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About the Artwork
Herdboys tend their buffalo in a bucolic landscape by a winding stream. Guo Min emphasizes the massive forms and mighty power of the animals, transforming them into forces of nature. The poem in the first scroll reads: "The bulls are engaging in fighting, Cautiously, each seeks to overcome the other. The herdboy calmly stands by. Untying his belt, he silently watches." The poem in the second scroll reads: "Together, they wade through the middle of the stream, Mindless of perils in the journey. The grass grows tall in the village ahead, While the mist and rain spread far and wide."
Inscriptions
努力還相鬪，爭強不自安。 牧童閑退立，解帶靜中看。 伯達; 齊向中流渡，那知行路難。 前村青草長，煙雨□漫漫。 伯達
Provenance
Shokado Shojo 松花堂昭乗 [1584–1639], Japan Otokoyama Hachiman-gu 男山八幡宮, Kyoto, Japan Baron Morimura Kaisaku 男爵 森村開作 [1873–1962], Japan ?–1999: (Kaikodo America Inc., New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) 1999–: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Exhibition history
China through the Magnifying Glass: Masterpieces in Miniature and Detail. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 11, 2022-February 26, 2023).
Quick Overview
- Artist
- Guo Min (Chinese, mid-late 1200s)
- Date
- 1200s
- Medium
- Pair of hanging scrolls; ink on silk
- Dimensions
- Painting: 92.7 x 56.5 cm (36 1/2 x 22 1/4 in.)
- Type
- Painting
- Classification
- Painting
- Department
- Chinese Art
- Credit line
- John L. Severance Fund
- Accession no.
- 1999.216
More by Guo Min 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-00009694
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