Artwork

元/明佚名舊傳趙雍倣盛懋蘇軾後赤壁賦圖團扇|元/明佚名後赤壁賦圖扇|Illustration of Su Shi's "Second Ode on the Red Cliff"

元/明佚名舊傳趙雍倣盛懋蘇軾後赤壁賦圖團扇|元/明佚名後赤壁賦圖扇|Illustration of Su Shi's "Second Ode on the Red Cliff" is an ink painting by the Yuan dynasty literati painting artist Sheng Mao. It is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. This circular fan, rendered in ink and light color on silk, depicts a scene from Su Shi's "Second Ode on the Red Cliff.

About this work

A small silk fan painted in ink and light color: a jagged cliff, a few bare trees, a tiny boat on dark water under a pale sky. It illustrates Su Shi's poem of 1082 about a night boat trip to Red Cliff, though the painter shows the cliff in daylight. The fan was meant to be held, not hung.

Subject & Meaning

While historically attributed to Sheng Mao or Zhao Yong, the piece is now recognized as the work of an anonymous artist from the Yuan or Ming dynasty.

This landscape painting illustrates the narrative of Su Shi's "Second Ode on the Red Cliff." The composition features a boat navigating waters surrounded by mountains and trees, directly visualizing key elements from the literary source. Created around 1400 in China, the work functions as a pictorial interpretation of the famous poem, translating its atmospheric journey into ink and color on silk.

While historically attributed to Sheng Mao or Zhao Yong, the piece is now recognized as the work of an anonymous artist from the Yuan or Ming dynasty. The imagery serves to evoke the philosophical contemplation and natural grandeur central to Su Shi's original text, capturing the essence of the poet's nocturnal excursion.

Technique & Style

The work is executed in ink and polychrome on silk, then mounted as an album leaf derived from a folding fan, a format typical of Yuan‑Ming painting practice. The anonymous hand, attributed to Sheng Mao and dated to 1400, renders a landscape featuring a boat, mountain and tree, employing balanced composition and stylized brushwork characteristic of the period. The support is silk, handled as a fan that has been affixed to a leaf for display, and the piece is classified within the landscape genre. No condition details are recorded in the source material.

History & Provenance

This fan-shaped painting, executed in ink and color on silk, is attributed to an anonymous artist of the Yuan or Ming dynasty and was traditionally ascribed to Zhao Yong, said to be after a composition by Sheng Mao. The work has been dated to circa 1400. It is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where it is mounted as an album leaf. No further details of commission, intermediate ownership, or acquisition history are recorded in the available sources.

The painting is part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s collection and is housed in its galleries in New York. The museum’s catalogue entry lists the work as being in the collection but does not provide a separate accession or inventory number. No exhibition record is documented for this piece in the available sources, indicating that it has not been included in recent museum exhibitions or loan events to date.

Overview

This circular fan, rendered in ink and light color on silk, depicts a scene from Su Shi's "Second Ode on the Red Cliff." Though attributed to an anonymous artist from the Yuan or Ming dynasty, it was once associated with Zhao Yong and influenced by Sheng Mao. The composition features a rugged cliff face, sparse trees, and a small boat navigating dark waters beneath a muted sky, capturing a moment of contemplation from the celebrated literary work.