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Retreat on an Autumn Day, in Cursive Script
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Retreat on an Autumn Day, in Cursive Script

Zhu Yunming (Chinese, 1460–1527), artist · dated 1523 · Handscroll; ink on paper

From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.

About this work

This masterwork of calligraphy by Zhu Yunming from Suzhou combines two poems by the artist in cursive script style, characterized by its uninhibited, swift, and intuitive brushwork, so powerful that it here dissolved characters into dots or lines. Written from right to left and top to bottom and alternating in light dry to deep saturated ink, single characters may take a whole column or extend into the next one. Following the movement of the brush, they seem to dance over the paper.

Cleveland Museum of Art’s own description
Credit lineRetreat on an Autumn Day, in Cursive Script (閑居秋日, 草書), dated 1523. Zhu Yunming (Chinese, 1460–1527). Handscroll; ink on paper; height: 34.3 cm (13 1/2 in.); calligraphy section: 514.2 cm (202 7/16 in.); roll: 34.6 x 8.3 cm (13 5/8 x 3 1/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of the Gracious Pine Studio Collection, 2025.192

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