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Additional Views

Jun 5, 2013

Chinese Beauty

唐美人図

late 1700s–early 1800s

Kubo Shunman 窪俊満

(Japanese, 1757–1820)

Japan, Edo period

(1615-1868)

Hanging scroll; ink and color on silk

Image: 96 x 37 cm (37 13/16 x 14 9/16 in.); Overall: 184.2 x 53.3 cm (72 1/2 x 21 in.)

Kelvin Smith Fund 1988.1

Location

not on view

Description

Ukiyo-e artists’ exploration of beautiful people extended to figures from other lands. Here, an elegant Chinese palace lady holding a fan stands before a banana plant. The poem at the top is written in a Japanese appropriation of Chinese called kanbun. Based on its imagery of a palanquin (an enclosed couch with poles used for carrying passengers), silk fan, and autumn winds, it may allude to the story of Lady Ban (about 48 BC–about AD 2). A Chinese beauty famous for her scholarly achievements, Ban was once consort to an emperor but later lost his favor. In a poem attributed to her, she compared herself to a used silk fan put away in autumn.

Provenance

?–1988

(Eastern Fine Arts, New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)

1988–

The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH

Citations

"The Year in Review for 1988." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 76, no. 2 (1989): 30-75. Mentioned: no. 205, p. 74; Reproduced: no. 205, p. 59 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. 147, cat. no. 98

Admired from afar: masterworks of Japanese painting from the Cleveland Museum of Art [クリーブランド美術館展 : 名画でたどる日本の美 Kurīburando Bijutsukan ten: meiga de tadoru Nihon no bi ]. Tokyo: Tōkyō Kokuritsu Hakubutsukan, 2014. Reproduced: cat. no. 21, p. 72

Longhi, Leighton R. Leighton R. Longhi: Forty-Five Years in Asian Art. [New York, N.Y.]: Leighton R. Longhi, 2019. Reproduced: p. 317, fig. 315

Exhibition history

Japanese Gallery 235 Rotation. The Cleveland Museum of Art (June 3, 2016–January 10, 2017).

A Private World: Japanese and Chinese Art from the Kelvin Smith Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 14-November 13, 1988).

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).

Admired from Afar: Masterworks of Japanese Painting from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Tokyo National Museum, Tokyo, Japan (January 15-February 23, 2014); Kyushu National Museum, Fukuoka, Japan (July 8-August 31, 2014).

Japan's Floating World (Japanese art rotation) 235. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (April 8-October 9, 2022).

Cite this page

{{cite web|title=Chinese Beauty|url=https://clevelandart.org/art/1988.1|author=Kubo Shunman|year=late 1700s–early 1800s|access-date=27 January 2023|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

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Chinese Beauty

Chinese Beauty

唐美人図

Kubo Shunman 窪 俊満

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Kubo Shunman 窪俊満