Listening to the Sound of Autumn in a Misty Grove

About the Artwork

Zhang Feng from Nanjing passed the local government examinations shortly before the fall of the Ming dynasty. With the Manchu conquest, he joined the ranks of loyalists who refused to serve the new regime. He chose the intermittently frugal life of a Buddhist adept. Many of his paintings lament the loss of the empire. In this scroll, he depicts a lone figure in a stark landscape of frosty atmosphere enshrouded in mists. Close looking reveals red strokes that color the grounds, a way of expressing his loyalty to the Ming whose family name Zhu means red.

Inscriptions

Artist's inscription, signature, and 2 seals: Frosty colors have just appeared throughout the countryside, Autumn sounds echo unexpectedly through the trees. The distant mountains cannot be seen, As the evening mist spreads, thicker and deeper. Casually painted at the bamboo window on the solstice day of the dingyou year [1657]. Zhang Feng. [seal] Feng. [seal, lower left corner] Shangyuan Laoren. (Translation by LYSL/HK/WKH); 3 additional seals: 1 of Fa Liang (Qing dynasty); 2 unidentified.

Provenance

?–1977: (James J. Freeman, Kyoto, Japan, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) 1977–: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH

Exhibition history

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).

Quick Overview

Artist: Zhang Feng (Chinese, active c. 1632–1662)
Date: 1657
Medium: Hanging scroll; ink and color on paper
Dimensions: Painting: 96.5 x 34.5 cm (38 x 13 9/16 in.); Overall with knobs: 199.7 x 59 cm (78 5/8 x 23 1/4 in.)
Type: Painting
Classification: Painting
Department: Chinese Art
Credit line: John L. Severance Fund
Accession no.: 1977.173

Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.