Bamboo, old tree, and rock

Inscription: Artist’s inscription and signature (4 columns in cursive script)

Reaching high into the clouds, aware in vain of being extraordinary,
Who recognizes it as the perch of the phoenix?
The supreme tune is what attains the soundless realm;
Don't play the flute that the Leader of Court Gentlemen [Cai Yong, 133–192] used to play.

In summer, the fifth lunar month of the fourth year of the Zhiyuan reign era [1338], Meihua Daoren [the Plum-blossom Daoist] playfully painted this.[1]

高節凌雲空自奇，
誰人識是鳳凰枝。
至音已入無聲譜，
莫把中郎□笛吹。

至元四年夏五月梅花道人戲墨。


Artist’s seals

Meihua An 梅華盦
Jiaxing Wu Zhen Zhonggui shuhua ji 嘉興吳鎮仲圭書畫記

Label strip

Zhao Shigang 趙時棡 (1874–1945), 1 column in clerical script and 2 columns in semi-cursive script, dated 1939; 1 seal:

元吳仲圭 《古木竹石》 真蹟
林氏半角草堂珍藏
已卯秋月趙時棡署。 [印]: 叔孺

Collectors’ seals

Liang Qingbiao 梁清標 (1620–1691)
蕉林
觀其大略
蕉林收藏

Qian Yue 錢樾 (1743–1815)
嘉善錢樾橅棠鑒藏

Wang Jiqian 王季遷 (C. C. Wang, 1907–2003)
王氏季遷珍藏之印
王季遷氏審定真跡

Illegible 1

[1] Translation by Shi-yee Liu.

Marking:

Oscar L. Tang Family , New York (until 2012; donated to MMA)

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The New Chinese Galleries: An Inaugural Installation," 1997.

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Artist as Collector: Masterpieces of Chinese Painting from the C.C.Wang Family Collection," September 2, 1999–January 9, 2000.

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The World of Scholars' Rocks: Gardens, Studios, and Paintings," February 1–August 20, 2000.

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Art of the Brush: Chinese Painting and Calligraphy," March 12–August 14, 2005.

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Bridging East and West: The Chinese Diaspora and Lin Yutang," September 15, 2007–February 10, 2008.

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Landscapes Clear and Radiant: The Art of Wang Hui (1632–1717)," September 9, 2008–January 4, 2009.

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Yuan Revolution: Art and Dynastic Change," August 21, 2010–January 9, 2011.

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