Collection Online as of June 3, 2023

Morning Sun over Heavenly Citadel Peak

1614

Ding Yunpeng 丁雲鵬

(Chinese, 1547-c. 1628)

China, Ming dynasty

(1368–1644)

Hanging scroll; ink and light color on paper

Painting: 212.7 x 55.4 cm (83 3/4 x 21 13/16 in.); Overall with knobs: 344.1 x 87.7 cm (135 1/2 x 34 1/2 in.)

Andrew R. and Martha Holden Jennings Fund 1965.28

Location

not on view

Description

Clouds rise from Mt. Xuanhu, where the waters flow into the Luo River; the morning sun is over the Heavenly Citadel Peak of Mt. Huang. This alluring landscape with mythical connotations and auspicious meanings was intended as a birthday gift to its recipient. The mountains here are associated with the legendary Yellow Emperor and the Daoist idea of immortality. It was also believed that a numinous turtle emerged from the Luo River, transmitting the Luo shu to Cangjie, who invented Chinese writing.

Inscriptions

Inscription

Artist's inscription, signature, and 2 seals: Clouds arise from the dale of the "Dark Plateau," The morning sun is over the peak of the Heavenly Citadel. In mid-spring of the chia-yen year of the Wan-li era [1614], painted as a fiftieth birthday present to Mr. Chung-lu. Junior Friend of Family Alliance, Ting Yün-p'eng [seals] Yün-p'eng chih yin; Ting Nan-yü.

Inscription

10 additional seals: 5 of Kao Hsiang-ling (dates unknown); 5 unidentified.

Provenance

Chin Ch'uang-sheng

?–1965

(Jean-Pierre Dubosc [1903–1988], Paris, France, and Lugano, Switzerland, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)

1965–

The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH

Citations

Dubosc, Jean-Pierre, and Laurence Sickman. A Loan Exhibition, Great Chinese Painters of the Ming and Ch'ing Dynasties, XV to XVIII Centuries: For the Benefit of the Asia Institute, March 11 to April 2, 1949. New York: Wildenstein, 1949. cat. no. 32

Dubosc, Jean Pierre, and Alberto Giuganino. Mostra D'arte Cinese: Catalogo = Exhibition of Chinese Art: Catalogue. Venezia: Alfieri Editore, 1954. cat. no. 842

“Annual Report for 1965.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 53, no. 6 (1966): 137–171. Mentioned: pp. 149–150 www.jstor.org

The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 356 archive.org

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. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 203, pp. 260–261

McDermott, Joseph. “The Making of a Chinese Mountain, Huangshan: Politics and Wealth in Chinese Art.” Ajia Bunka Kenkyu アジア文化研究 17: 145–176. Reproduced: p. 175, fig. 64

Exhibition history

Great Chinese Painters of the Ming and Ch'ing Dynasties, XV to XVIII Centuries: For the Benefit of the Asia Institute. Wildenstien Galleries, New York, NY (March 11–April 2, 1949).

Mostra D'arte Cinese. Palazzo Ducale, Venice, Italy (1954).

Eight Dynasties of Chinese Painting. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art (November 7, 1980-January 4, 1981); The Cleveland Museum of Art (February 10-March 29, 1981); Tokyo National Museum (October 4-November 17, 1982).

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

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

Year in Review: 1965. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 27-November 14, 1965).

Chinese Paintings: Themes and Techniques. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (February 7-April 5, 1981).

Mountains, Rocks, and Water: Landscape Painting in Asia. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 2-December 13, 1987).