Collection Online as of September 30, 2023

Flowering Crab Apple

海棠圖

1500

Shen Zhou 沈周

(Chinese, 1427–1509)

China, Ming dynasty

(1368–1644)

Hanging scroll, ink on paper

Painting: 87 x 28.5 cm (34 1/4 x 11 1/4 in.); Overall with knobs: 238.5 x 52.5 cm (93 7/8 x 20 11/16 in.)

Bequest of Mrs. A. Dean Perry 1997.101

Location

not on view

Fun Fact

Shen Zhou painted this is an informal and rapidly done presentation picture when he was 74 years old.

Description

Shen Zhou painted a broken branch (zhezhi 折枝) of crab apple, a fragment of nature rather than the full plant in its natural context. Shen uses calligraphic outlines in pure ink to depict the flower petals. The swift yet precise brushstrokes together with the slight S-shaped branch convey vitality.

The inscription is a poem written by the artist, commenting on the lovely color and melancholic aura of the crab apple blossom. Shen Zhou is the founder of the Wu School, a group of scholars and officials active around Suzhou in eastern China, known for practicing painting and calligraphy in a refined and elegant style.

Inscriptions

Inscription

粧[粉]合胭脂作曉粧，富於顔色吝於香。東風不肯全分付，相對梅花各斷腸。弘治庚申春日, 在雙蛾僧舍見海棠盛開, 適值陸汝器在坐索圖, 此繪以寄興。長洲沈周 [印]啟南; 石田; 白石翁

Inscription Translation

Artist's inscription, signature, and 3 seals: White powder and rouge make a perfect morning appearance. [The flowers] are rich in color but restrained in fragrance. The east wind is reluctant to aid its full growth. Compared to the plum blossoms, each carries its own sad tune. On a spring day in the gengshen year of the Hongzhi era [1500], I was at Shuang’e [twin-moth] monks' residence where crab apples are blooming abundantly. Mr. Lu Ruqi was also visiting then, and asked for a painting of mine, so I painted this to express my feelings. Shen Zhou of Changzhou [seal] Qi nan. [2 seals, lower left corner] Shi tian; Bai shi weng.

Inscription

1 additional seal of Wu Yun 吳雲 (1811-1883).

Provenance

Wu Yun 吳雲 [1811–1883]

Saito Etsuzo 齋藤悅 [early 1900s], Sumiyoshi, Japan

(Elm & Co., Osaka, Japan, sold to Mr. and Mrs. Perry)

c. 1960s-1987

Mr. A. Dean Perry [1910?-1987] and Mrs. A. Dean Perry, Cleveland, OH

1987-1997

Mrs. A. Dean [Helen Wade Greene] Perry [1911-1996], Cleveland, OH, bequest to the Cleveland Museum of Art

1997-

The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH

Citations

Naitō, Torajirō 內藤虎次郎. Min shitaika gafu [明四大家畫譜 = Paintings by the four great masters of the Ming dynasty]. Osaka: Hakubundō, 1924. Mentioned: p. 18

Shinaga kenkyūkai [支那畫硏究會 = Research Club of Chinese paintings]. Shina meiga senshū 支那名畫選集. Kyōto: Nakajima Kyōeisha, Shōwa 2-4 [1927-1929]. vol. III

Saitō, Etsuzō 齊藤悦藏 and Torajirō Naitō 內藤虎次郎. Tōan-zō shogafu 董盦蔵書畫譜. Ōsaka: Hakubundō, 1928. Reproduced: pl. 20

Sirén, Osvald. A History of Later Chinese Painting. London: The Medici Society, 1938. I, Lists, 227

Sirén, Osvald. Chinese Painting: Leading Masters and Principles. New York: Ronald Press, 1956. VII, Lists, 225.

Edwards, Richard. The Field of Stones: A Study of the Art of Shen Chou (1427-1509). Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution, 1962. Reproduced: pp. 77, 105, pl. 47-A

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. Reproduced: cat. no. 151, p. 180

Suzuki, Kei 鈴木敬. Chūgoku kaiga sōgō zuroku [中國繪畫總合圖錄 = Comprehensive Illustrated Catalog of Chinese Paintings], 第 1卷. アメリカ·カナダ篇 [= vol. 1 American and Canadian collections]. Tōkyō: Tōkyō Daigaku Shuppankai, 1982. Reproduced: A23-010, p. I-287

Barnhart, Richard M. The Jade studio: masterpieces of Ming and Qing painting and calligraphy from the Wong Nan-pʻing collection. New Haven, Conn: Yale University Art Gallery, 1994. Reproduced: fig. 46, p. 142

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. 245-251

Exhibition history

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).