Public collection via the Cleveland Museum of Art
AT-00010018Fisherman's Joy
by Qian Gu
About the Artwork
This painting has a scene showing two small crafts, each manned by two fishermen, practicing a traditional fishing method. In one of them, a man uses a bamboo pole to direct the movements of a cormorant bird sent into the water. Cormorant fishing, witnessed in some areas of the lower Yangzi River, appears in Zhe school paintings. Qian Gu may have borrowed these narrative figure scenes from Zhe school paintings, while his vantage point, brushwork, and soft tones align with the Wu school style. Scenes of fishermen appealed to urban and educated audiences who idealized the self-sufficient independence of fisherfolk.
Inscriptions
Artist's inscription, signature, and seal: On the autumn day of the jen-shen year [1572], P'eng-ch'eng, Ch'ien Ku painted [this]. [seal] Hsüan-ch'ing shih.; 2 colophons, both dated 1689, and 5 additional seals of Yun Shouping (1633–1690).
Provenance
?–1977: (Dr. Gimpoh Y. King [1911–1998], Cleveland, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) 1977–: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Exhibition history
Year in Review: 1977. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 28, 1977-January 22, 1978). Visions of Landscape: East and West. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 17-March 21, 1982). China’s Southern Paradise: Treasures from the Lower Yangzi Delta. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 10, 2023-January 7, 2024).
Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.
Quick Overview
- Artist
- Qian Gu (Chinese, 1508–c. 1578)
- Date
- 1572
- Medium
- Handscroll; ink and light color on paper
- Dimensions
- Image: 31.4 x 355.2 cm (12 3/8 x 139 13/16 in.); Overall: 37 x 989.4 cm (14 9/16 x 389 1/2 in.)
- Type
- Painting
- Classification
- Painting
- Department
- Chinese Art
- Credit line
- The Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund
- Accession no.
- 1977.56
More by Qian Gu in museum collections
Open-access museum record · AT-00010018
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