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Additional Views

Aug 10, 2004

May 6, 2010

Leaping Carp

藻魚圖

1368–1644

Liu Jie 劉節

(Chinese, c. 1447–1520s)

China, Ming dynasty

(1368–1644)

Hanging scroll, ink and color on silk

Image: 140.5 x 83.7 cm (55 5/16 x 32 15/16 in.); Overall: 226 x 101.2 cm (89 x 39 13/16 in.); with knobs: 226 x 109.5 cm (89 x 43 1/8 in.)

John L. Severance Fund 1977.55

Location

not on view

Did you know?

The clusters of geometric leaves painted with mineral pigments are likely water caltrap.

Description

With a fine ink line and graded wash, the life-like depiction of these swiftly moving carp is representative of the high quality of works by Liu Jie, a Ming dynasty court painter known for his fish paintings. The artist’s signature and seal are in the painting’s top left corner.

The carp is an auspicious and popular subject in Chinese painting. Here, the leaping carp can be associated with “a carp jumping the dragon gate,” which according to mythology transforms into a dragon, emblematic of a scholar’s success in passing the civil service examinations. Another reading suggests that this carp is not leaping but guiding his offspring in worshipping heaven.

Inscriptions

Inscription

Artist's signature and seal: Written by Liu Jie 劉節寫. [seal] Chin-i-chih-hui chih chang.

Provenance

?-1977

(Kozo Yabumoto, 藪本公三 [1900s], Amagasaki, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)

1977-

The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH

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. Reproduced: cat. no. 129, p. 150

Eskenazi Ltd. Two Rare Chinese Porcelain Fish Jars of the 14th and 16th Centuries: 7 November - 30 November 2002. London: Eskenazi, 2002. Reproduced: p. 13, fig. 7

Laozi 老子 and James Legge, translator. Tao Te Ching 道德经. New York: Metro Books, 2008. Reproduced: fig. 41

Sung, Hou-mei. Decoded Messages: The Symbolic Language of Chinese Animal Painting. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2009. Reproduced: p. 236, cat. 81

Li, June T. "An Unusual Lacquer Ewer from the Ming Dynasty." In Zhongguo gu dai qi qi yan tao hui lun wen ji [中國古代漆器研討會論文集 = Proceedings of Conference on Ancient Chinese Lacquer]. Hong Kong: Xianggang Zhong wen da xue wen wu guan [ 香港中文大學文物館 = Art Museum, The Chinese University of Hong Kong], 2012. Reproduced: p. 53, fig. 13

Chou, Ju-hsi and Anita Chung. Silent poetry: Chinese paintings from the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 2015. Reproduced: pp. 252-255

Exhibition history

Main Asian Rotation (Gallery 119). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (March 16-July 13, 2004).

Year in Review: 1977. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 28, 1977-January 22, 1978).

Eight Dynasties of Chinese Painting. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art (November 7, 1980-January 4, 1981); The Cleveland Museum of Art (February 11-March 29, 1981); Tokyo National Museum (October 4-November 17, 1982).

Roaring Tigers and Leaping Carp: Decoding the Symbolic Language of Chinese Animal Painting. The Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, OH (organizer) (October 9, 2009-January 3, 2010).

Cite this page

{{cite web|title=Leaping Carp|url=https://clevelandart.org/art/1977.55|author=Liu Jie|year=1368–1644|access-date=29 March 2023|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

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Leaping Carp

Leaping Carp

藻魚圖

Liu Jie 劉節

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