The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 20, 2023

Landscape

山水図

1767

Kan Tenju 韓天寿

(Japanese, 1727–1795)

Japan, Edo period

(1615-1868)

Hanging scroll; ink and light color on paper

Painting only: 133.2 x 45.2 cm (52 7/16 x 17 13/16 in.); Including mounting: 216 x 67.7 cm (85 1/16 x 26 5/8 in.)

Andrew R. and Martha Holden Jennings Fund 1978.7

Location

not on view

Fun Fact

This painting combines image and calligraphy, connected by skillful brushwork.

Description

A lone, elderly figure, his retreat from the world tucked into the mountains near a waterfall, looks out his window onto the landscape below. A poem in Chinese at the upper right conveys the atmosphere of the painting—the approach of evening, light coming through clouds, and a cool mountain breeze after a rainfall. The painter, Kan Tenju, was best known as a calligrapher and seal carver with a deep respect for Chinese literature.

Inscriptions

Inscription

artist's inscription with poem, date, signature and seals, upper right.

Inscription

雨過嵐光煙／雲陽樹影諫／夕陽独在左／？卷讀残書

Inscription Translation

Smoky mist in the mountain, reflects light after the rain/Sunlight passes through the clouds to cast shadows of the trees/Alone in the sunset/I read a well-worn book. (tr. Tianchu Gao)

Provenance
?-1978
(Katsuhiro Kobayashi, Tokyo, Japan, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
1978-
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Exhibition history

Year in Review: 1978. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 13-March 18, 1979).

Visions of Landscape: East and West. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 17-March 21, 1982).

Suibokuga: Japanese Ink Painting. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 1, 1985-February 24, 1986).

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

Scholar's Studio. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 19-December 17, 1989).

Asian Autumn: Splendid Variety: 18th-Century Art in Japan. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 16, 1993-March 6, 1994).

Japanese Gallery 235 Rotation. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (July 11, 2018-January 7, 2019).

Source URL: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1978.7