Public collection via the Cleveland Museum of Art
AT-00010177Mt. Biyan (Green Cliff)
by Song Xu
Also known as: Eighteen Views of Wuxing: Mt. Biyan (Verdant Cliff); Eighteen Views of Wuxing: Mt. Biyan (Green Cliff) 壁巖山; Eighteen Views of Wuxing: Mt. Biyan (Green Cliff)
About the Artwork
This album of landscape paintings depicts the famous scenic areas located in and around the city of Wuxing in southeastern China. These places were all known for their natural beauty, but in addition, a number were distinguished by their links to eminent historical figures and events. The artist, Song Xu, was not a native of Wuxing, but must have visited it when he accepted the commission, for he carefully depicted all eighteen views and wrote comments on each of them. Song's gazetteer-like notation on this leaf reads: Green Cliff Mountain used to have a primeval forest, with a temple hidden within it. Now, those primeval forests have been wantonly and completely cut down. Consequently, with its devastated look, few travelers are coming. Still, with its peaks, cliffs, waterfall, there is no lack of scenic beauty.
Inscriptions
碧巖山：山多古木，寺藏其中。今為人侵伐殆盡，遂成荒廢，遊者鮮矣。然嶺崖飛瀑，不減清致。
Provenance
?–1998: (Kaikodo America Inc., New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) 1998–: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Exhibition history
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
- Song Xu (Chinese, 1525-c. 1606)
- Date
- c. 1588
- Medium
- Album leaf; ink and color on silk
- Dimensions
- Sheet: 26.4 x 28.4 cm (10 3/8 x 11 3/16 in.)
- Type
- Painting
- Classification
- Painting
- Department
- Chinese Art
- Credit line
- The Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund
- Accession no.
- 1998.78.4
More by Song Xu in museum collections
Open-access museum record · AT-00010177
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