Description
Garden of Solitary Enjoyment refers to a site built in 1073 by the statesman Sima Guang (1019–1086) after he had retired to Luoyang, Henan province. Every spring, visitors would flock to his garden. Each of its seven structures references a historic figure. Sima wrote: I channel streams [like Du Mu], to water flowers [like Bai Juyi], or trim bamboo [like Wang Huizhi]. . . . I know of no joy between heaven and earth that could take its place.
Qiu Ying’s painting, created after an 11th-century version of the same theme, must have appealed to garden owners of the Ming dynasty, since it became the template for numerous Suzhou workshop copies
Qiu Ying’s painting, created after an 11th-century version of the same theme, must have appealed to garden owners of the Ming dynasty, since it became the template for numerous Suzhou workshop copies
Provenance
Xiang Yuanbian 項元汴 [1525–1590], Jiaxing, China, by descent to his grandson, Xiang Yukui; Xiang Yukui 項禹揆 [c. late 1500s–1659] (by 1644); Weng Tonghe 翁同龢 [1830–1904], Beijing, China, by descent to his family (by 1880–1904); (Wan-go H. C. Weng 翁萬戈 [1918–2020], Lyme, NH, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) (?–1978); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (1978–)
Accession Number
1978.67
Medium
Handscroll; ink and light color on silk
Dimensions
Painting: 28 x 518.5 cm (11 x 204 1/8 in.); Overall: 32 x 1290.2 cm (12 5/8 x 507 15/16 in.)
Classification
Painting
Credit Line
John L. Severance Fund
