Landscape with gibbons and cranes
date: label: Date
content: 18th century
label: Period
content: Qing dynasty
name: label: Artist
content: Formerly attributed to Qiu Ying 仇英 (ca. 1494-1552)
notes: label: Description
content: Depicting, in the "blue and green style," two cranes, and a total of eighteen gibbons (black, white, gray and brown). Among the gibbons are a mother and her children. They are distributed in a wooded landscape, with pine trees, flowering trees, and pink bamboo, and with a stream running through it and two waterfalls. Some of the gibbons are climbing pine trees, picking berries, catching fleas, and forming a chain from a branch to catch a crab. Forged signature, two seals.
label: Signatures
content: Forged signature.
label: Marks
content: Two seals.
label: Label
content: Gibbons and cranes have a long history as auspicious symbols in Chinese literature and art. Since the Zhou dynasty (1100-221 B.C.E.), gibbons have been associated with wise men, although in many famous poems the shrill calls of gibbons were said to induce deep melancholy in weary travelers. This handscroll features a total of eighteen gibbons, frolicking in a colorful forest and shown with two cranes. This fanciful depiction of gibbons is rendered in the opaque "blue and green" style that prevailed in landscape painting during the Tang dynasty (618-907) and was later revived from time to time owing to its decorative appeal.
label: Provenance
content: To 1904
label: Provenance
content: Michael Tomkinson (1841-1921), Kidderminster, England, to 1904 [1]
label: Provenance
content: From 1904 to 1919
label: Provenance
content: Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Michael Tomkinson in 1904 [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 Reserved Makimono List, R. 452, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives.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: Style in Chinese Landscape Painting: The Song Legacy (May 17 to October 26, 2014)
label: Exhibition History
content: Beyond Brushwork: Symbolism in Chinese Painting (April 29 to November 26, 2006)
label: Exhibition History
content: Year of the Monkey (May 18, 1980 to February 15, 1981)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Michael Tomkinson (1841-1921) (C.L. Freer source)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)
place: label: Origin
content: China
topic: label: Topic
content: landscape
label: Topic
content: crane
label: Topic
content: flower
label: Topic
content: pine tree
label: Topic
content: Qing dynasty (1644 - 1911)
label: Topic
content: river
label: Topic
content: gibbon
label: Topic
content: China
label: Topic
content: blue-and-green style
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: F1904.396
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 (image): 27.7 x 271.1 cm (10 7/8 x 106 3/4 in)
label: Style
content: Blue-and-green style