Landscape with Poet Tao Yuanming (365–472 CE)
Unknown Artist
1200s–1400s
Medium
Album leaf; ink and color on silk
Dimensions
diam. 25.7 cm
Classification
Painting
Department
Chinese Art
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Gift of the John Huntington Art and Polytechnic Trust
Accession Number
1915.702
About this artwork
Poet Tao Yuanming (365–427 CE) turned down a civil service career in politically turbulent times to write poetry and enjoy his garden. In his poem Drinking Wine, he wrote: "I pluck chrysanthemums under the eastern fence, and serenely I gaze at the southern mountains." His desire to leave bureaucratic life for the simplicity and authenticity of nature has deeply resonated with generations of Chinese scholars, making it a popular theme in paintings.