The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 25, 2024

A Prunus in the Moonlight

A Prunus in the Moonlight

1300s
(Chinese, 1287–1359)
China, Yuan dynasty (1271-1368)
Hanging scroll; ink on silk
Painting: 164.6 x 94.6 cm (64 13/16 x 37 1/4 in.); Overall with knobs: 260.6 x 126.3 cm (102 5/8 x 49 3/4 in.)
Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Fund 1974.26
Location: not on view

Did You Know?

The painting portrays the plum in the nighttime, as indicated by the tint of the background and the presence of the moon.

Description

The plum flourishes in the mild climate of the south, and it was not before the Six Dynasties period (220– 589 CE) that the motif began to be appreciated by southern artists, many of whom had emigrated from the north.

Wang Mian from Zhejiang province had failed the civil and military service examinations and later rejected appointments under the Mongol government. Instead, he chose to return home, making a living by selling plum paintings. Few of Wang’s works have survived, but they demonstrate that by his time the ink-plum (momei) genre was fully developed.
  • Qing imperial collection, seals of the Qianlong Emperor, reigned 1736–95
    Dong Gao 董誥 [1740–1818]
    Marquis Asano Nagakoto 侯爵 淺野長勲 [1842–1937], Hiroshima, Japan
    Yasuda Family 安田家, chief retainer of the Asano Family
    ?–1974
    (Mayuyama & Co., Ltd., Tokyo, Japan, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    1974–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Lee, Sherman E. "The Year in Review for 1974." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, Vol. 62, No. 3, (Mar., 1975), pp. 62-102. Reproduced: p. 90, no. 164 www.jstor.org
    "Annual Report for 1974.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, vol. 62, no. 6, 1975, pp. 175–209. Reproduced: cover www.jstor.org
    Mayuyama, Junkichi. Mayuyama, seventy years = Ryūsen shūhō : sōgyō shichijusshūnen kinen. Tōkyō: Mayuyama Ryūsendō, 1976. Reproduced: Vol. 11, pl. 167
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 344 archive.org
    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. 88, p. 108
    Williams, Marjorie. Chinese Painting--an Escape from the "Dusty" World. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1981. Reproduced: p. 49, fig. 33
    Mayuyama, Junkichi 繭山順吉. Bijutsushō no yorokobi [美術商のよろこび The Joys of an Art Dealer]. Tokyo, Japan: Mayuyama Junkichi, 1988. Reproduced: pp. 74–75, pl. 27
    Little, Stephen. “Dimensions of a Portrait: Du Jin's ‘The Poet Lin Bu Walking in the Moonlight.’” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, vol. 75, no. 9, 1988, pp. 330–349. Reproduced: p. 335, fig. 2 www.jstor.org
    May, Sally Ruth, Jane Takac, and Barbara J. Bradley. Knockouts: A Pocket Guide. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 2001. Reproduced: no. 81, p. 76; Mentioned: p. 119
    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. 147-149
    "New in the Galleries." Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine. March/April 2017. Reproduced: back cover
    Spee, Clarissa von. "From the SIlk Road to the Imperial Court: Chinese Textiles in the Cleveland Museum of Art." Arts of Asia 48, no. 3 (May-June 2018): 50-56. Reproduced: p. 56, p. 12
    Giuffrida, Noelle. Separating Sheep from Goats: Sherman E. Lee and Chinese Art Collecting in Postwar America. Oakland, California: University of California Press, 2018. Reproduced: p. 155, fig. 87
  • China's Southern Paradise: Treasures from the Lower Yangzi Delta. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 10, 2023-January 7, 2024).
    Greeting the Spring (Chinese art rotation, galleries 240a, 239, 241c). The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (February 11-August 13, 2017).
    Main Asian Rotation (Gallery 119). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (March 12-July 16, 2003).
    Asian Autumn: Masterpieces from the Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 17, 1991-January 5, 1992).
    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).
    Chinese Paintings: Themes and Techniques. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (February 7-April 5, 1981).
    Year in Review: 1974. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 11-April 6, 1975).
  • {{cite web|title=A Prunus in the Moonlight|url=false|author=Wang Mian|year=1300s|access-date=25 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1974.26