The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 28, 2024

Poet Fisherman

Poet Fisherman

1800s
Overall: 22.5 x 24 cm (8 7/8 x 9 7/16 in.)
Location: not on view

Did You Know?

The lid that covers a tall crackle-patterned jar is a large lotus leaf.

Description

This album leaf depicts the 8th-century Chinese official and Daoist scholar Zhang Zhihe sitting on a raft buffeted by waves. He drinks wine from a small cup, and gazes up at a crane flying above him. Behind him are two large jars, one covered with an overturned lotus leaf. The handle of a ladle emerges from the other. His fishing rod is balanced at his side, but its line is twisted uselessly. Based on its iconography, the painting is likely modeled after an image from an illustrated woodblock edition of the Chinese text Liexian Zuan (Biographies of Exemplary Immortals). The biographical inscription above him reads, "he is a recluse among the rivers and lakes. He calls himself ‘Fishing Disciple Amidst Mists and Waves.’ He is always fishing without bait for Zhi has no need for fish." A rectangular seal in relief appears to the right of the inscription, while a square seal in relief appears to the left. Neither is legible.
  • Treasures from Korea: Arts and Culture of the Joseon Dynasty, 1392-1910. Philadelphia: Philadelphia Museum of Art, 2014.
    Narrative Figure Paintings of the Joseon Dynasty [조선 시대 고사 인물화]. Seoul: National Museum of Korea, 2016.
    Cleveland Museum of Art, and Sŏn Sŭng-hye. The Lure of Painted Poetry: Japanese and Korean Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2011. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 44-45, no. 22
    Ch'a, Mi-rae, Kwi-suk An, Cleveland Museum of Art, and 국외소재문화재재단. The Korean Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Edited by An Min-hŭi. First edition, English ed. Overseas Korean Cultural Heritage Series, 16. Seoul, Republic of Korea: Overseas Korean Cultural Heritage Foundation, 2021. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 185, no. 115
  • The Lure of Painted Poetry: Cross-cultural Text and Image in Korean and Japanese Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (April 15-August 21, 2011).
    Main Asian Rotation (Gallery 120); July 22 - October 26, 2003.
    Asian Autumn: Later Korean Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 22, 1992-January 3, 1993).
  • {{cite web|title=Poet Fisherman|url=false|author=|year=1800s|access-date=28 March 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1990.70