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The Fool's Spring, from Twelve Views of Tiger Hill, Suzhou

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Follow the zigzag path from the walker at the lower left to the two men by the round stone rim of the spring, then up to the old tree’s roots.

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Like most of the Tiger Hill views, this leaf is painted in ink alone, in what the Cleveland Museum of Art calls Shen Zhou’s mature style. Supported by family wealth, Shen turned down an official career for the life of a retired scholar and took up painting in midlife. Here visitors pause on a paved path at the Fool’s Spring, below an old tree whose roots grip the slope.

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Album leaf; ink on paper or ink and slight color on paper · Image: 31.7 x 41.1 cm · Cleveland Museum of Art · Chinese painting: Ming

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Museum title
The Fool's Spring, from Twelve Views of Tiger Hill, Suzhou
Artist
Shen Zhou (Chinese, 1427–1509)
Date
after 1490
Medium
Album leaf; ink on paper or ink and slight color on paper
Dimensions
Image: 31.7 x 41.1 cm (12 1/2 x 16 3/16 in.); Overall: 36.5 x 49.9 cm (14 3/8 x 19 5/8 in.)
Credit line
Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund
Image license
CC0 1.0 · Public domain
Museum record
Cleveland Museum of Art

Artist’s life 1427–1509

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Galler’s rooms and hanging scale are imagined. The image is the museum’s original digital reproduction.

The Fool's Spring, from Twelve Views of Tiger Hill, Suzhou · Shen Zhou, after 1490
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The Fool's Spring, from Twelve Views of Tiger Hill, Suzhou, Shen Zhou

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