Zhao Mengfu Writing the Heart (Hridaya) Sutra in Exchange for Tea
Qiu Ying (Chinese, 1494–1552)
1542–43
- Medium
- handscroll; ink and light color on paper
- Classification
- Painting
- Dimensions
- Image: 20.6 x 78.3 cm (8 1/8 x 30 13/16 in.); Overall: 21.1 x 553.6 cm (8 5/16 x 217 15/16 in.)
- Culture
- China, Ming dynasty (1368–1644)
- Museum
- Cleveland Museum of Art, Chinese Art
- Credit line
- John L. Severance Fund
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Little Ones profiles and older: it shows gentle subjects for the very young. How works are placed
View at the Cleveland Museum of Art
About this work
The Yuan dynasty calligrapher Zhao Mengfu (1254–1322) is said to have transcribed the Heart Sutra for a certain priest named Li in exchange for tea. Later, during the Ming dynasty, the professional painter Qiu Ying from Suzhou painted this scene for his patron.
Here, Zhao Mengfu holds a brush and has a piece of paper laid out before him. On the table is an ink stone, an ink stick, and a small water dropper. Drops of water would dissolve the ink stick into liquid ink when it was ground on the flat square stone.
