id: 136295 accession number: 1960.181 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1960.181 updated: 2024-03-26 01:58:48.163000 Three Horses and Four Grooms, c. 1320s. Ren Renfa (Chinese, 1254–1328). Handscroll, ink and color on silk; painting: 28.5 x 137.5 cm (11 1/4 x 54 1/8 in.); overall: 29.2 x 556.4 cm (11 1/2 x 219 1/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Fund 1960.181 title: Three Horses and Four Grooms title in original language: 三駿圖 series: series in original language: creation date: c. 1320s creation date earliest: 1310 creation date latest: 1327 current location: creditline: Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Fund copyright: --- culture: China, Yuan dynasty (1271-1368) technique: handscroll, ink and color on silk department: Chinese Art collection: ASIAN - Handscroll type: Painting find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS * Ren Renfa (Chinese, 1254–1328) - artist --- measurements: Painting: 28.5 x 137.5 cm (11 1/4 x 54 1/8 in.); Overall: 29.2 x 556.4 cm (11 1/2 x 219 1/16 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: inscription: 月山道人. [印] 任氏子明 translation: remark: inscription: 1 colophon and 16 additional seals: 1 poem, 1 colophon dated 1552 or 1612, and 3 seals of Wang Yiying 王一瀛 (1500s); 2 seals of Liang Qingbiao 梁清標 (1620-1691); 6 seals of the Qianlong 乾隆 Emperor (r. 1736-95); 3 seals of the Jiaqing 嘉慶 Emperor (r. 1796-1821); 1 seal of the Xuantong 宣統 Emperor (r. 1908-12); 1 seal of Yu Xiezhong 余協中 (1900s). translation: remark: inscription: Poem and colophon by Wang Yiying 王一瀛 (1500s): As for painters of horses in the previous dynasty, Surely the name of Yueshan [Ren Renfa] must come first. Under his brush and on his silk, They seem to have just galloped out from the imperial stud. Now as the world overflows with inferiority, Who, from the stable, can recognize a dragon-horse amidst mediocrity. Ren Yueshan [Ren Renfa] of the Yuan Dynasty was best in horse paintings. The three fine steeds he painted in this scroll are so dashing, so vigorous in spirit that they have indeed grasped some of the "brush-idea" of Han Gan. Not long ago this painting came into the possession of Mr. Gui Shanquan, who asked for my inscription. And I, while reading the old manuscripts of Hengshan [Wen Zhengming, 1470-1559], by accident, came cross the poem quoted above. As the ancients said "in painting horses, Master Han was [inspired by and produced] real horses; in composing poems, Master Su [Su Dongpo, the leading Song poet] wrote as if a painting were before him." These are truly what should be considered the two excellences; indeed, they are to be treasured. In the sixth month of the renzi year [either 1552 or 1612]. Jian feng shan ren [The Mountain Dweller of the Sword Peak], Wang Yiying, written in the Qu si ting Pavilion at Chiyang. translation: remark: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: Year in Review - Nineteen Hundred Sixty opening date: 1960-11-30T05:00:00 Year in Review - Nineteen Hundred Sixty. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 30, 1960-January 1, 1961). title: Chinese Art opening date: 1962-01-08T05:00:00 Chinese Art. Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, MA (organizer) (January 8-26, 1962). title: History of the Appaloosa Horse opening date: 1963-01-01T05:00:00 History of the Appaloosa Horse. Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, TX (organizer) (January 1-April 1, 1963). title: Eight Dynasties of Chinese Painting opening date: 1981-02-11T05:00:00 Eight Dynasties of Chinese Painting. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art (November 7, 1980-January 4, 1981); The Cleveland Museum of Art (February 11-March 29, 1981); Tokyo National Museum (October 4-November 17, 1982). title: Power and Virtue: Images of Horses in Chinese Art opening date: 1997-09-13T00:00:00 Power and Virtue: Images of Horses in Chinese Art. China Institute Gallery (organizer) (September 13-December 13, 1997). title: Silent Poetry: Masterworks of Chinese Painting opening date: 2015-11-14T00:00:00 Silent Poetry: Masterworks of Chinese Painting. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 14, 2015-April 24, 2016). title: Galloping through Dynasties: Decoding Chinese Horse Painting opening date: 2022-10-07T04:00:00 Galloping through Dynasties: Decoding Chinese Horse Painting. The Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, OH (organizer) (October 7, 2022-January 1, 2023) https://www.cincinnatiartmuseum.org/art/exhibitions/upcoming-exhibitions/galloping-through-dynasties/. --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS * {'description': 'Chinese Art: an exhibition of paintings, jades, bronzes and ceramics. Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, Massachusetts (1962).', 'opening_date': '1962-01-01T00:00:00'} * {'description': 'Chinese Art Under the Mongols: The Yüan Dynasty, 1279-1368. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (October 1-November 24, 1968)', 'opening_date': '1968-10-01T00:00:00'} * {'description': '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).', 'opening_date': '1981-02-10T00:00:00'} * {'description': 'Main Asian Rotation (Gallery 120). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (March 11-July 13, 2004).', 'opening_date': '2004-03-11T00:00:00'} * {'description': 'Main Asian Rotation (Gallery 242). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (November 21, 2013-July 28, 2014).', 'opening_date': '2013-11-21T00:00:00'} --- PROVENANCE Gui Shanquan 桂山泉 [1500s] date: 1500s footnotes: citations: Liang Qingbiao 梁清標 [1620–1691] date: second half of the 1600s footnotes: citations: Qing imperial collection (seals of Emperors Qianlong, r. 1736–1795, Jiaqing, r. 1796–1820, and Xuantong, r. 1909–1911), Beijing, China date: 1736-1911 footnotes: citations: Yu Xiezhong 余協中 [1900s] date: after 1911-before 1960 footnotes: citations: (Frank Caro [1904-1980], New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) date: ?-1960 footnotes: citations: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH date: 1960- footnotes: citations: --- fun fact: digital description: wall description: --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS Ferguson, John C 福開森. Li dai zhu lu hua mu 歷代著錄畵目. Nanjing: Chin-ling University, Zhong guo wen hua yan jiu suo 金陵大學中國文化硏究所, 1934. page number: p. 81(b) url: Lee, Sherman E. and Wai-Kam Ho. “Three Horses and Four Grooms.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, vol. 48, no. 4, 1961, pp. 66–71. page number: Reproduced and Mentioned: pp. 66-71 url: https://www.jstor.org/stable/25142448 Chinese Art: An Exhibition of Paintings, Jades, Bronzes and Ceramics: Being a Contribution Made by Smith College Museum of Art to the College Interim Session, 1962. Northampton, MA: The Smith College Museum of Art, 1962. page number: cat. no. 14 url: Lee, Sherman E. A History of Far Eastern Art. New York: H.N. Abrams, 1964. page number: Reproduced: p. 405, fig. 536 url: Sullivan, Michael. Chinese and Japanese Art. New York: Grolier, 1965. page number: Reproduced: p. 66, fig. A url: The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. page number: Reproduced: p. 262 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1966/page/n286 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. page number: cat. no. 188 url: The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. page number: Reproduced: p. 262 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1969/page/n286 The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. page number: Reproduced: p. 346 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1978/page/n366 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. page number: Reproduced: cat. no. 94, p. 115 url: Lee, Sherman E., and Wai-kam Ho. The Nature and Significance of the Collection of Liang Ch'ing-Piao. Taipei, Taiwan: Chung-hua ming-kuo, 1981. page number: Mentioned: p. 138, no. 196 url: Harrist, Robert E., and Virginia Bower. Power and virtue: the horse in Chinese art. New York: China Institute, 1997. page number: Reproduced: cat. no. 21, p. 92 url: Lazzari, Margaret R., and Dona Schlesier. Exploring Art: A Global, Thematic Approach. Belmont, CA: Thomson/Wadsworth, 2005. page number: Reproduced: p. 442, fig. 15.9 url: Sung, Hou-mei. Decoded Messages: The Symbolic Language of Chinese Animal Painting. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2009. page number: Reproduced: p. 203, fig.102 url: McCausland, Shane. Zhao Mengfu: Calligraphy and Painting for Khubilai's China. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2011. page number: Reproduced: pp. 152-153, fig 2.18 url: Chou, Ju-hsi and Anita Chung. Silent poetry: Chinese paintings from the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2015. page number: Reproduced: pp. 117-121 url: --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1960.181/1960.181_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1960.181/1960.181_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1960.181/1960.181_full.tif