Quails and Sparrows in an Autumn Scene

Also known as: Quails and Sparrows in an Autumn Scene 秋景鶉雀圖

About the Artwork

The flower-and-bird subjects here are depicted in a meticulous manner, echoing the academic tradition but translating the customarily colored images to plain monochrome. Fine ink lines combined with carefully graded washes define the contours and give subtle modeling to the natural forms. Wang Yuan excelled in flower-and-bird subjects as well as landscape and figure paintings. A child prodigy, he was instructed by the great Yuan master Zhao Mengfu at an early age.

Inscriptions

至正丁亥春錢塘王淵若水寫秋景鶉雀圖 [印] 澹轩; [印] 若水; [印] 墨妙筆精; 翦翦輕風搖翠葆，團團清露滴金叢。劍南畫手今何在，冷落賓榔枸杞新。鐵篴 [印] 杨维桢印; [印] 廉夫; 1 inscription and 10 seals of the Qianlong emperor (r. 1736–95); 4 seals of Zhang Heng 張珩 (1915–1963)

Exhibition history

1000 Jahre Chinesische Malerei. Haus der Kunst, Munich, Mùnich, Germany (organizer) (October 16-December 13, 1959). Chinese Art Under the Mongols: The Yuan Dynasty (1279–1368). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 2-November 24, 1968). Six Dynasties of Chinese Painting (Chinese art rotation). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 10, 2023-May 5, 2024).

Quick Overview

Artist: Wang Yuan (Chinese, c. 1299–after 1366)
Date: 1347
Medium: hanging scroll, ink on paper
Dimensions: Painting: 114.3 x 56 cm (45 x 22 1/16 in.); Overall with knobs: 267.5 x 85 cm (105 5/16 x 33 7/16 in.)
Type: Painting
Classification: Painting
Department: Chinese Art
Credit line: Bequest of Mrs. A. Dean Perry
Accession no.: 1997.91

Provenance

Qing imperial collection [seals of Emperor Qianlong, r. 1736–95] Zhang Heng 張珩 [1915–1963] ?-1960: (Frank Caro [1904–1980], New York, NY, sold to Mr. and Mrs. A. Dean Perry) 1960-1997: Mr. A. Dean and Mrs. Helen Wade Greene Perry [1911-1996], Cleveland, OH, bequest to the Cleveland Museum of Art 1997-: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH

Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.