{
"data": {
"id": 165263,
"accession_number": "2007.197",
"share_license_status": "Copyrighted",
"tombstone": "Three Perils Mountain (\u4e09\u5371\u5c71\u5716), 1941. Zhang Daqian (Chinese, 1899\u20131983). Hanging scroll; ink and light color on paper; painting: 96.5 x 33 cm (38 x 13 in.); overall with knobs: 212 x 59 cm (83 7/16 x 23 1/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund, 2007.197",
"current_location": null,
"title": "Three Perils Mountain",
"title_in_original_language": "\u4e09\u5371\u5c71\u5716",
"creation_date": "1941",
"creation_date_earliest": 1941,
"creation_date_latest": 1941,
"artists_tags": [
"Asian (from 1900 to present)",
"male"
],
"culture": [
"China"
],
"technique": "hanging scroll; ink and light color on paper",
"support_materials": [],
"department": "Chinese Art",
"collection": "ASIAN - Hanging scroll",
"type": "Painting",
"measurements": "Painting: 96.5 x 33 cm (38 x 13 in.); Overall with knobs: 212 x 59 cm (83 7/16 x 23 1/4 in.)",
"dimensions": {
"painting": {
"height": 0.965,
"height_inch": 38,
"height_inch_fraction": 0.0,
"width": 0.33,
"width_inch": 13,
"width_inch_fraction": 0.0
},
"overall": {
"height": 2.12,
"height_inch": 83,
"height_inch_fraction": 0.4375,
"width": 0.514,
"width_inch": 20,
"width_inch_fraction": 0.25
},
"overall with knobs": {
"height": 2.12,
"height_inch": 83,
"height_inch_fraction": 0.4375,
"width": 0.59,
"width_inch": 23,
"width_inch_fraction": 0.25
}
},
"state_of_the_work": null,
"edition_of_the_work": null,
"copyright": null,
"inscriptions": [
{
"inscription": null,
"inscription_translation": "In his \"Commentary to [the Classic of History],\" Kong Anguo [2nd century BC] [writes], \"Sanwei [Three Perils] is a mountain on the western marches; [the Emperor] Shun 'drove the Sanmiao [tribes] into Three Perils [district].'\" It is the [place to which the] \"Yugong\" [chapter of the \"Classic of History\" refers]: \"The Three Perils [district] was made habitable.\" In the \"Treatise [on Geography\" in the] History of the Sui Dynasty, there is a Three Perils Mountain under the entry for Dunhuang county. Nowadays, it is commonly called Shengyu Mountain, and is located thirty li southeast of the town [of Dunhuang]. It has three peaks which stick up vertically and seem to be in imminent peril of falling; thus the name. The sixth lunar month of the xinsi year; escaping the summer heat [I have come to] the Mogao Caves, where I face the Three Perils every day and night, so I've painted this. Yuan.",
"inscription_remark": "Zhang Daqian's inscription shows that he studied the history of the Mogao Caves and the Dunhuang area. The importance of the Three Perils Mountain in ancient history compelled him to paint its vivid form.",
"sortorder": 1
},
{
"inscription": "Inscribed and signed, with two seals of the artist",
"inscription_translation": "[\u5370] \u5f35\u7230\u79c1\u5370",
"inscription_remark": null,
"sortorder": 2
}
],
"exhibitions": {
"current": [
{
"id": 455279,
"title": "Chinese Buddhist Art Rotation",
"description": "Chinese Buddhist Art Rotation. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (May 12-November 6, 2022).",
"opening_date": "2022-05-12T04:00:00"
}
],
"legacy": [
{
"description": "Challenging the Past: The Paintings of Chang Dai-chien. Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Washington, DC (November 24, 1991-April 5, 1992); The Asia Society, New York, NY (April 29-July 19, 1992); Saint Louis Art Museum, St. Louis, MO (August 28-October 25, 1992).",
"opening_date": "1992-04-29T00:00:00"
},
{
"description": "An Exhibition of Chinese Paintings by Chang Dai-Chien. Frank Caro Gallery, New York, NY (May 19-June 30, 1984).",
"opening_date": "1984-05-19T00:00:00"
}
]
},
"provenance": [
{
"description": "Wang Fangyu \u738b\u65b9\u5b87 [1913\u20131997] and Sum Wai \u6c88\u6167 [1918\u20131996], Short Hills, NJ",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [
"Zhang Daqian and Wang Fangyu were such close friends that Zhang was one of eight guests present at the wedding of Wang Fangyu and Sum Wai.
"
],
"date": "by 1991\u2013?",
"sortorder": 1
},
{
"description": "(Sotheby's New York, May 31, 1994, lot 168)",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": "May 31, 1994",
"sortorder": 2
},
{
"description": "Chunfang Tang Collection \u6df3\u98a8\u5802\u85cf",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": "?\u20132007",
"sortorder": 3
},
{
"description": "(Christie's, Hong Kong, November 26, 2007, lot 1220, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [],
"date": "November 26, 2007",
"sortorder": 4
},
{
"description": "The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [],
"date": "2007\u2013",
"sortorder": 5
}
],
"find_spot": null,
"related_works": [],
"former_accession_numbers": [],
"did_you_know": "On the far shore, three scholars and their attendant approach a Buddhist stupa relic mound.",
"early_education_description": null,
"artlens_description": null,
"description": "In 1941, Zhang Daqian went to northwestern China to expand his understanding of Chinese art history by studying the rich tradition of religious wall painting. He surveyed the Buddhist cave paintings at Dunhuang and made more than 200 high-quality facsimiles in less than three years.
As a break from the facsimile work in the dark caves, Zhang lifted his eyes to the Three Perils Mountain (\u4e09\u5371\u5c71) in the distance.",
"external_resources": {
"wikidata": [
"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q60480394"
],
"internet_archive": []
},
"citations": [
{
"citation": "Nagin, Carl. An Exhibition of Chinese Paintings by Chang Dai-Chien, 1899-1983: May 19-June 30, 1984. New York, NY: Frank Caro Gallery, 1984.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: pl. 12",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "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: pp. 136-137",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Sotheby's New York. Chinese Paintings: Sale 6570. May 31, 1994.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: lot 168",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Christie's Hong Kong. Fine Chinese modern paintings. November 26, 2007. Lot 1220",
"page_number": "Mentioned: pp. 220\u2013221, 229",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "\u201cArt of Asia Acquired by North American Museums, 2006-2008.\u201d Archives of Asian Art, vol. 59, 2009, pp. 135\u2013180.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: fig. 8, p. 143",
"url": "https://www.jstor.org/stable/40863704"
},
{
"citation": "Chung, Anita. \"Re-emergence: New Chinese Galleries and Art Acquisitions of The Cleveland Museum of Art.\" Orientations vol 44 no. 8 (November/December 2013): 64\u201375.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 70, fig. 6",
"url": null
}
],
"url": "https://clevelandart.org/art/2007.197",
"images": {},
"alternate_images": [],
"creditline": "Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund",
"image_credit": null,
"sketchfab_id": null,
"sketchfab_url": null,
"gallery_donor_text": null,
"athena_id": 165263,
"creators": [
{
"id": 56836,
"description": "Zhang Daqian (Chinese, 1899\u20131983)",
"extent": null,
"qualifier": null,
"role": "artist",
"biography": null,
"name_in_original_language": "\u5f35\u5927\u5343",
"birth_year": "1899",
"death_year": "1983",
"use_in_caption": true,
"include_extent": false,
"weight": 1
}
],
"legal_status": "accessioned",
"accession_date": "2007-12-03T00:00:00",
"sortable_date": 1941,
"date_added_to_oa": null,
"date_text": "1941",
"collapse_artists": false,
"on_loan": false,
"recently_acquired": false,
"record_type": "object",
"conservation_statement": null,
"has_conservation_images": false,
"cover_accession_number": null,
"is_nazi_era_provenance": false,
"impression": null,
"alternate_titles": [],
"is_highlight": false,
"updated_at": "2026-06-11 12:17:40.446000"
}
}