Bamboo, Rocks and Lonely Orchids

1271–1368

Zhao Mengfu

Zhao Mengfu (Chinese, 1254–1322)

Chinese Art

Bamboo, Rocks and Lonely Orchids, 1271–1368. Zhao Mengfu (Chinese, 1254–1322). Handscroll; ink on paper; mounted: 52.4 x 1337.7 cm (20 5/8 x 526 5/8 in.); image: 50.9 x 147.8 cm (20 1/16 x 58 3/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund by exchange 1963.515

Original Source

Maker/Artist: Tchao Meng-fu
Classification: Painting
Formatted Medium: Handscroll; ink on paper
Medium: handscroll, ink, paper
Dimensions: Mounted: 52.4 x 1337.7 cm (20 5/8 x 526 5/8 in.); Image: 50.9 x 147.8 cm (20 1/16 x 58 3/16 in.)
Inscribed: Inscription: 竹石幽蘭 Translation: Artist's title: Bamboo, Rocks, and Lonely Orchids. Inscription: 孟頫為善夫寫. [印] 趙氏子昂; [印] 松雪齋; [印] 天水郡圖書印 Translation: Artist's inscription and 3 seals [lower left]: Mengfu wrote [painted] it for Shanfu [Gu Xin's hao]. [seals] Zhao shi Zi'ang; Song xue zhai; Tian shui jun tu shu yin Inscription: 古人善書者必能畫點墨作蠅，便自有生意。松雪翁蘭石草聖飛帛筆法皆具，可寶也。安陽韓性 [印]明善 Translation: Those ancients who excelled in calligraphy were also always good in painting. Even a random drop of ink, turned into a housefly [like Chang Sheng-yu] would be full of life, befitting the object. These orchids and rocks by the venerable master Songxue embrace both the brush method of the 'running' style as well as the 'flying white' manner in calligraphy. Indeed, it should be treasured. Han Xing of Anyang.　[seal] Ming Shan Remark: Sheet 1. Yuan: colophons 1–2 are contemporaries of Zhao Mengfu and Gu Xin; colophons 3–5 are friends of Gu Ying, the second known collector. Colophon 1. Han Xing 韓性 (1266-1341), a Confucian scholar and teacher active in Shaoxing 紹興. Among his many students was Wang Mian (see 1974.26), the master of plum blossoms. Inscription: Colophon 2. Qiu Yuan 仇遠 (1247-after 1328), a respected poet during the Song and Yuan periods. He was linked to, among others, Zhao Mengfu and Gao Kegong. Zhao Mengfu painted a version of Nine Songs 九歌圖 for him, and Gao Kegong dedicated to him a painting titled Mountain Village 山村圖 (current whereabouts unknown). His poem here is also preserved in his collected works. Inscription: Colophon 3. Zheng Yuanyou 鄭元祐 (1292-1364), an erudite scholar and teacher of renown, active in Hangzhou and Suzhou. In the 1350s, when Gu Ying’s literary gatherings were at their peak, he was already elderly and participated in a limited way. Inscription: Colophon 4. Wu Kegong 吳克恭 (active mid-1300s), a friend of Gu Ying and Ni Zan 倪瓚 (1301–1374), a major Yuan painter. Inscription: Colophon 5. Angji 昻吉 (jinshi of 1348), of Western Xia 西夏 origin and a poet of distinction. He wrote an introduction to the painting Literary Gathering at Yushan 玉山雅集圖, of which Zhang Wo was the painter Inscription: Sheet 2. Yuan: friends of Gu Ying Colophon 6. Wang Zifang 王孜方 (active mid-1300s), an official who, at the time of his visits to Gu　Ying’s estate, had reached the rank of Minister. He is better known under the name Wang Keju 王可矩. Inscription: Colophon 7. Ke Jiusi 柯九思 (1290–1343), a major official who served in the Kuizhang Pavilion 奎章閣　and as an advisor to Emperor Wenzong in matters of calligraphy and painting. Inscription: Colophon 8. Yu Li 于立 (active mid-1300s), a Daoist recluse, poet, and close friend of Gu Ying, so much so that during his visit to Gu Ying’s estate he was given accommodation in a special pavilion. His poem here is also preserved in Gu Ying’s Cao tang ya ji. Inscription: 至正十一年十月廿八日男奕百拜堇觀 [印] 趙奕 Translation: Zhizheng, eleventh year [1351], tenth moon, twentieth-eighth day [your] son, I, after paying respects, carefully examined [this]. [seal] Zhao Yi Remark: Sheet 3. Yuan: further friends of Gu Ying Colophon 9. Zhao Yi 趙奕 (active mid-1300s), the third son of Zhao Mengfu after Zhao Yong 趙雍 (about 1289–about 1362). His colophon here is dated 1351. Inscription: Colophon 10. Yu Ji 虞集 (1272-1398), a major official and literary figure who also served in the Kuizhang Ge. His poem is recorded in his collected works. The poem is one of a set of four inscribed at the request of Wang Huayu 汪華玉 on Orchids and Rock 蘭石圖 by Zhao Mengfu, obviously a different, long lost, painting. Wang Huayu was an official and a collector (jinshi of 1327). Yu Ji’s colophon here was written before 1348 and during his retirement in Linchuan 臨川, Jiangxi, possibly sent from there. It is possible he had not seen the painting, and his calligraphy here appears to be rather casual and detached, jotting down an old poem without much care, contrary to his earlier practice. Inscription: Colophon 11. Sun Shi 孫時 (mid-1300s–early 1400s), a native of Yuncheng 鄆城, Shandong, and a jinshi of 1390. He may have been quite young when paying a visit to the Yushan gatherings in the late 1340s and early 1350s. Inscription: Colophon 12. Zhang Zhu 張翥 (1287–1368), Qiu Yuan’s disciple and a poet of renown, who enjoyed a belated career in officialdom and was known for his integrity. Inscription: Sheet 4. Yuan and Ming: further friends of Gu Ying; colophon 17 begins the early Ming sequence. Colophon 13. Zhang Wo 張渥 (active c. 1336-after 1364), a frustrated scholar, a poet, and a painter of landscape and figures. An active participant in Gu Ying’s literary circle, he painted the Literary Gathering at Yushan, a pictorial document of the individuals and activities on Gu Ying’s estate. His rendering of Nine Songs is well known, and one version is in the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art (see 1959.138). His poem here is also found in Gu Ying’s Cao tang ya ji, under the entry “ti Zhao Hanlin mo lan 題趙翰林墨蘭” (inscribed on the Ink Orchid by Zhao the Hanlin academician). This is a rare instance of calligraphy as well as signature by the artist. Inscription: 觀吳興公竹石幽蘭圖使人鄙吝頓消。其筆勢從橫天真爛澷，一出於二王書法。冝仲瑛寳而玩之異於常品也。至正八年十月天台陳基書 Translation: On seeing the Bamboo, Rocks, and Lonely Orchids by the Duke from Wuxing [Zhao Mengfu], one feels one is suddenly cleansed of lowly and narrow-minded sentiments. His brush moves so freely at his will, vertically and horizontally [as though meeting no resistance]. It comes so naturally with a disarming flair of naiveté and earnestness, as though coming directly from the calligraphies of the Two Wangs [Wang Xizhi and his son, Wang Xianzhi]. No wonder it has been so much more treasured and enjoyed by Zhongying [Gu Dehui, or Gu Ying, 1310-1369] than other ordinary works. Written on the tenth day of the fourth month of the eighth year of Zhizheng [1348]. Chen Ji of Tiantai. Remark: Colophon 14. Chen Ji 陳基 (d. 1370), a scholar-official with a literary bent who was a close friend of Gu Ying and an active participant in the literary gatherings in the latter’s Yushan retreat. His colophon is dated 1348. Inscription: Colophon 15. Zhang Shen 張紳 (active about 1340–after 1385), a respected calligrapher and participant in Gu Ying’s literary gathering. He resided in Kunshan, the same city where Gu Ying’s estate lies. In the third line of the poem, he mentioned Gu Ying’s hao, “Jinsu 金粟.” This was a name he assumed later in life, after the death of his mother in the year 1356. Thus this inscription must have been written after that date. Inscription: Colophon 16. Wang Sun 汪遜 (active mid-14th century), a little-known native of Kuaiji 會稽, who may have been one of the infrequent visitors to Gu Ying’s estate. Inscription: Colophon 17. Hu Guang 胡廣 (1370-1418) is the first Ming colophon writer on this scroll. He was an official of great power in the court and a trusted advisor of Emperor Chengzu; he served as the Grand Academician of the Hall of Literary Profundity 文淵閣大學士 and Grand Academician of the Left Secretariat of the Heir-Apparent 左春坊大學士. Inscription: Sheet 5. Early Ming Colophon 18. Wang Yinshi 王尹實 (active about 1403–about 1424), a native of Siming 四明, Zhejiang, and a minor official and calligrapher. Inscription: Colophon 19. Zhang Yuchu (signed here as “Wuwei 無為”), the forty-third Heavenly Master of the Zhengyi sect of Daoism. A man of erudition, he was also a poet, painter, and calligrapher. A modified version of the poem here was published in his collected works titled Xian quan ji 峴泉集. A slight modification in the first line is the only change: “Wu xing miao yao nian bing xue zi 吳興玅年氷雪姿.” Inscription: Colophon 20. Yao Guangxiao 姚廣孝 (1335-1418), a Buddhist monk, scholar, and counselor to Chengzu in his successful attempt at usurpation of the throne. Yao Guangxiao was a controversial figure but wielded enormous power. Inscription: Sheet 6. Wang Ning alone Colophon 21. Wang Ning 王寧 (d. 1411) signed as “Qingzhen 清真” in this colophon. One of the three seals reveals his identity as the Yongchun Hou 永春侯 [Marquis of Lasting Spring] (appointed 1402), and the husband of Princess Huaiqing 懷慶公主 (1328-1398), the sixth daughter of the founder of the Ming dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang. This colophon postdates 1402. Inscription: Sheet 7. Mid-Ming Colophon 22. Ou Yi’an 區易安 (active first half of 15th century), unknown Inscription: Colophon 23. Chen Lian 陳璉 (1370-1454), a native of Dongguan 東莞, Guangdong 廣東, and an official admired for his erudition and perspicacity. In view to the known calligraphic style of Chen Lian, this colophon appears to be a transcription and not written by him. Inscription: Colophon 24. Wei Ji 魏驥 (1374-1471) enjoyed longevity (he lived to the age of ninety-eight) and an extended length of service as an official. A jinshi of 1406, he eventually became the Minister of Personnel in Nanjing 南京吏部尚書. The colophon here is dated 1434, when he was invited to view the painting by the Court Musician Mo Zhizhong 莫至翀, its owner. Again, in view of its calligraphic style, this was not written by him, but is a transcription from the original. Inscription: Colophon 25: Zhang Yi 章鎰 (active 1462-1473), a Ningbo native and an official with a reputation for courage and integrity. Inscription: Sheet 8. Further mid-Ming Colophon 26. Yin Zhi 尹直 (1427-1511), a controversial figure in Ming politics in spite of his erudition and high position as the Minister of War 兵部尚書. Inscription: Colophon 27. Zou Yu 鄒虞 (active 1460-1520; jinshi of 1490), a native of Hangzhou. In 1510, he was appointed Administrative Vice Commissioner in Guangdong. Inscription: Sheet 9. Xu Shouhe 徐守和 alone Colophon 28. Xu Shouhe 徐守和 dated his entry in 1629. Since he wrote it in his own studio, The Lesser Qingbi Pavilion 小清閟, he was likely the owner of the scroll. Xu’s life is not well documented; he was a connoisseur of note during the last years of the Ming dynasty rule. He may have acquired the Cleveland scroll from Wu Ting, whose seals appear here. Inscription: Sheet 10. The mounter’s note. Xu Shudong 徐曙東 of Jiaxing 嘉興 made the remounting on the first day of sixth month, 1802.
Departments: Chinese Art
Accession Number: 1963.515
Credit Line: John L. Severance Fund by exchange
Exhibitions: Year in Review (1963), The Colors of Ink, Looking East: Yuan Dynasty Paintings, Chinese Paintings: Themes and Techniques, Eight Dynasties of Chinese Painting, Visions of Landscape: East and West, Asian Autumn: Masterpieces from the Collection, Masterpieces of Early Chinese Painting and Calligraphy in American Collections, Inspired by Chinese Landscape and Art – Chinese Gallery Rotation 240a, 241c, <em>Chinese Art Under the Mongols: The Yüan Dynasty, 1279-1368</em>. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (October 1-November 24, 1968).
Rights Statement: CC0