Spring Landscape

1666

Kuncan

Kuncan (Chinese, 1612-c. 1673)

Chinese Art

Spring Landscape, 1666. Kuncan (Chinese, 1612-c. 1673). Double album leaf mounted as a handscroll, ink and color on paper; overall: 31.8 x 64.5 cm (12 1/2 x 25 3/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1966.367 This spring scene was once accompanied by album leaves of summer (now in the Museum für Asiatiche Kunst, Berlin) and autumn and winter (now in the British Museum).

Original Source

Maker/Artist: Kuncan
Classification: Painting
Formatted Medium: double album leaf mounted as a handscroll, ink and color on paper
Medium: double, album, leaf, mounted, handscroll, ink, color, paper
Dimensions: Overall: 31.8 x 64.5 cm (12 1/2 x 25 3/8 in.)
Inscribed: Inscription: 遊山忘歲月，屐舄自相過。風露寒虚意，禪機靜裡磨。同年叩梵宇，遂此老煙蘿。豈向人間說，林丘自在多。畫必師古，書亦如之。觀人亦然，况六法乎。石谿殘道人印二：石谿，白秃。另有「介丘」一印在右邊。 Translation: Artist's inscription, signature, and 3 seals: We wandered through the mountains and forgot the time./ Our paths crossed naturally./ The wind and dewdrops are cold and empty./ And the Chan intuition gains its edge in silence./ Our friends knock on the gates of my Buddhist retreat./ To visit the old mist-shrouded vines./ How can we convey to those worldly beings,/ That life is so much more at ease in woods and hills? In painting, one must follow the way of the ancients. Calligraphy too is like that. It is true even in character assessment, not to mention the Six Canons [of painting]. [2 seals] Shi xi; Bai tu. [seal, lower right edge] Jie qiu.
Departments: Chinese Art
Accession Number: 1966.367
Credit Line: Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund
Exhibitions: Fantastics and Eccentrics in Chinese Painting, Year in Review: 1967, Eight Dynasties of Chinese Painting, <em>Fantastics and Eccentrics</em>. Asia House Gallery, New York, NY, (March 23-May 28, 1967); Los Angeles County Museum of Art, CA (June 20-August 13, 1967); and M. H. De Young Memorial Museum, San Francisco, CA (September 15-November 5, 1967).
Rights Statement: CC0