Public collection via the Cleveland Museum of Art
AT-00009620About the Artwork
The Chinese literary classic Water Margin is set in the 1120s and tells the story of 108 outlaws who first rebel against the government and then join forces with it. This painting depicts an episode in which hero Wu Song reclaims the tavern Happy Forest for its rightful owner, the prison warden’s son, Shi En. To prepare for the fight, Wu Song drinks a lot of wine. The painting was inscribed with a quote in which an ally describes Wu Song’s fighting style. It reads as follows: Where his twin fists rise, clouds and thunder roar, When his flying kick comes, wind and rain tremble.
Provenance
?–1986: (James J. Freeman, Kyoto, Japan, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) 1986–: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Exhibition history
Year in Review for 1986. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 4-March 15, 1987). Byobu: The Art of the Japanese Screen. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 8, 1987-January 10, 1988). Asian Autumn: Splendid Variety: 18th-Century Art in Japan. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 16, 1993-March 6, 1994). Unfolding Beauty: Japanese Screens from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 15-September 16, 2001). “Bunjin” in Japanese Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 21, 2026-June 20, 2027).
Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.
Quick Overview
- Artist
- Matsumura Goshun (Japanese, 1752–1811)
- Date
- late 1700s
- Medium
- hanging scroll; ink and color on paper
- Dimensions
- Image: 137.8 x 41.3 cm (54 1/4 x 16 1/4 in.); Overall: 209.6 x 62.3 cm (82 1/2 x 24 1/2 in.)
- Type
- Painting
- Classification
- Painting
- Department
- Japanese Art
- Credit line
- Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund
- Accession no.
- 1986.95
More by Matsumura Goshun in museum collections
Open-access museum record · AT-00009620
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