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Follow the water as it zigzags down between the rounded rocks, then find the two small figures watching from the rock at the lower left.
Huangshan, the Yellow Mountain, drew many visitors in the later 1600s, and Mei Qing probably sketched this waterfall on his second trip there in 1690, at sixty-eight by the Chinese count of years. The falls bend nine times, each bend ending in an emerald pool, and after heavy rain the water looks like nine white dragons. His poem opens with an ancient dragon waking from its long sleep.
hanging scroll; ink and light color on paper · Image: 92 x 43.5 cm · Cleveland Museum of Art · Chinese painting: Qing
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Details and source
- Museum title
- Nine Dragon Pool
- Artist
- Mei Qing (Chinese, 1623–1697)
- Date
- 1690s
- Medium
- hanging scroll; ink and light color on paper
- Dimensions
- Image: 92 x 43.5 cm (36 1/4 x 17 1/8 in.); Overall: 200.7 x 71.1 cm (79 x 28 in.)
- Credit line
- Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund
- Image license
- CC0 1.0 · Public domain
- Museum record
- Cleveland Museum of Art
Artist’s life 1623–1697
View in the AtlasGaller’s rooms and hanging scale are imagined. The image is the museum’s original digital reproduction.