Listening to the Qin
late 1400s–early 1500s
Medium
hanging scroll; ink and light color on silk
Dimensions
painting: 35.8 × 29.1 cm · overall with knobs: 118 × 45 cm
Classification
Painting
Department
Chinese Art
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Gift of Herbert F. Leisy in memory of his wife, Helen Stamp Leisy
Accession Number
1977.199
Rights
Public Domain
Tags
About this artwork
The painting alludes to a legendary incident from the life of Ji Kang 嵇康 (AD 223–262), a guqin player who belonged to a group of 3rd-century eccentric intellectuals. Ji Kang is known as the author of a Guangling San (廣陵散; Melody from Guangling), a composition for the guqin so haunting that it aroused spirits to visit him. The painting depicts the moment when one of the spirits––disguised as a human––is helped by another to emerge from the ground, while others are drawn to the musician playing in...