Fishing with Cormorants
date: label: Date
content: 17th century
label: Period
content: Qing dynasty
name: label: Artist
content: Formerly attributed to Gong Kai 龔開 (1222-1307)
notes: label: Description
content: Vertical painting of men in boats fishing with cormorants, under a large rock face.
label: Marks
content: Label on back.
label: Label
content: Two boats in the foreground and a third in distant left-full of fishermen and cormorants-provide a vivid illustration of an unusual mode of fishing. The cormorants are tame, trained water birds. The fishermen attach bands or strings around their necks to prevent the birds from swallowing the large fish. Then they use long poles to urge the birds to dive after fish. Once the birds re-surface, the fishermen grab the fish from the birds' beak, occasionally offering smaller fish in exchange. In some areas of China, the tradition of cormorant fishing still survives.
label: Provenance
content: To 1916
label: Provenance
content: Lai-Yuan and Company, New York, to 1916 [1]
label: Provenance
content: From 1916 to 1919
label: Provenance
content: Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Lai-Yuan and Company in 1916 [2]
label: Provenance
content: From 1920
label: Provenance
content: The Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [3]
label: Provenance
content: Notes:
label: Provenance
content: [1] See Original Kakemono and Makimono List, L. 1013, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives.
label: Provenance
content: [2] See note 1.
label: Provenance
content: [3] The original deed of Charles Lang Freer's gift was signed in 1906. The collection was received in 1920 upon the completion of the Freer Gallery.
label: Collection
content: Freer Gallery of Art Collection
label: Exhibition History
content: Boating on a River (February 12 to August 14, 2005)
label: Exhibition History
content: Untitled Exhibition, Chinese Painting and Calligraphy, 1943 (October 4, 1943 to August 7, 1946)
label: Exhibition History
content: Chinese Painting and Pottery (May 2, 1923 to March 22, 1943)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Lai-Yuan & Company (ca. 1915-April 1921) (C.L. Freer source)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)
place: label: Origin
content: China
topic: label: Topic
content: fishing
label: Topic
content: Qing dynasty (1644 - 1911)
label: Topic
content: boat
label: Topic
content: cormorant
label: Topic
content: China
label: Topic
content: Chinese Art
label: Topic
content: Charles Lang Freer collection
setName: label: Related Online Resources
content: Google Arts & Culture
label: See more items in
content: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Collection
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Charles Lang Freer
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: F1916.40
objectType: label: Type
content: Painting
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: CC0
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: Hanging scroll mounted on panel; ink on silk
label: Dimensions
content: H x W (image): 144.6 x 58.9 cm (56 15/16 x 23 3/16 in)