Artwork
Xiaomei
Xiaomei is an unspecified painting by the Ming dynasty painting artist Song Xu. It dates from 1594 and is held in the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art.
About this work
Subject & Meaning
Its creation in Jiaxing, a region celebrated for its riverine scenery, situates the piece within the local artistic milieu of the late Ming period.
Xiaomei is a 1588 landscape painting by Song Xu that portrays a compositional view of a boat, a mountain, and a tree within a Jiaxing setting. The work’s iconography centers on these natural motifs, which traditional Chinese visual language often associates with journeys, stability, and vitality, though the painting’s symbolic import is not explicitly documented. Its creation in Jiaxing, a region celebrated for its riverine scenery, situates the piece within the local artistic milieu of the late Ming period. The painting is housed in the Cleveland Museum of Art (accession 1998.78.18).
Technique & Style
Xiaomei is a painting completed in 1588 in Jiaxing by the Chinese artist Song Xu. The work is classified as a painting and is part of the Cleveland Museum of Art collection, catalogued under accession number 1998.78.18. Its visual program depicts a boat, a mountain, and a tree, arranging these elements into a composition that emphasizes balanced subject placement. The piece reflects the formal qualities of Chinese landscape painting through its subject matter and compositional arrangement.
History & Provenance
The handscroll Xiaomei is dated 1588 and was painted by Song Xu, a native of Jiaxing. It entered the Cleveland Museum of Art in 1998 as part of an acquisition (accession no. 1998.78.18) that assembled a group of Chinese paintings from the same source. The work’s early history is otherwise undocumented; no records survive linking it to a specific patron or commission, and no later owners are attested before its twentieth-century appearance in the market that led to its acquisition by the museum.
The painting Xiaomei by Song Xu, dated 1588, is held in the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art in Cleveland. The work bears the accession number 1998.78.18. While the source material confirms its current location and inventory status within the museum, it does not provide specific details regarding a formal exhibition history or prior provenance trails. The artwork, created in Jiaxing, depicts a landscape featuring a boat, mountains, and trees.
Legacy
Xiaomei, a 1588 painting by Song Xu, entered the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art and is recorded in the museum’s catalog. Its inclusion in the museum’s holdings and its entry in the publicly accessible Wikidata entry demonstrate that the work has been subject to scholarly documentation and public interest, reinforcing the artist’s standing in the history of Ming‑dynasty painting. The painting’s provenance and continued display illustrate its recognized cultural value, contributing to the broader assessment of Song Xu’s artistic legacy.
Overview
Xiaomei, a painting by Song Xu dating from 1594, offers a serene depiction of a natural landscape. This work is a notable example of late Ming dynasty artistry, characterized by its contemplative mood and detailed execution. It currently resides within the collection of The Cleveland Museum of Art, providing viewers with a glimpse into historical Chinese painting traditions.
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