Inscription: Artist's inscription and signature (44 columns in semi-cursive and cursive scripts)
Yesterday’s wind arose from the west-north,
And innumerable boats all took advantage of its favor.
Today’s wind has shifted [and comes from] the east,
And my boat [needs] fifteen men to tow.
Their strength spent, I've hired more;
[But even] one hundred in gold they consider too little.
The boat crew, angered, begins to argue,
So the trackers, sitting down, stare and complain.
They've tried poles and again pulleys;
They have had to swallow the yellow gorge rising in their throats.
But the river mud seems to side with the trackers;
Stuck on the bottom, [the boat] won’t budge.
Paid more money, the men are no longer angry.
Expectations satisfied, all resentment disappears.
With a single pull, [the boat advances] like a wind-born chariot.
The men shout out, as if rushing into battle!
To the side I look toward the Yingdou Lake;
So vast, [seemingly] without bounds are its shores.
If even one drop cannot be drawn,
What use is the distant West River?
All things must find their proper time,
So why is it that you have come so late?[1]
Zhu Bangyan sent this paper from Xiuzhou [present-day Jiaxing, Zhejiang Province]. I wrote it in a boat on the Wu River. Mi Yuanzhang [Mi Fu]
昨風起西北，萬艘皆乘便。
今風轉而東，我舟十五縴。
力乏更雇夫，百金尚嫌賤。
船工怒闘語，夫坐視而怨。
添槔亦復車，黃膠生口嚥。
河泥若祐夫，粘底更不轉。
添金工不怒，意满怨亦散。
一曳如風車，叫噉如臨戰。
傍觀鸎竇湖，渺渺無涯岸。
一滴不可汲，况彼西江遠。
萬事須乘時，汝來一何晚。
朱邦彥自秀寄紙，吳江舟中作 。米元章
Colophons
1. Wang Duo 王鐸 (1592–1652), 6 columns in semi-cursive script, dated 1643 (in front of Mi Fu’s calligraphy):
米黻書本羲、獻，縱橫飄忽，飛仙哉。深得蘭亭法，不規規摹擬。予為焚香寢臥其下。公望郭四兄善藏，勿輕示不好書者。皇帝崇禎十六年八月初四日題於林秀亭中。同坦公都諫山圖。公度、洙源、漱六觀。王鐸題書。
2. Sun Kuang 孫鑛 (1542–1613), 13 columns in semi-cursive script, dated 1591; 3 seals:
項子長在職方日，為余言李伯玉藏米數十字甚佳，因從乞觀。彼時余雖好書，然不甚解，頗有庾子嵩讀《南華經》意。比者家居七年間，研精書法，乃知古人作字，惟在用筆，因感憶米。及入都，復乞之伯玉，則煥若神明，頓改舊觀。黃鲁直快馬斫陣之喻，不虛也。古法皆懸腕緊捉筆。以余所見古法書甚多，可決其真者惟此。萬曆庚[庚字點去]辛卯重陽後十日餘姚孫鑛題。 [印] ： 文融、孫鑛之印、游心太玄
Collectors' seals
Ming imperial palace 明洪武内府 (1373–1384)
? ? ? ? Si yin (half-seal) 囗囗囗囗司印 (半印)
Zhu Gang 朱棡 (Prince of Jin, 1358–1398)
Jin Fu shuhua zhi yin 晉府書畫之印
Jin Fu shuhua zhi yin 晉府書畫之印
Jin Guo kuizhang 晉國奎章
Qiankun qingwan 乾坤清玩
Jingde Tang zhang 敬德堂章
Qing emperor Qianlong 清帝乾隆 (r. 1736–1795)
Shiqu baoji 石渠寳笈
Sanxi Tang jingjian xi 三希堂精鋻璽
Yi zisun 宜子孫
Qinghe 清和
Qing emperor Jiaqing 清帝嘉慶 (r. 1796–1820)
Jiaqing yulan zhi bao 嘉慶御覽之寳
Jiaqing jianshang 嘉慶鋻賞
Baoji sanbian 寳笈三編
Qing emperor Xuantong 清帝宣统 (r. 1909–1911)
Xuantong yulan zhi bao 宣統御覽之寳
Xuantong jianshang 宣統鋻賞
Wuyi Zhai jingjian xi 無逸齋精鋻璽
Zhang Wenkui 張文魁 (20th c.)
Zhang shi Han Lu zhencang 張氏涵廬珍藏
Zhang Wenkui 張文魁
Han Lu Jiancang 涵廬鋻藏
Gu Luofu 顧洛阜 (John M. Crawford, Jr., 1913–1988)
Gu Luofu 顧洛阜
Hanguang Ge 漢光閣
Hanguang Ge Zhu Gu Luofu jiancang Zhongguo gudai shuhua zhi zhang 漢光閣主顧洛阜鋻藏中國古代書畫之章
[1] Translation after Peter C. Sturman, Mi Fu: Style and the Art of Calligraphy in Northern Song China, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1997, pp. 115–116, and Kwan S. Wong, Masterpieces of Sung and Yüan dynasty calligraphy from the John M. Crawford, Jr. Collection. New York: China House Gallery, China Institute in America, 1981, p. 29.
London. Victoria and Albert Museum. "Chinese Painting and Calligraphy from the Collection of John M. Crawford, Jr.," June 17, 1965–August 1, 1965.
Philadelphia Museum of Art. "Chinese Calligraphy," September 25, 1971–November 7, 1971.
Kansas City. Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. "Chinese Calligraphy," January 6, 1972–February 6, 1972.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Chinese Calligraphy," March 14, 1972–May 7, 1972.
New Haven. Yale University Art Gallery. "Traces of the Brush: Studies in Chinese Calligraphy," April 6, 1977–June 27, 1977.
University Art Museum, University of California at Berkeley. "Traces of the Brush: Studies in Chinese Calligraphy," September 20, 1977–November 27, 1977.
New York. China House Gallery. "Masterpieces of Song and Yuan Dynasty Calligraphy from the John M. Crawford Jr. Collection," October 21, 1981–January 31, 1982.
Lawrence. Spencer Museum of Art, University of Kansas. "Masterpieces of Song and Yuan Dynasty Calligraphy from the John M. Crawford Jr. Collection," March 14, 1982–May 2, 1982.
Princeton University Art Museum. "Images of the Mind: Selections from the Edward L. Elliot Family and John B. Elliott Collections of Chinese Calligraphy and Painting at the Art Museum, Princeton University," April 15, 1984–June 17, 1984.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Images of the Mind: Selections from the Edward L. Elliot Family and John B. Elliott Collections of Chinese Calligraphy and Painting at the Art Museum, Princeton University," September 18, 1987–January 10, 1988.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The New Chinese Galleries: An Inaugural Installation," 1997.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Embodied Image: Chinese Calligraphy from the John B. Elliott Collection," September 15, 2000–January 7, 2001.
Osaka Municipal Museum of Art. "The Embodied Image: Chinese Calligraphy from the John B. Elliott Collection," April 8, 2003–June 1, 2005.
Taipei. National Palace Museum. "Grand View: Painting and Calligraphy of the Northern Sung," December 25, 2006–March 25, 2007.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Philippe de Montebello Years: Curators Celebrate Three Decades of Acquisitions," October 24, 2008–February 1, 2009.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Masterpieces of Chinese Painting from the Metropolitan Collection II," May 7, 2016–October 11, 2016.
Not on view