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Landscape with Flying Geese
by Ma Lin
About the Artwork
This minimalist landscape places most of the representational elements in the lower right foreground. A lone gentleman strolls along a zigzagging path by the water. With the gentleman’s staff acting as a visual cue, the viewer’s gaze is directed to geese flying over distant mountains. The scene of a marshland, with its wet and soft ground dotted with vegetation, suggests springtime in Jiangnan. Combined with the flying geese, the album evokes the poetic lines: By spring fields, geese are about to return, Under chilly waters, fish are submerging. 春郊欲回雁, 寒水正沉鱼
Inscriptions
臣馬麟; 3 half-seals: 1 official seal of Yuan Dynasty; 1 of Ming imperial collection (used 1372-84); 1 official seal of Ming Dynasty.
Provenance
?–1952: (Dr. Vladimir G. Simkhovitch [1874–1959], New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) 1952–: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Exhibition history
Oriental Art. Berea College, Berea, KY (organizer) (November 1-December 1, 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). Asian Autumn: Masterpieces from the Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 17, 1991-January 5, 1992). 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 Lin (Chinese, c. 1185–after 1260)
- Date
- mid-1200s
- Medium
- Album leaf; ink and slight color on silk
- Dimensions
- Image: 25.5 x 26.5 cm (10 1/16 x 10 7/16 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
- John L. Severance Fund
- Accession no.
- 1952.285
More by Ma Lin 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-00009901
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