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Drinking in the Moonlight
by Ma Yuan
About the Artwork
Once the moon rises and the wine is finished, perhaps the reclined tipsy gentleman will return to the stone table, where ink, paper, and brush can be seen. For moon enthusiasts in Hangzhou, there was a site named Yue Yan, or Moon Cliff, behind the imperial precincts on Mount Fenghuang. With its geographical features of receding craggy rocks leading to the framed full moon, there is good reason to believe that the scene depicts this specific site. The association of this painting with Ma Yuan is stylistically based. However, the brushwork accords more with the aesthetic approach of his son, Ma Lin.
Inscriptions
1-1/2 seals: half-seal of Ming imperial collection (used 1372–84); 1 unidentified.
Provenance
Cheng Qi 程琦 [1911–1988] C. C. Wang 王季遷 [1907–2003], New York, NY by 1980–1997: Mrs. A. Dean [Helen Wade Greene] Perry [1911–1996], Cleveland, OH, bequest to the Cleveland Museum of Art 1997–: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Exhibition history
West Lake and the Mapping of Southern Song Art. China Institute in America, New York, NY (organizer) (September 13-December 9, 2001). Power and Possession: Chinese Calligraphy and Inscribed Objects – Chinese Gallery Rotation 240a, 241c. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (August 13, 2018-February 3, 2019). 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
- Ma Yuan (Chinese, c. 1150–after 1255)
- Date
- late 1100s–early 1200s
- Medium
- Album leaf; ink on silk
- Dimensions
- Painting: 24.5 x 25 cm (9 5/8 x 9 13/16 in.); Overall: 67.6 x 39.2 cm (26 5/8 x 15 7/16 in.)
- Type
- Painting
- Classification
- Painting
- Department
- Chinese Art
- Credit line
- Bequest of Mrs. A. Dean Perry
- Accession no.
- 1997.89
More by Ma Yuan 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-00009561
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