Cleveland Museum of Art

Streams and Mountains without End

Date

1100–1150

Medium

handscroll; ink and slight color on silk

Culture

China, late Northern Song dynasty (960-1127) - Jin dynasty (1115-1234)

Department

Chinese Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

Streams and Mountains without End was a landmark acquisition of 1953, made just a year after Sherman Lee had returned to Cleveland as curator of Oriental art. He acquired it with the intention to provide "a more than adequate foundation for a fine collection of Chinese landscape painting." This impressive work demonstrates the culmination of stylistic developments in Chinese monumental landscape painting following the Northern Song tradition. It represents a journey through a landscape, making it a fitting metaphor for Lee’s journey of discovery and achievement over a lifetime. The portrayal of the distant lands is rich with details like pavilions, villages, and human activities.

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