Man, Buffalo, and Calf

Also known as: Boy, Buffalo, and Calf

About the Artwork

Here, a herdboy tending a cow with a calf is sitting beneath a tree with his pet myna bird. The painting can be read as a pastoral scene. As the water buffalo helped plow the fields, it was perceived as an animal that endures hard work without gain for itself, often interpreted as a metaphor for the official. Ox-herding pictures, presented as gifts in court circles, were used for their moral and political rhetoric. The Yijing (Book of Changes) states, The Receptive is the earth, the mother . . . it is a cow with a calf . . . the multitude [in relation to the ruler].

Inscriptions

Artist's inscription: 乙丑歲李祐/椿畫; 3 seals: 1 of Wu T'ing (c. 1600); 1 of An Kuo (1481–1534); 1 of Li Pao-hsün (1858–1915)

Provenance

?–1960: (J.T. Tai sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) 1960–: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH

Exhibition history

Year in Review - Nineteen Hundred Sixty. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 30, 1960-January 1, 1961). The Art of Southern Sung China. The Asia Society Museum, New York, NY (organizer) (February 15-April 15, 1962). 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). Highlights of Asian Paintings from The Cleveland Museum of Art. Nara National Museum (organizer) (February 21-March 29, 1998); Suntory Museum of Art (April 28-June 21, 1998). 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: Li You (Chinese, active c. 1145)
Date: 1145
Medium: album leaf; ink and color on silk
Dimensions: Image: 25 x 26.7 cm (9 13/16 x 10 1/2 in.); with mat: 33.3 x 40.5 cm (13 1/8 x 15 15/16 in.)
Type: Painting
Classification: Painting
Department: Chinese Art
Credit line: Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund
Accession no.: 1960.41

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