id: 149590 accession number: 1979.18 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1979.18 updated: 2022-09-22 10:16:32.257000 A Vignette of Life on the Frontier, c. 1717–22. Jiao Bingzhen (Chinese, active c. 1670–1726), and Giuseppe Castiglione (Italian, 1688–1766). Folding fan; ink and color on paper; painting: 19 x 55 cm (7 1/2 x 21 5/8 in.); overall with sticks: 33 x 55 cm (13 x 21 5/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Eleanor and Morris Everett 1979.18 title: A Vignette of Life on the Frontier title in original language: 塞上野趣圖 series: series in original language: creation date: c. 1717–22 creation date earliest: 1717 creation date latest: 1722 current location: creditline: Gift of Eleanor and Morris Everett copyright: --- culture: China, Qing dynasty (1644-1911), Kangxi period (1662-1722) technique: Folding fan; ink and color on paper department: Chinese Art collection: China - Qing Dynasty type: Painting find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS * Jiao Bingzhen (Chinese, active c. 1670–1726) - artist Court painter largely active during the reign of the Kangxi Emperor. He was one of the early Chinese painters to use Western techniques. * Giuseppe Castiglione (Italian, 1688–1766) - artist Italian Jesuit missionary, painter, and textile designer, who worked in China. He served as an artist at the imperial court of three emperors: the Kangzi, Yongzheng, and Qianlong emperors. He painted in a style that is a fusion of European and Chinese traditions. --- measurements: Painting: 19 x 55 cm (7 1/2 x 21 5/8 in.); Overall with sticks: 33 x 55 cm (13 x 21 5/8 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: inscription: 塞上野趣圖。奉勅寫真。臣焦秉貞郞世寧合筆恭繪。[印]秉貞; 世寧. translation: remark: inscription: 2 seals of the Qianlong emperor (r. 1736-95). 12 poems by the Qianlong emperor and inscribed in clerical script by Wang Youdun 汪由敦 (1692-1758). translation: remark: inscription: 1 poem incised on the outer ribs of the fan, front and back by Dong Bangda 董邦達 (1699–1769). translation: remark: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: Year in Review: 1979 opening date: 1980-02-20T05:00:00 Year in Review: 1979. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (February 20-March 9, 1980). title: Eight Dynasties of Chinese Painting opening date: 1981-02-10T05:00:00 Eight Dynasties of Chinese Painting. The Cleveland Museum of Art (February 10-March 29, 1981); Tokyo National Museum (October 4-November 17, 1982). title: The Twain Shall Meet opening date: 1985-10-30T04:00:00 The Twain Shall Meet. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 30, 1985-January 5, 1986). title: Fans: East and West opening date: 1992-12-15T05:00:00 Fans: East and West. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 15, 1992-March 7, 1993). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS * Main Asian Rotation (Gallery 122). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (July 23-October 27, 2003). --- PROVENANCE Qing imperial collection (seals of the Qianlong Emperor, r. 1736–1795) date: 1736-? footnotes: citations: (David Newman [1936–2012], London, UK, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) date: ?-1979 footnotes: citations: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH date: 1979- footnotes: citations: --- fun fact: One horseshoe is visible beneath the uplifted hoof. digital description: wall description: Jiao Bingzhen, a court painter largely active during the reign of the Kangxi Emperor, was the senior artist on this fan. Jiao painted the Manchu horse trainer and the setting into which the horse was inserted by Giuseppe Castiglione. Each artist was bonded to his own artistic tradition, while flexibly and harmoniously accommodating the others’ style.

Jiao’s brushwork displays rigor and control, particularly in the twisting and turning trunk of the willow. The treatment of the figure and his clothes is an exercise in linearity. The horse trainer’s gesture and posture closely adhere to the known repertoire of the Chinese figural tradition, but the specificity supplies a sense of documentary reportage of life on the frontier. His shaved forehead and white temples identify him as a Manchu. The thick fabric of his garments was defined in a different sort of brush line than Jiao typically used for Chinese scholars or travelers.

Jesuit priest Castiglione, a newcomer to China at the time this was painted, brought a sense of Western realism to the horse. Poised at a slight angle, the horse is alert, its eye gleaming. Its contours suggest the bulk of its anatomy with skilled but not overpowering modelling, and careful and subtly wrought attention to detail, such as fluttering strand of mane.

Because of his ability to combine traditional Chinese painting techniques with Western methods of perspective and chiaroscuro, Castiglione went on to be the most favored and honored of the missionary artists who served the early Qing emperors. Throughout his career, in addition to imperial demands for portraits and records of court events, Castiglione continued to paint favored imperial horses. These animal subjects reflect the desire of Kangxi and his successors to celebrate their nomadic origins and to keep alive the martial prowess of the Manchu warriors in their new and sedentary world of conquered China. --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS Lee, Sherman E. "The Year in Review for 1979." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 67, no. 3 (1980): 58-99. page number: Reproduced: cat. no. 116, p. 86; Mentioned: p. 62 url: https://www.jstor.org/stable/25159667 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. 261, pp. 353-354 url: Suzuki, Kei 鈴木敬. Chūgoku kaiga sōgō zuroku [中國繪畫總合圖錄= Comprehensive Illustrated Catalog of Chinese Paintings], 第1卷. アメリカ·カナダ篇[= vol. 1 American and Canadian collections]. Tōkyō: Tōkyō Daigaku Shuppankai, 1982. page number: #A22-221 url: Chung, Anita. Ai Weiwei: Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads: July 27, 2013-January 26, 2014, the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2013. page number: Reproduced: p. 25, fig. 7 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. 431-433 url: --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1979.18/1979.18_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1979.18/1979.18_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1979.18/1979.18_full.tif