Life on the river
date: label: Date
content: 18th century
label: Period
content: Qing dynasty
name: label: Artist
content: Formerly attributed to Ma Yuan 馬遠 (active late 12th-early 13th century)
notes: label: Label
content: This handscroll presents a virtual anthology of the typical images and stock characters found on a Chinese river. At right, a woman and young lad pole along the gentle current behind a scholar-fisherman and his serving boy who are angling in midriver. On the far bank, a herdboy rides a water buffalo followed by a calf, and a wood gatherer rests by the stream as a woman appears around the hill carrying another load. At left, four small boats filled with fishermen and young boys have drawn together to take refreshment while one of them plays a bamboo flute. From the left, another scholar-fisherman approaches in his boat. Reeds and drying fishing nets line the foreground, where an open, thatch-roofed pavilion occupies a small promontory. The air is clear and fresh and vegetation lush and full, and everyone seems healthy and content.
label: Label
content: Near center, beneath the trunk of a large, green-leafed tree, the spurious signature of the Southern Song dynasty painter Ma Yuan (late 12th-early 13th century) appears.
label: Provenance
content: To 1909
label: Provenance
content: Loon Gu Sai, Beijing, to 1909 [1]
label: Provenance
content: From 1909 to 1919
label: Provenance
content: Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Loon Gu Sai, Beijing, in 1909 [2]
label: Provenance
content: From 1920
label: Provenance
content: 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. 698, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives. According to Ingrid Larsen, "'Don’t Send Ming or Later Pictures': Charles Lang Freer and the First Major Collection of Chinese Painting in an American Museum," Ars Orientalis vol. 40 (2011), Loon Gu Sai was possibly Lunguzhai, a store in the antiques district of Liulichang.
label: Provenance
content: This object exhibits seals, colophons, or inscriptions that could provide additional information regarding the object’s history; see Curatorial Remarks in the object record for further details.
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: Looking Out, Looking In: Art in Late Imperial China (October 14, 2017 - ongoing)
label: Exhibition History
content: On the River (April 01, 1995 to January 23, 1996)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Loon Gu Sai (C.L. Freer source)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)
place: label: Origin
content: China
topic: label: Topic
content: landscape
label: Topic
content: water buffalo
label: Topic
content: fishing
label: Topic
content: music
label: Topic
content: Qing dynasty (1644 - 1911)
label: Topic
content: river
label: Topic
content: boat
label: Topic
content: flute
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: F1909.239
objectType: label: Type
content: Painting
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: CC0
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: Ink and color on silk
label: Dimensions
content: H x W: 18.6 x 173.9 cm (7 5/16 x 68 7/16 in)