Cleveland Museum of Art

Baoyang Lake

Song Xu

Date

c. 1588

Medium

Album leaf; ink and color on silk

Culture

China, Jiaxing, Ming dynasty (1368–1644)

Department

Chinese Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

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: Baoyang Lake: Several li (Chinese mile) from here to the east, one can exit through Lake Tai, which is quite near. Just a few li to the north is the township of Xiangshan. Having arrived there, one may want to cross over the border to the city of Yixing.

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