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Nov 10, 2009

Listening to the Qin (Zither)

聽琴圖

1150–after 1225

Liu Songnian 劉松年

(Chinese, c. 1150-after 1225)

China, Southern Song dynasty

(1127-1279)

Album leaf; ink and slight color on silk

Image: 23.8 x 24.6 cm (9 3/8 x 9 11/16 in.); with mat: 33.3 x 40.5 cm (13 1/8 x 15 15/16 in.)

Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Fund 1983.85

Location

240A Chinese Paintings and Calligraphy

Did you know?

The three figures are painted with "nail-head and mouse-tail" brushstrokes.

Description

Listening to the Qin recalls the story of Bo Ya, a musician who loved to play the qin (a seven-stringed zither) for Zhong Ziqi, who was a discerning listener. The cool shade of the pine trees and the incense wafting from the burner complemented the atmosphere created by the music. After Zhang died, Bo refused to play the instrument ever again. The intimate format of the album leaf focuses on the music as the key to stir the heart and soul of both player and listener.

Inscriptions

Inscription

劉松年

Inscription Translation

Liu Songnian

Inscription Remark

The artist's signature is on the trunk of the pine tree adjacent to the qin player.

Provenance

Cheng Qi 程琦 [1911–1988], Hong Kong, to his daughter Julia C. Chiang

Mrs. Julia C. Chiang, New Jersey

?–1983

(Clark Cheng, Mountainside, NJ, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)

1983–

The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH

Citations

Lee, Sherman E. “Listening to the Ch'in by Liu Sung-Nien.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, vol. 73, no. 9, 1986, pp. 372–387. Reproduced: pp. 374-376 www.jstor.org

Tōyō kaiga no seika: tokubetsuten: Kurīvurando Bijutsukan no korekushon kara [東洋絵画の精華 : 特别展 : クリーヴラント美術館のコレクションから = Highlights of Asian painting from the Cleveland Museum of Art]. Japan: Nara National Museum, 1998. Reproduced: p. 41, cat. no. 18

Addiss, Stephen, Kenneth J. DeWoskin, and Mitchell Clark. The resonance of the qin in East Asian art. New York: China Institute Gallery, China Institute, 1999. Reproduced: cat. no. 9 pp. 74-75

Helen Dunn Grinnell, "Exhibition Reviews" Orientations, vol. 31, no. 1 January 2000. Reproduced: p. 72

Handler, Sarah. Austere Luminosity of Chinese Classical Furniture. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2001. Reproduced: fig. 17.3, p. 297

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. Mentioned and Reproduced: pp. 61–64

Exhibition history

The Year in Review for 1983. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 22-April 8, 1984).

Asian Autumn: Masterpieces from the Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 17, 1991-January 5, 1992).

Highlights of Asian Paintings from The Cleveland Museum of Art. Nara National Museum (organizer) (February 21-March 29, 1998); Suntory Museum of Art (April 28-June 21, 1998).

The Resonance of the Qin in Far Eastern Art. China Institute Gallery, New York, NY (organizer) (September 16-December 12, 1999).

Six Dynasties of Chinese Painting (Chinese art rotation). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 10, 2023-May 5, 2024).

Cite this page

{{cite web|title=Listening to the Qin (Zither)|url=https://clevelandart.org/art/1983.85|author=Liu Songnian|year=1150–after 1225|access-date=03 December 2023|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

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Listening to the Qin (Zither)

Listening to the Qin (Zither)

聽琴圖

Liu Songnian 劉松年

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Description

Inscription

Inscription Translation

Inscription Remark

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