id: 142641 accession number: 1966.366 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1966.366 updated: 2023-03-22 14:08:02.769000 The Mountain of Five Cataracts, 1650. Chen Hongshou (Chinese, 1598/99–1652). Hanging scroll, ink on silk; painting: 118 x 53 cm (46 7/16 x 20 7/8 in.); overall: 232.4 x 69.7 cm (91 1/2 x 27 7/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund 1966.366 title: The Mountain of Five Cataracts title in original language: 五洩山 series: series in original language: creation date: 1650 creation date earliest: 1650 creation date latest: 1650 current location: creditline: John L. Severance Fund copyright: --- culture: China, Ming dynasty (1368–1644) technique: hanging scroll, ink on silk department: Chinese Art collection: ASIAN - Hanging scroll type: Painting find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS * Chen Hongshou (Chinese, 1598/99–1652) - artist --- measurements: Painting: 118 x 53 cm (46 7/16 x 20 7/8 in.); Overall: 232.4 x 69.7 cm (91 1/2 x 27 7/16 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: inscription: Artist's signature and seal at middle right edge: Hongshou [seal] Zhanghou 洪绶 [印]章侯 translation: remark: inscription: 1 inscription and 6 additional seals: 1 inscription and 5 seals of Gao Shiqi 高士奇 (1645-1704); 1 double seal (undecipherable). Inscription by Gao Shiqi: The Mountain of the Five Cataracts is bordered by three prefectures--Wu [Jinhua], Hang [Hangzhou], and Yue [Shaoxing]--and is quite close to Jiyang [Zhuji] in Yue. The landscape there is extraordinary and precipitous, with ridges and peaks standing in circles. Rocks of strange shapes gaze down everywhere, while maple and bamboo provide shade. The water from five pools overflows and is suspended in five steps--that is why it is called "Five Cataracts." Xie Yuanqing [Xie Tiao 謝朓, ca. 464-499] of the Qi Dynasty gathered medicinal herbs here; Diao Jingchun [Diao yue 刁約, 11th century] of the Song Dynasty also visited here; Song Jinhua [Song Lian 宋濂, 1310-1381] and Xu Tianchi [Xu Wei 徐渭, 1521-1593] both wrote travel notes about the place; and Chen Hongshou painted here. His mountains are done in the style of the Six Dynasties masters; the trees are after those of Dong Beiyuan [董源 Dong Yuan, Five Dynasties]--the painting seems to be richly imbued with the primeval spirit. Xu Wei said that the grotto is unique for the shade (yin) and the five cataracts unusual for the sun (yang). There are seventy-two peaks, with a ravine between two cliffs. At times they are bright and at other times, gloomy; sometimes they seem to be open, sometimes closed, yet often border uniquely between shady (yin) and sunny (yang). Zhanghou [Chen Hongshou] really succeeded in capturing that spirit. As a young man indulgently boating through Shanyin [Shaoxing], I became familiar with the beauty of the Five Cataracts. The cold streams, when level, become pools clear as crystal. Pouring foam mingled with flying waterfall, Its shapes constantly changing. Water would flow downward without a sound, Or become raging billows emitting echoes. Sometimes the wind from the sky would wail, The green forest during the day would turn dark. Sometimes it was dangerous and difficult to ascend, For the moss was slippery on the stone steps in those precipitous cliffs. After reading the travel notes of Sung [Lian] and Xu [Wei], I'm afraid their descriptions are incomplete. Yet when Laolian [Chen Hongshou] was seized with the inspiration to paint, His brush and ink moved with exhilaration. It is as if mists have risen From a hot cooking pot, gradually opened. By hanging this on a plain wall, One can clearly listen to the quiet night. At the end of the year, ice and snow are deep; The cold air in the quiet studio is frozen. Near the fireplace, I make with it a silent, spiritual acquaintance Burning incense and striking a lucid ching [stone chime]. On the eighteenth day of the twelfth month in the yimao year of the Kangxi era [1699]. Jiangcun, Gao Shiqi. Zhuchuang inscribed this at Zhe in the Lan Jing studio. It was the third day after the beginning of spring. trans. LYSL/HK/WKH translation: remark: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: Year in Review: 1967 opening date: 1967-11-29T05:00:00 Year in Review: 1967. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 29-December 31, 1967). title: The Restless Landscape: Chinese Painting of the Late Ming Period opening date: 1971-11-09T05:00:00 The Restless Landscape: Chinese Painting of the Late Ming Period. University of California, Berkeley. University Art Museum, Berkeley, CA (organizer) (November 9, 1971-January 2, 1972); Fogg Art Museum/Harvard University, Cambridge, MA (February 11-April 2, 1972). title: The Colors of Ink opening date: 1974-01-10T04:00:00 The Colors of Ink. Asia House Galleries (January 10-March 3, 1974); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (April 9-May 12, 1974). title: Asian Autumn: Masterpieces from the Collection opening date: 1991-09-17T04:00:00 Asian Autumn: Masterpieces from the Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 17, 1991-January 5, 1992). title: Repentant Monk: Illusion and Disillusion in the Art of Chen Hongshou (1599-1652) opening date: 2017-10-25T04:00:00 Repentant Monk: Illusion and Disillusion in the Art of Chen Hongshou (1599-1652). University of California, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, Berkeley, CA (organizer) (October 25, 2017-January 28, 2018). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS * To-So-Gen-Min, II. Tokyo Imperial Museum, Tokyo, Japan (November 24-December 16, 1928). * Restless Landscape. University Art Museum, Berkeley, CA (November 9, 1971-January 2, 1972); Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA (February 12-April 2, 1972). * 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). * Main Asian Rotation (Gallery 119). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (March 12, 2003-July 16, 2003). * Main Asian Rotation (Gallery 242). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (January 7, 2015-July 7, 2015). --- PROVENANCE Gao Shiqi 高士奇 [1644–1703] date: footnotes: citations: Guan Mianjun 關冕鈞 [1870–1933] date: footnotes: citations: (Walter Hochstadter [1914–2007], New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) date: ?-1966 footnotes: citations: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH date: 1966- footnotes: citations: --- fun fact: digital description: wall description: A unique landscape painting in the existing body of Chen Hongshou’s art, this painting reveals his involvement with the practice of fang (imitation) to achieve creative transformation. Chen acquired the tradition stemming from Dong Yuan of the Five Dynasties, with which he sought an artistic individuality that lends his work an idiosyncratic vision and extraordinary power. --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS Guan, Mianjun 關冕鈞. San qiu ge shu hua lu: 2 juan 三秋閣書畫錄: 二卷. [China]: Cangwu Guan shi 蒼梧關氏, Minguo 17 [1928]. page number: Mentioned: volume 1, p. 86a-b url: Tō Sō Gen Min meigaten-gō [唐宋元明名画展号]. Tōkyō: Tōkyō Asahi Shinbun Hakkōjo, 1928. page number: 373 url: 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. 299(b) url: Sirén, Osvald. A History of Later Chinese Painting. London: The Medici Society, 1938. page number: Mentioned: II, 47, pl. 159, and I, Lists, 205 url: Sirén, Osvald. Chinese Painting: Leading Masters and Principles. New York: Ronald Press, 1956. page number: Mentioned and Reproduced: V, 64, and VI, pl. 315, and VII, Lists, 164 url: Huang, Yongquan 黄湧泉. Chen Hongshou nian pu 陳洪綬年譜. Beijing: Ren min mei shu chu ban she, 1960. page number: p. 25 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. 263 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1969/page/n287 Lee, Sherman E. "The Water and the Moon in Chinese and Modern Painting." Art international, vol. 14 (1970), no. 1, pp. 47-59. page number: Reproduced: p. 56, fig. 28 url: Cahill, James. The Restless Landscape: Chinese Painting of the Late Ming Period. Berkeley: University Art Museum, 1971. page number: Reproduced: cat. no. 69 url: Lee, Sherman Emery, and James Robinson. The Colors of Ink: Chinese Paintings and Related Ceramics from the Cleveland Museum of Art. New York: Asia Society; distributed by New York Graphic Society, 1974. page number: cat. no. 36 url: 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. 353 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1978/page/n373 Oertling, Sewall Jerome. Ting Yün-Pʼeng: A Chinese Artist in the Late Ming Dynasty. PhD dissertation. University of Michigan, 1980. page number: Reproduced: p. 414, fig. 134 url: 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. 206, pp. 267-268 url: Fu, Shen C. Y. and Jan Stuart. Challenging the Past: The Paintings of Chang Dai-Chien. Washington, D.C.: Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, 1991. page number: Reproduced: p. 36, fig. 14 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. 314-320 url: White, Julia M., ed. Repentant Monk: Illusion and Disillusion in the Art of Chen Hongshou. Oakland, California: University of California Press, 2017. page number: Reproduced: p. 95, no. 8 url: --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1966.366/1966.366_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1966.366/1966.366_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1966.366/1966.366_full.tif