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Weizheng Riding on an Ox
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
About this work
The inscription at the top of this painting was brushed by Ōbaku school monk Nanyuan Xingpai (Japanese: Nangen Shōha), a Chinese Buddhist monk who emigrated to Japan in 1654, while the painting was done in ink by Yamaguchi Sekkei, a Japanese painter active in Kyoto who was known for his Buddhist subjects, many of which remain in temples today. The figure here reads a text while riding backward upon a water buffalo. Sekkei's painting depicts the Chinese monk Weizheng (986–1049), also known as "Zheng of the Yellow Ox" after his favored mount. Nanyuan's inscription is a poem about the monk.
Cleveland Museum of Art’s own descriptionCredit lineWeizheng Riding on an Ox, 1687. Yamaguchi Sekkei (Japanese, 1644–1732), Nanyuan Xingpai (Chinese, 1631–1692). Hanging scroll; ink on paper; painting: 116.5 x 39 cm (45 7/8 x 15 3/8 in.); mounted: 201.3 x 55.9 cm (79 1/4 x 22 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Nisaburo Mizutani, 1973.86
