id:			149030
accession number:	1977.172
share license status:	CC0
url:			https://clevelandart.org/art/1977.172
updated:		2024-03-26 01:59:40.971000

Listening to the Bamboo, late 1400s-1500s. Imitator of Wen Zhengming (Chinese, 1470–1559). Hanging scroll, ink on sutra paper; painting: 94.5 x 30.5 cm (37 3/16 x 12 in.); overall with knobs: 202 x 55 cm (79 1/2 x 21 5/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Fund 1977.172

title:				Listening to the Bamboo
title in original language:	聽竹圖
series:				
series in original language:	
creation date:			late 1400s-1500s
creation date earliest:		1500
creation date latest:		1559
current location:		
creditline:			Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Fund
copyright:			

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culture:	China, Ming dynasty (1368–1644)
technique:	hanging scroll, ink on sutra paper
department:	Chinese Art
collection:	ASIAN - Hanging scroll
type:		Painting
find spot:	
catalogue raisonne: 

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CREATORS

* Wen Zhengming (Chinese, 1470–1559)  - artist

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measurements: Painting: 94.5 x 30.5 cm (37 3/16 x 12 in.); Overall with knobs: 202 x 55 cm (79 1/2 x 21 5/8 in.)
state of the work:	
edition of the work: 	

support materials:


inscriptions:

	inscription:	Artist's inscription, signature, and 2 seals on the separate sheet of paper above the painting:

In the empty studio sitting in deep loneliness;/ 
Like cool sound sending pure beauty,/ 
Or pendants swinging in the wind,/ 
Or a solitary qin suggesting running water./ 
Where is that sound from?/ 
The green poles in the courtyard,/ 
Clear and light like an echo,/ 
The sound and ears are in tune./ 
The sound of bamboo now very beautiful;/ 
My ears are also clear./ 
Who says the sound is in the bamboo?/ 
To know it depends on oneself./ 
A noble person is like a tall bamboo;/ 
A thin bamboo is like the noble man./ 
When the sound enters, the mind responds,/ 
Only one thing but artificially separated./ 
A bystander searching for the sound,/ 
But the sound can only be found in silence./ 
Otherwise I am still I,/ 
Bamboo is still bamboo./ 
Even if I live with bamboo every day,/ 
Still the music will be a thousand miles away./ 
Look at sound's most primeval source:/ 
Did it enter a zither or a lute?

Composing a poem on Listening to the Bamboo. Written by Zhengming at the Ting yun guan. Wen Zhengming 
[2 seals] Wen Zhengming yin 文徵明印; Wei geng yin wu yi jiang 惟庚寅吾以降.
	translation:	
	remark:		

	inscription:	[印] 文徵明印; 惟庚寅吾以降.
	translation:	
	remark:		

	inscription:	5 seals of the Qianlong emperor (r. 1736-95)
	translation:	
	remark:		

	inscription:	[印] 金粟山藏經紙
	translation:	
	remark:		

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CURRENT EXHIBITIONS

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LEGACY EXHIBITIONS

* {'description': '<em>The Art of Wen Cheng-ming</em>. University of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor, MI (January 25-February 29, 1976); Asia House Gallery, New York, NY (April 7-June 7, 1976)', 'opening_date': '1976-01-25T00:00:00'}

* {'description': '<em>Eight Dynasties of Chinese Painting</em>. 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': '<em>Main Asian Rotation (Gallery 119)</em>. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (July 16-October 28, 2003).', 'opening_date': '2003-07-16T00:00:00'}

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PROVENANCE

	Qing imperial collection [seals of Emperor Qianlong, r. 1736–1795]
	date: 
	footnotes: 	
	citations: 	


	Zhang Yanmou 張燕謀 [1846–1913]
	date: 
	footnotes: 	
	citations: 	


	Wen Qi 文祁 [1900s]
	date: 
	footnotes: 	
	citations: 	


	(Jean-Pierre Dubosc [1904–1988], Paris, France, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
	date: ?-1977
	footnotes: 	
	citations: 	


	The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
	date: 1977-
	footnotes: 	
	citations: 	


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fun fact:


digital description:


wall description:

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RELATED WORKS

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CITATIONS

	Edwards, Richard. <em>The Art of Wen Cheng-Ming (1470-1559)</em>. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan, 1976.
	page number: 	Reproduced: cat. no. 33
	url:		

	Hironobu Kohara 古原宏伸. <em>Shin Shū, Bun Chōmei </em>[ 沈周 文徴明 = Shen Zhou, Wen Zhengming]. Tōkyō: Chūō Kōronsha, 1978.
	page number: 	Reproduced:  p. 168, pl. 62
	url:		

	Ho, Wai-kam, Sherman E. Lee, Laurence Sickman, and Marc F. Wilson. <em>Eight Dynasties of Chinese Painting: The Collections of the Nelson Gallery-Atkins Museum, Kansas City, and the Cleveland Museum of Art</em>. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, in cooperation with Indiana University Press, 1980.
	page number: 	Reproduced: cat. no. 173, pp. 218-220
	url:		

	Laozi 老子 and Stephen Mitchell, translator. <em>Tao te ching </em>道德经. London: Frances Lincoln, 1999.
	page number: 	Reproduced: cover, p. 64, p. 116
	url:		

	Chou, Ju-hsi and Anita Chung. <em>Silent poetry: Chinese paintings from the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em>. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 2015.
	page number: 	Mentioned and Reproduced: pp. 270-278
	url:		

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IMAGES

web:	https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1977.172/1977.172_web.jpg
print:	https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1977.172/1977.172_print.jpg
full:	https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1977.172/1977.172_full.tif