View of Lake Tai
Wen Zhengming painted this dreamy vision of Lake Tai, China's "Great Lake," for a friend after their springtime boat ride together. Wen's poem reads:
Islands spread out in a mirror,
Like purple hibiscus immersed in a watery
silver platter.
Who can hold thirty-thousand jing [the
supposed size of Lake Tai] in his bosom?
I long to visit the seventy peaks [of Lake Tai]
for myself.
Heaven is vast, billows roll on, days turn
into months.
In the spring cold the water country hides fish
and dragons;
Sitting in the middle of the lake I seemed to
hear roosters [crow] and dogs bark.
Where should I find the retired statesman
Fan Li?
Islands spread out in a mirror,
Like purple hibiscus immersed in a watery
silver platter.
Who can hold thirty-thousand jing [the
supposed size of Lake Tai] in his bosom?
I long to visit the seventy peaks [of Lake Tai]
for myself.
Heaven is vast, billows roll on, days turn
into months.
In the spring cold the water country hides fish
and dragons;
Sitting in the middle of the lake I seemed to
hear roosters [crow] and dogs bark.
Where should I find the retired statesman
Fan Li?
Artwork Details
- 明 文徵明 太湖群嶼圖 扇面
- Title: View of Lake Tai
- Artist: Wen Zhengming (Chinese, 1470–1559)
- Period: Ming dynasty (1368–1644)
- Date: dated 1543
- Culture: China
- Medium: Folding fan mounted as an album leaf; ink and color on gold-flecked paper
- Dimensions: 9 3/4 x 20 3/4 in. (24.8 x 52.7 cm)
- Classification: Paintings
- Credit Line: Purchase, The Dillon Fund Gift, 1982
- Object Number: 1982.7.1
- Curatorial Department: Asian Art
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Wen Zhengming
dated 1543
Wen Zhengming
ca. 1540
Wen Zhengming
datable to 1506–10
Multiple artists/makers
Wen Zhengming
mid-16th century
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