Public collection via the Cleveland Museum of Art
AT-00009974The Eight Immortals of the Wine Cup
About the Artwork
Responding to the desires of the middle class (chonin), some Japanese painters of the late Edo period moved away from the seriousness associated with the Chinese theme of reclusion, focusing instead on the motif’s humorous aspects. The theme Eight Immortals of the Wine Cup is based on a poem by the renowned 8th-century Chinese poet Du Fu about his eight colleagues. These scholars eagerly sought release from their official governmental duties and then supposedly fled the capital for the countryside. There, they engaged in wildly eccentric behavior and adventurous creative work, all fueled by copious amounts of wine. Shohaku’s version of events exaggerates the scholars’ pleasure, as seen in their comical facial expressions.
Inscriptions
signature, lower right corner.
Exhibition history
Japanese Screens from the Museum and Cleveland Collections. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 23-May 8, 1977). Soga Shohaku (1730-81). Kyoto National Museum, Kyoto, Japan (organizer) (April 12-May 15, 2005). The Lure of Painted Poetry: Japanese and Korean Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (April 15-August 21, 2011).
Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.
Quick Overview
- Artist
- Soga Shōhaku (Japanese, 1730–1781)
- Date
- later 1700s
- Medium
- Six-panel folding screen, ink and cut-gold foil on paper
- Dimensions
- Image: 120 x 352.2 cm (47 1/4 x 138 11/16 in.); Including mounting: 137.2 x 369.6 cm (54 x 145 1/2 in.)
- Type
- Painting
- Classification
- Painting
- Department
- Japanese Art
- Credit line
- John L. Severance Fund
- Accession no.
- 1976.11.1
More by Soga Shōhaku 曾我 蕭白 in museum collections
Open-access museum record · AT-00009974
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