Cloud Study | Cleveland Museum of Art

Many English watercolorists of the period were especially interested in capturing natural effects of the landscape, such as cloud formations. Such studies were of particular interest to the French Impressionists.

Fish and Rocks | Cleveland Museum of Art

Bada Shanren, also called Zhu Da, a 17th-century painter who rejected conventions in favor of an individual, personal expression, is known for his unorthodox compositions of fish, flowers, birds, and rocks. Fish in his paintings are often looking upward toward heaven, swimming in a pond of undefined space. <br><br>As a member of the Ming imperial family, Zhu Da lost his princely status and hid in a monastery when the Manchus, foreigners from the north, established the Qing dynasty in 1644. This scroll may have some autobiographical meaning, representing fish as leftover subjects (<em>yimin</em>) who lived in a void, having lost their roles in life after the fall of the dynasty.

The Second Coming of the Fifth Patriarch | Cleveland Museum of Art

A small boy, accompanied by his mother, is closing his hands in greeting to an old monk who has a young attendant standing behind him. Scholars believe the scene is a meeting between the fourth patriarch of Chan Buddhism, Daoxin 道信, and the little boy, who was the reincarnation of an old monk named Zaisong daozhe 栽松道者 (Pine Planter). They had encountered before, during which Daoxin advised the Pine Planter to endure a reincarnation as he was too old to reach enlightenment. This painting is done by Yintuoluo, an artist renowned for his simple and unadorned style.

Parisian Service (Haviland service): Rain (no. 10) | Cleveland Museum of Art