Lychees

Ding Fuzhi Chinese
Shou Xi Chinese
dated 1941
Not on view
The cool graphic beauty of Ding's image and of his Shang oracle-bone script express the pleasure he felt upon receiving lychees from a friend traveling in the south, where the fruit grows.

Shou Xi's poem (on the left) describes how the Tang emperor Xuanzong (r. 712-56) employed the imperial messenger service to bring ripe lychees from Canton to his favorite concubine, Yang Guifei, at the capital, Chang'an (modern Xi'an).

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • 近代 丁輔之 荔枝 扇面
  • Title: Lychees
  • Artist: Ding Fuzhi (Chinese, 1879–1946)
  • Artist: Shou Xi (Chinese) (poem inscribed on the left)
  • Date: dated 1941
  • Culture: China
  • Medium: Folding fan mounted as an album leaf; ink and color on alum paper
  • Dimensions: 7 3/4 x 22 in. (19.7 x 55.9 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: Gift of Robert Hatfield Ellsworth, in memory of La Ferne Hatfield Ellsworth, 1986
  • Object Number: 1986.267.255
  • Curatorial Department: Asian Art

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