![Daoist Retreat in Mountain and Stream (Landscape after Ni Zan [1301–1374])](https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1962.43/1962.43_web.jpg)
Public data from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Learn more
Daoist Retreat in Mountain and Stream (Landscape after Ni Zan [1301–1374])
by Lu Zhi 陸治
Also known as: Taoist Retreat in Mountain and Stream [Landscape after Ni Tsan]
Inscriptions
Artist's inscription, signature, and 3 seals: In my youthful days I liked to imitate the ink method of Yün-lin [Ni Tsan]. Mr. Wen, the academician [Wen Cheng-ming], remarked that I barely succeeded in achieving some resemblance. He once honored me with the inscription "lofty and imperturbable indeed was the personality of Ni Yü [Ni, the Odd]. Pale ink and blue smoke were formed by his scribbling brush. His surviving works have become so rare in the last two hundred years; only Pao-shan [Lu Chih] carries on his true tradition." In my older years, having to comply with frequent requests for paintings, my brushwork has become stronger than before and I thought to myself that I may have surpassed the Old Master. In the ting-mou year of the Lung-ch'ing era [1567] a friend brought a small painting [by Ni Tsan] and showed it to me in the mountains. I studied and enjoyed it for a long time, then realized that I was actually inferior. This gave me second thoughts about my earlier style, so I selected a piece of old window paper and did this painting in imitation. My friend was kind enough to say that it was truly a quick and close resemblance. I then wrote a colophon and presented the painting to him. My poem says: High mountains and distant waters are the thoughts coming from the lute; The drunken leaves and the sparse woods are merely flowers in the mirror. This idea, I'm sure, will be understood by Tzu-ch'i, one who appreciates my art, It is for him that I have painted on thin paper with light touches, The cloudy color of an autumn evening. This is the winter solstice of the same year. By then, Pao-shan, Mr. Lu, was already over seventy years of age. Could it be that one's brush also gets old together with one's age, as the saying goes. I put down my brush with a laugh. [2 seals] Lu Shu-p'ing shih, Pao-shan tzu. [seal, bottom left corner] Lu Chih shu-p'ing. trans. WKH 6 additional seals of Chu Ching-hou (n.d.).
Provenance
Chu Ching-hou Frank Caro Chu Ching-hou; Frank Caro
Exhibition history
Year in Review - 1962. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 24-November 25, 1962). Fifteen Chinese Paintings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, MA (organizer) (October 9-28, 1964). The Colors of Ink. Asia House Galleries (January 10-March 3, 1974). Visions of Landscape: East and West. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 17-March 21, 1982).
Quick Overview
- Artist
- Lu Zhi (Chinese, 1496–1576)
- Date
- 1567
- Medium
- hanging scroll; ink on paper
- Dimensions
- Overall: 109.1 x 45.8 cm (42 15/16 x 18 1/16 in.)
- Type
- Painting
- Classification
- Painting
- Department
- Chinese Art
- Credit line
- Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund
- Accession no.
- 1962.43
More by Lu Zhi 陸治 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-00010245
Powered by Art Trackers