
Public collection via the Art Institute of Chicago
AT-00000640Clouds over the River before Rain 溪雲欲雨圖
by Shen Zhou 沈周
Inscriptions
Frontispiece (引首) by Luo Zhenyu 羅振玉: 石田老人溪雲欲雨圖卷 石渠寶笈三編著錄己未春羅振玉謹署題 Seals: 上虞羅氏,振玉印信 Inscription on Painting: 溪雲欲雨圖 弘治甲子仲夏四日長洲沈周画 [Clouds over the river before rain; on the fourth day of the fifth month in the year jiazi of the Hongzhi reign (1504), painted by Shen Zhou]. Artist's Seal:启南, 吳沈氏有竹莊圖書; Collectors' Seal: 嘉慶御覽之寶,石渠寶笈,寶笈三編,嘉慶鑑賞,三希堂精鑑璽,宜子孫. Colophons by Nagao Uzan 長尾 雨山 (1864–1942) and Naitō Konan 内藤 湖南(1866–1934) [see CMA Mi Youren handscroll, 33.220]
Provenance
Qing imperial collection (Jiaqing Emperor, r. 1796-1819), Beijing. Luo Zhenyu (1866-1940). Saito Etsuzo (1872-1957), Sumiyoshi Village, Japan. Kozo Harada (1932–2016), Tokyo; sold to the Art Institute of Chicago, Mar. 9, 1961.
Exhibition history
Art Institute of Chicago, Ming-Chʻing Dynasties, a.d. 1368–1644, a.d. 1644–1912, August 7–October 11, 1964.
Publications
《明四大家畫譜》 (大阪: 博文堂, 1924), pl. 14–16. 内藤虎次郎, 《董盦蔵書畫譜》 (大阪: 博文堂, 1928), pl. 17:1–10. 福開森 [John C. Ferguson], 《歷代著錄畫目》 (南京: 金陵大學中國文化研究所, 1933), 156. Osvald Sirén, A History of Later Chinese Painting (London: Medici Society, 1938), pl. 60. Richard Edwards, The Field of Stones: A Study of the Art of Shen Chou (1427-1509) (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution, 1962), 67–69, 108, pl. 42–43. “Oriental Art Recently Acquired by American Museums,” Archives of the Chinese Art Society of America 16 (1962), 115. Jack Sewell, Ming-Chʻing Dynasties, a.d. 1368–1644, a.d. 1644–1912 (Chicago: The Art Institute of Chicago, 1964), (14). Stephen Little, “Chinese Paintings in the Art Institute of Chicago,” Arts of Asia 29, no. 3 (1999): 52, fig. 8.
Data retrieved from the Art Institute of Chicago on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.
Quick Overview
- Artist
- Shen Zhou 沈周 (Chinese, 1427-1509)
- Date
- Ming dynasty (1368–1644), dated 1504
- Medium
- Handscroll; ink and color on paper
- Dimensions
- 34.8 × 810.3 cm (13 3/4 × 319 in.)
- Type
- Painting
- Classification
- handscroll
- Style
- Chinese (culture or style)
- Place
- China
- Department
- Arts of Asia
- Credit line
- Kate S. Buckingham Endowment Fund
- Accession no.
- 1961.224
More by Shen Zhou 沈周 in museum collections

Public collection via the Art Institute of Chicago
AT-00001224
Distant View of Tiger Hill from the Canal Mooring, from Twelve Views of Tiger Hill, Suzhou
Shen Zhou 沈周after 1490 · Painting
Public collection via the Cleveland Museum of Art
AT-00009552
The Thousand Acres of Clouds, from Twelve Views of Tiger Hill, Suzhou
Shen Zhou 沈周after 1490 · Painting
Public collection via the Cleveland Museum of Art
AT-00009581
Public collection via the Cleveland Museum of Art
AT-00009589
Open-access museum record · AT-00000640
Powered by Art Trackers