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River Village: Fisherman's Joy
by Zhao Mengfu
About the Artwork
The artist of this blue-green–style landscape, Zhao Mengfu, was a southerner, versed in all fields of literati pursuits, such as calligraphy and connoisseurship. A princeling of the defeated Southern Song dynasty, he was nevertheless successfully recruited by Khubilai Khan to the Mongol court in the new capital, Dadu (modern Beijing), in 1286. This painting combines a distinctively southern flat watery landscape combined with features of the northern landscape tradition, notably the spiky trees, branches, and rough-surfaced rocks.
Inscriptions
江村漁樂 子昂。 [印] 趙氏子昂; 1 colophon and 2 additional seals: 1 colophon, unsigned; 2 seals of C. C. Wang 王季遷 (1907–2003).
Provenance
?–1978: (C. C. Wang 王季遷 [1907–2003], New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) 1978–: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Exhibition history
Year in Review: 1978. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 13-March 18, 1979). 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). Asian Autumn: Masterpieces from the Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 17, 1991-January 5, 1992). Fans: East and West. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 15, 1992-March 7, 1993). The Artist as Collector: Masterpieces of Chinese Painting from the C.C. Wang Family Collection. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY (organizer) (September 3, 1999-January 9, 2000). China’s Southern Paradise: Treasures from the Lower Yangzi Delta. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 10, 2023-January 7, 2024).
Quick Overview
- Artist
- Zhao Mengfu (Chinese, 1254–1322)
- Date
- c. 1302–3
- Medium
- Fan painting mounted as album leaf; ink and color on silk
- Dimensions
- Overall: 28.6 x 30 cm (11 1/4 x 11 13/16 in.)
- Type
- Painting
- Classification
- Painting
- Department
- Chinese Art
- Credit line
- Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund
- Accession no.
- 1978.66
More by Zhao Mengfu 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-00009420
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