Public data from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Learn more
About the Artwork
Bada Shanren, also called Zhu Da, a 17th-century painter who rejected conventions in favor of an individual, personal expression, is known for his unorthodox compositions of fish, flowers, birds, and rocks. Fish in his paintings are often looking upward toward heaven, swimming in a pond of undefined space. As a member of the Ming imperial family, Zhu Da lost his princely status and hid in a monastery when the Manchus, foreigners from the north, established the Qing dynasty in 1644. This scroll may have some autobiographical meaning, representing fish as leftover subjects (yimin) who lived in a void, having lost their roles in life after the fall of the dynasty.
Inscriptions
去天纔尺五，只見白雲行。 云何畫黃花，雲中是金城。 [印] 个山; 雙井舊中河，明月時延佇。 黃家雙鯉魚，為龍在何處。 [印] 个山; 三萬六千頃，畢竟有魚行。 到此一黃頰，海潮次上笙。 [印] 个山; 5 additional seals: 2 of Zhang Daqian 張大千 (1899–1983); 1 of Ta-an Chü-shih; 2 unidentified.
Provenance
Zhang Daqian 張大千 [1899–1983] ?–1953: Walter Hochstadter [1914–2007], New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art 1953–: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Exhibition history
Asia and the West. San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA (organizer) (October 28-December 1, 1957). The Dragon and the Star. University of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor, MI (organizer) (September 30-October 6, 1958). 1000 Jahre Chinesische Malerei. Haus der Kunst, Munich, Mùnich, Germany (organizer) (October 16-December 13, 1959). Chu Ta: Selected Paintings and Calligraphy. The Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center (organizer) (December 2, 1972-January 28, 1973); The New York Cultural Center, New York, NY (February 28-April 15, 1973). The Colors of Ink. Asia House Galleries (January 10-March 3, 1974); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (April 9-May 12, 1974). 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). Visions of Landscape: East and West. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 17-March 21, 1982). Streams and Mountains Without End: Asian Art and the Legacy of Sherman E. Lee at the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 27-August 23, 2009). Silent Poetry: Masterworks of Chinese Painting. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 14, 2015-April 24, 2016). Layers of Meaning: China’s Flora and Fauna in Painting and on Porcelain. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 6, 2020-June 6, 2021).
Quick Overview
- Artist
- Bada Shanren (Chinese, 1626–1705)
- Date
- mid- to late 1600s
- Medium
- Handscroll; ink on paper
- Dimensions
- Painting: 29.6 x 158.4 cm (11 5/8 x 62 3/8 in.)
- Type
- Painting
- Classification
- Painting
- Department
- Chinese Art
- Credit line
- John L. Severance Fund
- Accession no.
- 1953.247
More by Bada Shanren in museum collections
Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.
Open-access museum record · AT-00009290
Powered by Art Trackers