Description
Of the approximately 150 Chinese paintings in this collection guide, the majority were originally collected by UC Berkeley
Professor Emeritus James Cahill and the Cahill family. The Cahill family collections, known historically as the Ching Yüan
Chai Collection, are arguably among the finest in the western United States, representing virtually every period of Chinese
painting over the last 900 years. The collections consist of works from the Sung, Yüan, Ming, and Ch'ing dynasties, including
major figure paintings and bird-and-flower paintings. The greatest strength, however, is landscape paintings. Considered the
highest category of painting in China, the landscape embodies the ideals of the Confucian scholar. This is the area of Chinese
art in which we find the most daring experiments, the greatest developments, and the most intense art historical scrutiny.
Restrictions
Copyright resides with the Regents of the University of California. For permission to reproduce images from the collection
of the University of California, Berkeley Art Museum, please address inquiries to Rights and Reproductions, fax number: 510-642-4889.