id: 159728 accession number: 1997.103 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1997.103 updated: 2023-01-11 08:07:07.003000 Washing the Feet (from the Dusty World), 1570. Wen Boren (Chinese, 1502–1575). Hanging scroll mounted on a panel, ink and color on paper; image: 170.2 x 79.4 cm (67 x 31 1/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Bequest of Mrs. A. Dean Perry 1997.103 title: Washing the Feet (from the Dusty World) title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: 1570 creation date earliest: 1570 creation date latest: 1570 current location: creditline: Bequest of Mrs. A. Dean Perry copyright: --- culture: China, Ming dynasty (1368–1644) technique: Hanging scroll mounted on a panel, ink and color on paper department: Chinese Art collection: ASIAN - Hanging scroll type: Painting find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS * Wen Boren (Chinese, 1502–1575) - artist --- measurements: Image: 170.2 x 79.4 cm (67 x 31 1/4 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: inscription: Artist's inscription, signature, and 4 seals: Shaking one's clothes on a thousand-jen peak,/ Washing one's feet in a ten-thousand-li stream. In the gengwu year of the Longqing era [1570], fifteenth day of the tenth month, Wufeng shanren, Wen Boren recorded a special occasion. [2 seals] Wufeng shanren; Wen Boren Te-ch'eng chang. [2 seals, lower right corner] Te-ch'eng; She-shan chang. trans. HR translation: remark: inscription: 2 additional seals of Zhang Heng 張珩 (1915-1963) translation: remark: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: Greeting the Spring (Chinese art rotation, galleries 240a, 239, 241c) opening date: 2017-02-11T05:00:00 Greeting the Spring (Chinese art rotation, galleries 240a, 239, 241c). The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (February 11-August 13, 2017). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS * 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). * The Fragrance of Ink: Chinese and Japanese Paintings from the Collection of Mrs. A. Dean Perry. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (April 19-August 3, 1997). --- PROVENANCE (Frank Caro [1904–1980], New York, NY, sold to Mrs. A. Dean Perry) date: footnotes: citations: Mrs. A. Dean [Helen Wade Greene] Perry [1911–1996], Cleveland, OH, bequest to the Cleveland Museum of Art date: ?–1997 footnotes: citations: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH date: 1997– footnotes: citations: --- fun fact: digital description: wall description: A scholar on a boat in the middle ground bathes his feet in the cooling stream. The vast river scene is depicted from a high viewing point. The motif of a scholar washing his feet illustrates the phrase, “When the waters of the Canglang are clear, I wash my capstrings. When the waters of the Canglang are muddy, I wash my feet [only]” (from Songs of Chu, written before 256 BC). The passage evokes the image of the virtuous scholar-official who avoids government service when the ruler is corrupt (the rivers are muddy) and resumes service (washing my capstrings) when the waters are clear. Whether the artist here alludes to unfavorable times of government is not clear. --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS 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. 184, p. 236 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: #A23-013, p. I-287 url: --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1997.103/1997.103_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1997.103/1997.103_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1997.103/1997.103_full.tif