Returning Sails off a Distant Shore, from Eight Views of Xiao-Xiang
Sesshū Tōyō (follower)
This painting and CMA 2015.590 belong to a group that was likely mounted as a pair of four-panel folding screens focusing on the Eight Views of Xiao-Xiang, a theme centered on an area in southern China. This one represents the motif “Returning Sails Off a Distant Shore.” Both emulate the style of Chinese painter Li Tang (about 1050–after 1130). Some scholars believe the paintings are the work of Sesshū Tōyō (1420–1506), the only Japanese painter of his day to have traveled to China.
Colors in this work
Details
- Date
- 1460s to 1550s
- Dimensions
- mounted: height 2.511 m, width 0.903 m; painting: height 1.436 m, width 0.727 m; mounted with cord: height 2.569 m; mounted with knobs: width 0.965 m; knob diam: width 0.03 m
- Department
- Japanese Art
- Holding institution
- Cleveland Museum of Art
- Palette
-
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- Image provider
- cleveland-museum-of-art
- License
- CC0-1.0
- Credit
- Gift from the Collection of George Gund III
Art Genome Taxonomy
9 tags
Subject Matter
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Landscapes and Waterscapes Both · 99%
The image depicts an expansive landscape organized around water, shorelines, vegetation, and atmospheric recession; the catalog identifies it as one of the Eight Views of Xiao-Xiang.
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Nautical Both · 99%
A clearly rendered sailing vessel appears in the middle distance, and the catalog title identifies the motif as “Returning Sails off a Distant Shore.”
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Haze Visual · 97%
A diffuse atmospheric veil softens the middle and far distance, especially across the large open upper portion of the composition.
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Engaged with Traditional Chinese Art Metadata · 88%
The museum states that the painting emulates the style of the Chinese painter Li Tang and is part of the Eight Views of Xiao-Xiang tradition.
Visual Qualities
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Earth Tones Visual · 96%
The composition is dominated by subdued brown, taupe, gray, and blue-gray tones with limited chromatic contrast.
Medium and Techniques
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Painting Metadata · 99%
The Cleveland Museum of Art classifies the object as a painting and records the medium as ink and color on silk.
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Hanging Scroll Metadata · 99%
The catalog identifies it as a hanging scroll from a set of eight.
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Long Distance and Deep Distance Visual · 96%
The small vessel, receding waterways, layered banks, and indistinct horizon create an extended spatial recession across the vertical format.
Geographic Regions
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Japanese Art Metadata · 98%
The artist is identified as Japanese, and the work is classified by the museum under Japanese Art.
Source & rights
Sesshū Tōyō (Japanese, 1420–1506). Returning Sails off a Distant Shore, from Eight Views of Xiao-Xiang. Cleveland Museum of Art.
High-resolution sources
- Original TIFF ↗ 4,049 × 7,859 · Cleveland Museum Of Art · Available