Flower and Rock

Inscription: Artist’s inscriptions and signatures

1. 4 columns in semi-cursive script, undated:

Blooming in profusion, they resemble bouquets and piled brocades.
I am enraptured and full of praise.
These refined ornaments from the Supreme God
Adorn my soundless poem.

Yesterday I visited the Lion Grove and the Garden of the Inept Politician in Suzhou. Then I returned to Shanghai and stopped by the Jinan University. Later I did this painting while still in high spirits. [Signed] Gongzhan

[Translation by Keita Itoh and Lawrence Wu with Jean Schmitt and Caron Smith in Robert Hatfield Ellsworth, ed., Later Chinese Painting and Calligraphy: 1800–1950, Volume I: Text, New York: Random House, 1986, p. 136. Modified. The Romanization of Chinese characters has been changed from the Wade-Giles system to the pinyin system.]

花團錦簇時，歡喜贊嘆之。
東皇工點綴，入我無聲詩。

昨逰吳門獅子林、拙政園，歸滬過暨大校園，後乘興寫此。公展

2. 2 columns in semi-cursive script, undated:

Respectfully dedicated to the couple Zichun and Keyu for advice by your junior, Xie Gongzhan.

子春老哥、克玉賢嫂雙正，弟謝公展敬贈。


Artist’s seals

Xie Gongzhan 謝公展 (relief, rectangle)
Xie Gongzhan 謝公展 (intaglio, square)


Collector’s seal

An Siyuan 安思遠 (Robert Hatfield Ellsworth, 1929–2014)
An Siyuan cang 安思遠藏

Robert H. Ellsworth Chinese, New York (until 1986; donated to MMA)

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Painting: Selections from the Robert H. Ellsworth Collection," February 2–September 25, 1988.