China, Southern Song dynasty (1127-1279) / 1145
Man, Buffalo, and Calf
The Cleveland Museum of Art catalogs Man, Buffalo, and Calf as painting (China, Southern Song dynasty (1127-1279) · 1145).
Li You included such tiny details as circular patterns of hair on the buffalo’s hindquarters.
A CLOSER LOOK
The museum identifies this painting as album leaf; ink and color on silk and credits Li You (Chinese, active c. 1145).
The museum's collection notes: Here, a herdboy tending a cow with a calf is sitting beneath a tree with his pet myna bird. The painting can be read as a pastoral scene. As the water buffalo helped plow the fields, it was perceived as an animal that endures hard work without gain for itself, often interpreted as a metaphor for the official. Ox-herding pictures, presented as gifts in court circles, were used for their moral and political rhetoric. The Yijing (Book of Changes) states, The Receptive is the earth, the mother . . . it is a cow with a calf . . . the multitude [in relation to the ruler] .
FOLLOW THE EVIDENCE
The Cleveland Museum of ArtMan, Buffalo, and CalfOriginal explanation based on the sources above. Images carry their own reuse terms.