscape|url=false|author=Josui Sōen|year=late 1400s|access-date=24 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}
Source URL:
https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2015.467