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Feb 10, 2009

Feb 11, 2009

Feb 10, 2009

Spring Rain Thatched Hut

春雨草堂圖

1650

Wang Jianzhang 王建章

(Chinese, active 1621–1662)

China, Qing dynasty

(1644-1911)

Handscroll, ink on paper

Image: 31 x 81.5 cm (12 3/16 x 32 1/16 in.); Overall: 34.2 x 1164 cm (13 7/16 x 458 1/4 in.)

John L. Severance Fund 2008.108

Location

not on view

Did you know?

Gong Weiliu, the owner of the estate portrayed here, had received his prestigious jinshi degree in 1643, but his official career was thwarted by the collapse of the Ming dynasty the following year.

Description

With its striking simplicity, this painting captures the pure serenity of a private garden in the moist atmosphere of a spring morning on a small river. Painted in the style of Ni Zan, Wang Jianzhang dedicated this work to his patron-friend Gong Weiliu (1611-1680). Gong retired from government service after the fall of the Ming dynasty and constructed a garden-retreat at his native home in Taizhou, Jiangsu province. He invited scholars and poets from his literary society to contribute writings of his estate, which are here mounted together with the painting in this scroll.

Inscriptions

Inscription

Title by Wu Zhiying 吳芝瑛 (1868–1933), dated 1910.

Inscription

春雨草堂圖。庚寅仲春，為紫玄社兄畫於若耶溪上。仲初王建章。

Inscription Translation

Inscription by Wang Jianzhang, dated 1650: Spring Rain Thatched Hut, painted in the mid spring of the gengyin year [1650] on the Ruoye Stream, for Zixuan, the Elder Brother in the Society. By Zhongchu Wang Jianzhang.

Inscription

12 colophons by Gong Weiliu’s 宮偉鏐 (1611–1680) contemporaries: Fang Gongqian 方拱乾 (1596–1667, jinshi of 1628); Jiang Cai 姜埰 (1607–1673); Liang Yizhang 梁以樟 (1608–1665); Du Shaokai 杜紹凱 (also named Du Jie 杜岕, 1617–after 1689), dated 1648; Zhao Kaixin 趙開心 (d. 1663), dated 1647; Zhao Erbian 趙而忭 (d. 1658); Yu Yaoguang 余耀光, dated 1649; Yao Quan 姚佺, dated 1648; Chen Taisun 陳台孫 (b. 1611, jinshi of 1640); (Monk) Shao 韶; Du Zhujin 杜祝進; and Tang Shi 唐時.

Inscription

此研田莊居士王建章為先太史紫元公所作春雨草堂圖也。居士字仲初，明崇禎間人，與先太史及惲香山相友善。喜畫佛像，自謂不讓李公麟。山水祖述董源，筆力雄健，有不可羈勒之概。香山稱其墨有五采，非世人所知。然性廉重，非同志不輕落筆，人得其寸圖尺縑，必相與忻賞，如獲蜼彝兕敦，非人世間物也！見先太史筆記，此圖寫雨景，而氣韻生動，勃勃於不能止。每一展覽，覺滿紙雲烟，墨瀋猶濕，如寫吾先人胸中未盡之邱壑也。圖後題詠，多一時名手，想見文采風流之盛。迄今二百餘年，舊德先疇，遺風未沫。吾子孫其永寶之，如與吾先人接謦咳於一堂，為感思之助，其敢作圖畫觀乎！同時香山亦有圖佚去己久，不知異日能為延津之合否。壬申長夏本昂重裝敬識。

Inscription Translation

1 colophon by Gong Ben’ang 宮本昂 (1821–1874), dated 1872: This is the painting Spring Rain Thatched Hut done by Wang Jianzhang, the lay Buddhist of the Yantian Zhuang [Inkstone-Field Villa, Wang’s studio and residence], for my ancestor, the Grand Scribe, Master Zixuan. The lay Buddhist had the courtesy name [zi] Zhongchu and lived during the Chongzhen period of the Ming dynasty. He was a friend of the late Grand Scribe and also of Yun Xiangshan [Yun Xiang]. He specialized in painting Buddhist images, priding himself on not yielding even to Li Gonglin. In landscape, his ancestry goes back to Dong Yuan. His brushwork is forceful and bold, with a feeling of being untrammeled. [Yun] Xiangshan once praised his ink as having five different colors, something unknown to ordinary men of the world. By nature he was noble and serious, and he would not lightly touch brush to paper for any but kindred spirits. Thus anyone who obtained an inch of one of his paintings, a foot of one of his silk scrolls, would treasure and delight in it as if he had obtained ancient yi or dun bronze vessels, as if this was not an object from the human realm! Judging from the late Grand Scribe’s prose account of this scroll, it depicts a rainy scene, and the “spirit-resonance” and “life-movement” are dynamic to the point of never ceasing! Every time I unroll and examine it, I feel as if the paper is filled with clouds and mist, and the ink retains its moisture, as if depicting the infinite landscapes remaining in the heart of my ancestor! As for the colophons and poems following the painting, they are for the most part by famous figures of the day; I imagine that the height of literary brilliance and stylishness of that time still lives now, after more than two hundred years. The ancient virtue formerly cultivated, the air of the Way has still not diminished. May my sons and grandsons forever treasure this—as if they engage in intimate conversation with our ancestor! This is an aid to gratitude for his beneficence to us: how could it merely be seen as “viewing a painting”? At the same time, [Yun] Xiangshan also did a painting, long since lost. I wonder if on some future day the two can be joined again, like [the miraculous rejoining of two swords] at Yanjin. In the year of renshen [1872], during a long summer evening, I, Ben’ang, reverentially inscribed this after having the scroll remounted.

Inscription

Collectors' seals including: Gong Ben'ang 宮本昂 (1821–1874); Lian Qian 廉泉 (1868–1932); Wu Zhiying 吳芝瑛 (1868–1933)

Provenance

1650-1680

Gong Weiliu 宮偉鏐 [1611–1680], given by descent through his family to Gong Ben'ang

?-1874

Gong Ben’ang 宮本昂 [1821–1874], by descent to relatives Lian Quan and his wife Wu Zhiying

by 1910-1933

Lian Quan 廉泉 [1868–1932] and Wu Zhiying 吳芝瑛 [1868–1933], Hangzhou, China

?-2008

(Sydney L. Moss Ltd., London, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)

2008-

The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH

Citations

Moss, Paul. This Single Feather of Auspicious Light: Old Chinese Painting and Calligraphy. [London]: Sydney L. Moss Ltd, 2010. Mentioned: vol. 2, pp. 280-295

“Art of Asia Acquired by North American Museums, 2008-2009.” Archives of Asian Art, vol. 60, 2010, pp. 95–159. Reproduced: p. 106 www.jstor.org

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. 336-341

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. Mentioned: pp. 337-338

Exhibition history

Main Asian Rotation (Gallery 242). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (January 7-July 7, 2015).

Cite this page

{{cite web|title=Spring Rain Thatched Hut|url=https://clevelandart.org/art/2008.108|author=Wang Jianzhang|year=1650|access-date=05 December 2023|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

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Spring Rain Thatched Hut

Spring Rain Thatched Hut

春雨草堂圖

Wang Jianzhang 王建章

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