The Cleveland Museum of Art
Collection Online as of April 19, 2024
Three Horses and Four Grooms
c. 1320s
(Chinese, 1254–1328)
Painting: 28.5 x 137.5 cm (11 1/4 x 54 1/8 in.); Overall: 29.2 x 556.4 cm (11 1/2 x 219 1/16 in.)
Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Fund 1960.181
Location: not on view
Did You Know?
Only the elegant first horse with a white blaze is accompanied by two grooms, as if its lightning speed required extra supervision.Description
Ren Renfa's horse images are elegant in appearance and vigorous in spirit. His work attracted not only Chinese scholars but also the Mongols at the imperial court. Inspired by the contemporary scholarly interest in restoring a sense of antiquity in art—an artistic direction led by Zhao Mengfu that exerted a great impact in the Yuan art scene—Ren Renfa, like Zhao Mengfu, modeled his depictions of horses after the Song master Li Gonglin. Another key style component that Ren introduced to this genre was a revival of the Tang classical tradition. The refined color treatment of the horses as seen here was derived from the Tang master Han Gan.- 1500sGui Shanquan 桂山泉 [1500s]second half of the 1600sLiang Qingbiao 梁清標 [1620–1691]1736-1911Qing imperial collection (seals of Emperors Qianlong, r. 1736–1795, Jiaqing, r. 1796–1820, and Xuantong, r. 1909–1911), Beijing, Chinaafter 1911-before 1960Yu Xiezhong 余協中 [1900s]?-1960(Frank Caro [1904-1980], New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)1960-The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
- Ferguson, John C 福開森. Li dai zhu lu hua mu 歷代著錄畵目. Nanjing: Chin-ling University, Zhong guo wen hua yan jiu suo 金陵大學中國文化硏究所, 1934. p. 81(b)Lee, Sherman E. and Wai-Kam Ho. “Three Horses and Four Grooms.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, vol. 48, no. 4, 1961, pp. 66–71. Reproduced and Mentioned: pp. 66-71 www.jstor.orgChinese Art: An Exhibition of Paintings, Jades, Bronzes and Ceramics: Being a Contribution Made by Smith College Museum of Art to the College Interim Session, 1962. Northampton, MA: The Smith College Museum of Art, 1962. cat. no. 14Lee, Sherman E. A History of Far Eastern Art. New York: H.N. Abrams, 1964. Reproduced: p. 405, fig. 536Sullivan, Michael. Chinese and Japanese Art. New York: Grolier, 1965. Reproduced: p. 66, fig. AThe Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Reproduced: p. 262 archive.orgLee, Sherman E., and Wai-kam Ho. Chinese Art Under the Mongols: The Yüan Dynasty, 1279-1368. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art; [distributed by the Press of Case Western Reserve University], 1968. cat. no. 188The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 262 archive.orgThe Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 346 archive.orgHo, 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. 94, p. 115Lee, Sherman E., and Wai-kam Ho. The Nature and Significance of the Collection of Liang Ch'ing-Piao. Taipei, Taiwan: Chung-hua ming-kuo, 1981. Mentioned: p. 138, no. 196Harrist, Robert E., and Virginia Bower. Power and virtue: the horse in Chinese art. New York: China Institute, 1997. Reproduced: cat. no. 21, p. 92Lazzari, Margaret R., and Dona Schlesier. Exploring Art: A Global, Thematic Approach. Belmont, CA: Thomson/Wadsworth, 2005. Reproduced: p. 442, fig. 15.9Sung, Hou-mei. Decoded Messages: The Symbolic Language of Chinese Animal Painting. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2009. Reproduced: p. 203, fig.102McCausland, Shane. Zhao Mengfu: Calligraphy and Painting for Khubilai's China. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2011. Reproduced: pp. 152-153, fig 2.18Chou, Ju-hsi and Anita Chung. Silent poetry: Chinese paintings from the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2015. Reproduced: pp. 117-121
- Galloping through Dynasties: Decoding Chinese Horse Painting. The Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, OH (organizer) (October 7, 2022-January 1, 2023) https://www.cincinnatiartmuseum.org/art/exhibitions/upcoming-exhibitions/galloping-through-dynasties/.Silent Poetry: Masterworks of Chinese Painting. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 14, 2015-April 24, 2016).Main Asian Rotation (Gallery 242). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (November 21, 2013-July 28, 2014).Main Asian Rotation (Gallery 120). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (March 11-July 13, 2004).Power and Virtue: Images of Horses in Chinese Art. China Institute Gallery (organizer) (September 13-December 13, 1997).Eight Dynasties of Chinese Painting. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art (November 7, 1980-January 4, 1981); The Cleveland Museum of Art (February 11-March 29, 1981); Tokyo National Museum (October 4-November 17, 1982).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).Chinese Art Under the Mongols: The Yüan Dynasty, 1279-1368. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (October 1-November 24, 1968)History of the Appaloosa Horse. Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, TX (organizer) (January 1-April 1, 1963).Chinese Art. Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, MA (organizer) (January 8-26, 1962).Chinese Art: an exhibition of paintings, jades, bronzes and ceramics. Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, Massachusetts (1962).Year in Review - Nineteen Hundred Sixty. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 30, 1960-January 1, 1961).
- {{cite web|title=Three Horses and Four Grooms|url=false|author=Ren Renfa|year=c. 1320s|access-date=19 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}
Source URL:
https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1960.181