Wang Jian was a dedicated student of art history. His engagement with the past often took the form of the old master album, in which each leaf follows the style of a different celebrated painter. This album features an additional layer of reference—each image was also made in response to a line of poetry by Du Fu (712–770), the most celebrated poet of the Tang dynasty.
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清 王鑑 仿古山水圖 冊 紙本
Title:Landscapes in the styles of old masters
Artist:Wang Jian (Chinese, 1609–1677/88)
Artist: Title piece by Wang Shimin (Chinese, 1592–1680)
Period:Qing dynasty (1644–1911)
Date:dated 1668
Culture:China
Medium:Album of ten leaves; ink and color on paper
Dimensions:Each leaf: 10 1/8 x 6 1/2 in. (25.7 x 16.5 cm)
Classification:Paintings
Credit Line:Purchase, The Dillon Fund Gift, 1979
Accession Number:1979.439a–o
Signature:
Inscription: Artist’s inscriptions and signatures
Leaf C (3 columns in semi-cursive script):
A cañon stream, a road in the empty mountains, A rough gate, a village among old trees.[1]
After Zijiu (Huang Gongwang, 1269–1354).
澗水空山道，柴門老樹邨。 倣子久。
Leaf D (3 columns in standard script):
Path and rocks wind around each other, The stream and clouds go or stay as they will.[2]
After Songxue (Zhao Mengfu, 1254–1322).
徑石相縈帶，川雲自去留。 倣松雪。
Leaf E (3 columns in standard script):
Tall bamboo do not let in the heat, The waves of merging streams needlessly surge.[3]
After [Liu] Guandao (active ca. 1275–1300).
修竹不受暑，交流空湧波。 倣貫道。
Leaf F (3 columns in standard script):
Mountain clouds rise, filling the valley, Soaking your hedge, a stream hangs in a little falls.[4]
After Huichong (ca. 965–1017)
滿谷山雲起，侵籬澗水懸。 倣惠崇。
Leaf G (3 columns in semi-cursive script):
Various flowers brighten up separate doors; Delicate swallows enter through curtains and fly around.[5]
After Zhao Lingrang (active ca. 1070–after 1100)
雜花分戶映，嬌燕入簾廽。 倣大年。
Leaf H (3 columns in standard script):
Where the torrent runs cold you have almost made it, The village is black, birds have surely roosted.[6]
After Juran (act.ca. 960–95)
澗寒人欲到，林黑鳥應棲。 倣巨然。
Leaf I (3 columns in standard script):
The candle slants, I first see it close by, The boat grows heavy, but I never hear anything.[7]
After Li Cheng (919–967)
燭斜初近見，舟重竟無聞。 倣李成。
Leaf J (3 columns in standard script):
Shu’s stars are seen rarely in cloudy skies, River rain at night is heard often.[8]
After Wu Zhen (1280–1354)
蜀星陰見少，江雨夜聞多。 倣仲圭。
Leaf K (3 columns in standard script):
I gather pinecones brought down by the wind, I hack open honeycombs as the weather gets cold.[9]
After Shuming (Wang Meng, ca. 1308–1385)
風落收松子，天寒割蜜房。 倣叔明。
Leaf L (3 columns in standard script):
The wilderness moist, the misty light thin, Sands radiant, the sunlight moves slowly.[10]
After Ni Zan (1306–1374)
野潤煙光薄，沙暄日色遲。 倣雲林。
Leaf M (11 columns in semi-cursive script, dated 1668):
Thirty years ago Qian Muweng and I sat atop Yushan Mountain enjoying the brilliance of [Tao?] Xinzhi. At that time Xing discussed calligraphy, famous paintings, and ritual vessels of the Three Dynasties as if these subjects were in the palm of his hand or arrayed before his eyebrows, nor did he overlook a single hair. Later, when I moved to Jinchang, each time I acquired an antique I invited Xin to examine it together we would authenticate the piece. When we were young and vigorous we flew about in high spirits. Now my head is completely white and my energies are ebbing; poverty and illness block my door. Old Xin for the moment resides at a Buddhist temple. In our old age both of us have suffered disappointments: once again we are alike.
In the winter of the dingwei year [1667] I did painting especially to invite Xin to come to Loudong to pass the New Year. We lingered for a full month enjoying one another's company. Finally, as Xin prepares to return home, I cannot bear the gloomy feeling which congeals inside me. Having nothing to present my friend I have mixed some colors and painted ten leaves in the manner of the ancients. As there happened to be a volume of Du Fu's poetry on the table I have selected a suitable couplet for each picture, inscribing it alongside each composition. The regrettable lack of poetry in these paintings is a great embarrassment before the ancients, but old Xin does not walk so well, therefore I leave this album with him so that even while reclining he may still go wandering. Recorded in the second month of spring, wushen year [1668], by Wang Jian of Loudong.[11]
Wang Jiqian 王季遷 (C. C. Wang, 1906–2002） Wang Jiqian shi shending zhenji 王季遷氏審定真蹟
[1] Couplet from Du Fu’s 杜甫poem “Thinking of My Little Boy” (憶幼子). Translated by David Lattimore in Classical Chinese Literature: An Anthology of Translations. Vol. I, from Antiquity to the Tang Dynasty, New York and Hong Kong: Columbia University Press, Hong Kong University Press, 2000. p. 809.
[2] Couplet from Du Fu’s poem “Visiting Xiujue Temple” (逰修覺寺). Translated by Stephen Owen in The Poetry of Du Fu, Boston: De Gruyter, 2016, v. 2, book 9, p. 343.
[3] Couplet from Du Fu’s poem “In the Company of Li Yong of Beihai, Feasting in Lixia Pavilion” (陪李北海宴歷下亭). Translated by Stephen Owen in The Poetry of Du Fu, v. 1, book 1, p. 25.
[4] Couplet from Du Fu’s poem “To my Nephew Zuo” (示侄佐). Translated by Stephen Owen in The Poetry of Du Fu, v. 2, book 8, p. 188.
[5] Couplet from the second of two poems titled “Library Director Li’s House” (李監宅二首其二) by Du Fu. Translated by Shi-yee Liu.
[6] Couplet from the first of three poems titled “Sent after [Du] Zuo Returned to the Mountains” (佐還山後寄三首其一) by Du Fu. Translated by Stephen Owen in The Poetry of Du Fu, v. 2, book 8, p. 189.
[7] Couplet from Du Fu’s poem “Night Snow on My Boat: Thoughts on Censor Lu” (舟中夜雪有懷盧十四侍御弟). Translated by Stephen Owen in The Poetry of Du Fu, v. 6, book 23, p. 155.
[8] Couplet from the first of two poems titled “Dispersing Melancholy” (散愁二首其一) by Du Fu. Translated by Stephen Owen in The Poetry of Du Fu, v. 2, book 9, p. 331.
[9] Couplet from the third of “Five Poems on Autumn Field” (秋野五首其三). Translated by Stephen Owen in The Poetry of Du Fu, v. 5, book 20, p. 229.
[10] Couplet from Du Fu’s poem “A Later Visit” (後逰). Translated by Stephen Owen in The Poetry of Du Fu, v. 2, book 9, p. 345.
[11] Translated by Maxwell K. Hearn in Hearn et al., "Far Eastern Art," Notable Acquisitions, no. 1979/1980 (1979), p. 70, New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Ruth Spelman (until 1979, her sale at Sotheby Parke Bernet, Inc., New York, November 11, 1979, lot 119, to MMA)
New York. China Institute in America. "The Life of a Patron: Zhou Lianggong and the Painters of 17th Century China," October 19, 1996–December 21, 1996.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Text and Image: The Interaction of Painting, Poetry, and Calligraphy," January 23–August 16, 1999.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "When the Manchus Ruled China: Painting under the Qing Dynasty (1644–1911)," February 2–August 18, 2002.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Douglas Dillon Legacy: Chinese Painting for the Metropolitan Museum," March 12–August 8, 2004.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Art of the Chinese Album," September 6, 2014–March 29, 2015.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Masterpieces of Chinese Painting from the Metropolitan Collection (Rotation Two)," May 7–October 11, 2016.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Streams and Mountains without End: Landscape Traditions of China," August 26, 2017–January 6, 2019.
Ling Lizhong 凌利中. Wang Yuanqi tihua shougao jianshi 王原祁題畫手稿箋釋 (Annotated research on Wang Yuanqi’s manuscript of painting inscriptions) Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 2017, p. 245, cat. no. 34.
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