In sixteenth-century China, courtesans played an active role in elite society. Extensive literary education was relatively rare among women, and even those fortunate enough to receive it almost never had the chance to display their gifts in public. Courtesans, by contrast, were celebrated for their talents in literature, painting, and music, and they participated in scholarly gatherings. Ma Shouzhen was one of the most famous of these; she mixed freely with the literary luminaries of Suzhou and Nanjing and carried on a long-term romance with the poet Wang Zhideng. Because of her fame, Ma’s paintings were much copied; this is likely one such homage, made in the generation or two after her death.
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明 傳 馬守真 蘭石圖 軸
Title:Orchid and rock
Artist:Attributed to Ma Shouzhen (Chinese, 1548–1604)
Period:Ming dynasty (1368–1644)
Date:dated 1572
Culture:China
Medium:Hanging scroll; ink on paper
Dimensions:Image: 20 3/4 x 11 1/2 in. (52.7 x 29.2 cm) Image (with inscription): 27 5/8 x 11 1/2 in. (70.2 x 29.2 cm) Overall with mounting: 81 1/2 x 18 3/4 in. (207 x 47.6 cm) Overall with knobs: 81 1/2 x 23 in. (207 x 58.4 cm)
Classification:Paintings
Credit Line:Edward Elliott Family Collection, Purchase, The Dillon Fund Gift, 1982
Accession Number:1982.1.7
Inscription: Artist's inscription and signature (3 columns in semi-cursive script, dated 1572)
Green shadows brushing over the Xiang River, Pure fragrance permeating the secluded valley.
Executed in a small studio by the Qinghuai River [in Nanjing] in the fourth lunar month of the renshen year (1572). [Signed] Xianglanzi, Xuanxuan, Ma Shouzhen
翠影拂湘江，清芬瀉幽谷。 壬申清和寫於秦淮小閣。湘蘭子玄玄馬守真
Artist's seals
Xianglan 湘蘭 Yuejiao 月嬌
Other inscriptions on the painting
1. Xue Mingyi 薛明益 (1563–after 1640), 3 columns in standard script, undated; 1 seal:
空谷幽蘭茂，無人亦自芳。 迎春舒秀色，浥露發清香。
薛明益題。 [印]：薛氏虞卿
2. Wang Zhideng王穉登 (1535–1612), 3 columns in semi-cursive script, undated; 1 seal:
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