Cleveland Museum of Art

Saying Farewell at Xunyang (Song of the Pipa)

Wen BorenLinkedCulture matchlcp-55bb0912e12d

Date: 1500s
Medium: handscroll, ink and color on paper
Culture: China, Ming dynasty (1368–1644)
Department: Chinese Art
Institution: Cleveland Museum of Art
Object ID: 132014

From the Cleveland Museum of Art record

This handscroll depicts The Song of the Pipa , a poem by Bai Juyi 白居易 (772–846) written after the poet’s encounter with a pipa player on the Yangzi River. Expelled from her home city when her beauty and fame had faded, she played for the poet at night. Her musical performance and tragic life story resonated with Bai Juyi, who had just been demoted and exiled from life at court himself. The hazy, vast view and pale color tonalities of this painting illustrate these feelings of endless sadness, having lost one’s sense of purpose in life. Wen Boren depicted the chilly autumn water with a fishnet pattern.

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Provenance & credit

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Credit line: John L. Severance Fund
Provenance: Wu Xijia 吳錫嘉 [mid-1700s] | by 1932: Yamamoto Teijiro 山本悌二郎 [1870–1937], Tokyo, Japan | ?-1954: (Howard Hollis & Company, Cleveland, OH, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) | 1954-: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH