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Poet Fisherman

Unknown

1804

unspecified

From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art

Chinese Orthodox School Romanticism Early 19th Century Allegory Fishing

Dominant colour

Poet Fisherman is a 1804 unspecified by Unknown, a Chinese Orthodox School work, depicting Fishing, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.

Who painted this?: Unknown
When & what style?: 1804 · Chinese Orthodox School
Where can I see it?: Cleveland Museum of Art

About this work

A man sits on a raft in rough water, holding a tiny wine cup. A crane flies above him. Two big jars sit behind him—one covered with a lotus leaf, the other with a ladle sticking out. His fishing line is tangled. This painting shows a Daoist scholar from Chinese stories, not fishing for fish but for ideas. The twisted line and calm face hint he’s okay with things not going as planned. The artist copied an old woodblock print, so the style feels older than the 1800s. Look up *korea, joseon dynasty (1392–1910)* to see more quiet scenes like this.

The story of this work

Overview

This album leaf depicts the 8th-century Chinese official and Daoist scholar Zhang Zhihe sitting on a raft buffeted by waves. He drinks wine from a small cup, and gazes up at a crane flying above him. Behind him are two large jars, one covered with an overturned lotus leaf. The handle of a ladle emerges from the other. His fishing rod is balanced at his side, but its line is twisted uselessly. Based on its iconography, the painting is likely modeled after an image from an illustrated woodblock edition of the Chinese text Liexian Zuan (Biographies of Exemplary Immortals). The biographical…