Artheon MuseumArtheonMuseum
Fisherman's Joy by Qian Gu (Chinese, 1508–c. 1578)

Medium

Handscroll; ink and light color on paper

Dimensions

37 × 989.4 cm · image: 31.4 × 355.2 cm

Classification

Painting

Department

Chinese Art

Museum

Cleveland Museum of Art

Credit

The Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund

Accession Number

1977.56

Tags

male

About this artwork

This painting has a scene showing two small crafts, each manned by two fishermen, practicing a traditional fishing method. In one of them, a man uses a bamboo pole to direct the movements of a cormorant bird sent into the water. Cormorant fishing, witnessed in some areas of the lower Yangzi River, appears in Zhe school paintings. Qian Gu may have borrowed these narrative figure scenes from Zhe school paintings, while his vantage point, brushwork, and soft tones align with the Wu school style. Sc...

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