This painting portrays Li Xiangjun (fl. mid-seventeenth century), a courtesan celebrated for rebuking powerful but treacherous politicians and risking her life to remain chaste for her true love, Hou Fangyu (1618–1654). When a high-ranking official tried to take her by force, Li struck her head against the floor in an attempted suicide. Her blood spattered a fan given to her by Hou, which was later transformed into a painting of peach blossoms. This heroic deed was immortalized in Peach Blossom Fan, a well-known play by Kong Shangren (1648–1718). Above the painting is a transcription of Hou Fangyu's biography of Li.
Here Li is shown in her boudoir holding a fan painted with peach blossoms. She leans against a circular opening framed by willow boughs, symbolic of her profession as a courtesan, and a grove of blossoming trees. An open book on the table tells us that she is not only virtuous but also literate.
Twelve colophons embellish this scroll, mostly written by scholars from northeastern Zhejiang between 1916 and 1927. Lin Yutang, who greatly admired Li Xiangjun, added the last colophon below the painting after purchasing it in 1934.
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Artwork Details
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清 崔鶴 李香君小影 軸
Title:Portrait of Li Xiangjun
Artist:Cui He (Chinese, active 1800–1850)
Period:Qing dynasty (1644–1911)
Date:dated 1817
Culture:China
Medium:Hanging scroll; ink and color on paper
Dimensions:Image: 20 5/8 x 49 in. (52.4 x 124.5 cm) Overall with knobs: 104 1/16 x 30 1/4 in. (264.3 x 76.8 cm)
Classification:Paintings
Credit Line:The Lin Yutang Family Collection, Gift of Hsiang Ju Lin, in memory of Taiyi Lin Lai, 2005
Object Number:2005.510.2
Inscription: Artist’s inscription and signature (1 column in standard script)[1]
Cui He, Wenqin, painted this in the ninth lunar month of the dingchou year [1817].
丁丑九月問琴崔鶴繪。
Artist’s seals
Wenqin 問琴 Liangchen meijing naihetian 良辰美景奈何天 (“Lovely moments and beautiful scenery do not last.”) Illegible: 2
Colophons
1. Li Erhan 李二憨 (Shiyu Jushi 石漁居士, unidentified, early 19th c.), 6 columns in semi-cursive script, dated 1817; 4 seals (upper left corner of the painting):
Vermilion dwellings line a slanting lane, Where a scion of nobility first rides in his patrician carriage. All along the Qing River [in Nanjing] are magnolia trees, Which cannot compare with the peach and plum blossoms in the east wind.
Having transcribed the biography of Li Xiangjun, I recalled the poem that Hou Xueyuan [Hou Fangyu, 1618–1654] wrote for Li and recorded it with delight to show that the depth of their bond at the time was not fortuitous. In the ninth lunar month in the autumn of the dingchou year in the Jiaqing era [1817], Shiyu Jushi [Li Erhan] recorded this in his lodging in Yangcheng [Guangzhou].
2. Yang Xianrui (Yang Jimei) 楊顯瑞 (季眉) (early 20th c.), 4 columns in semi-cursive script, undated; 2 seals (on the mounting, fourth colophon on the left):
[two quatrains in seven-character meter lamenting Li Xiangjun’s tragic life and the past in general] The lazy woodcutter on the ochre hillside by the river, Jimei [Yang Xianrui] inscribed this in the Huqing Study to the north of Mount Zichan.
白門新柳日初斜，猶集昭陽舊暮鴉。 團扇歌翻渾不似，卻將血淚灑桃花。
猶是江南錦繡春，落花嘯鳥總傷神。 誰將家興亡感，為借佳人一寫真。 家下落國字
谿上赭麓懶樵季眉氏題於紫蟾山北之壺青閣。 [印]: 楊顯瑞印、季眉
3. Zhu Linxiang 竺麐祥 (jinshi degree, 1904), 25 columns in standard script, dated 1916; 1 seal (on the mounting above the painting):
Biography of Courtesan Li …………………………….. This copy of Li Xiangjun’s portrait was acquired by my townsman, Mr. Li Erhan, from a Mr. Chen in Guangdong, and later went to . . . Mr. Yang. On top of it there used to be Erhan’s transcription of the “Biography of Courtesan Li,” which was eaten away by mice, so I wrote it for Mr. [Ji]mei as a replacement. In the first lunar month of autumn of the bingchen year [1916] Zhu Linxiang from Renhu [Zhejiang] recorded.
4. Gao Zhenxiao 高振霄 (1877–1956, jinshi 1904), 3 columns in standard script, dated 1916; 1 seal (on the mounting, second colophon on the right):
[a quatrain in seven-character meter linking Li Xiangjun to the fate of the state] In the seventh lunar month, the autumn of the bingchen year [1916] Gao Zhenxiao inscribed.
5. Chen Kangrui 陳康瑞 (jinshi 1890), 4 columns in standard script, dated 1917; 3 seals (on the mounting, second colophon on the left):
[two seven-character-line quatrains lamenting Li Xiangjun’s tragic life and the past in general] On an autumn day in the dingsi year [1917] Jiechao Laoren [Chen Kangrui] inscribed.
渡口桃花依舊紅，繁華事散綺羅空。 惟餘家國興亡感，併入佳人血淚中。
六朝金粉付東流，玉樹歌殘恨未休。 知否秦淮樓上月，十分圓滿照中州。
丁巳秋日睫巢老人題。 [印]: 睫巢、雪樵、陳康瑞印
6. He Qimei 何其枚 (b. 1856), 4 columns in semi-cursive script, dated 1917; 2 seals (on the mounting, third colophon on the left)：
[a seven-character-line quatrain comparing Li Xiangjun with Ban Jieyu (ca. 48 – ca. 2 B. C.), a virtuous and literate imperial concubine, and Liu Rushi (1618-1664), another famous courtesan during the Ming-Qing transition] Ten days before Mid-autumn Festival in the dingsi year [September 20, 1917], He Qimei, Juanweng, from Cixi [Zhejiang] inscribed at the age of sixty-two.
7. Hu Bingzao 胡炳藻 (1862–1942), 4 columns in standard script, dated 1917; 2 seals (on the mounting, third colophon on the right):
[a seven-character-line poem reminiscing on Li Xiangjun] In the eighth lunar month in the autumn of the dingsi year [1917], Zhiweng, Hu Bingzao inscribed.
8. Hong Yunxiang 洪允祥 (1874–1933), 5 columns in semi-cursive script, dated 1917; 1 seal (on the mounting, top left):
[four seven-character-line quatrains reminiscing on Li Xiangjun and lamenting the fate of the state with multiple topical references] Three days before the Double Ninth Day in the dingsi year [1917], Hong Yunxiang.
9. Feng Kai 馮开 (1874–1931), 5 columns in semi-cursive script, dated 1917; 1 seal (on the mounting, fourth colophon on the right):
[two seven-character-line quatrains on Li Xiangjun] Mr. Yang Jimei [Yang Xianrui] asked me to inscribe the portrait of Li Xiangjun painted by Cui Wenqin [Cui He], which has long been in his collection. I responded with two quatrains. On the Double Ninth Day in the dingsi year [1917], Feng Kai.
仿佛琵琶罷唱時，媚香樓外柳如絲。 巷中人面渾依舊，不道崔郎是畫師。
黔陽詞客已黃沙，畫扇飄零付夢華。 認得君家舊明月，分明月底有桃花。
楊君季眉以舊藏崔問琴所畫李香君小影屬題，贈二絕以應。丁巳重陽日馮开 [印]: 君木
10. Fan Gengzhi 范賡治 (early 20th c.), 6 columns in semi-cursive/standard script, dated 1927; 1 seal (on the mounting, top right):
[four seven-character-line quatrains celebrating the integrity of virtuous courtesans, who were superior to the men to whom they were attached] Mr. Yang Jimei [Yang Xianrui] asked me to inscribe the portrait of Li Xiangjun that has long been in his collection. In the tenth month of the dingmao year [1927], Wenhu, Fan Gengzhi drafted.
11. Lucun 菉村 (early 20th c.), 6 columns in semi-cursive script, dated 1927; 1 seal (on the mounting, bottom right):
[four seven-character-line quatrains comparing Li Xiangjun with Chen Yuanyuan (1624–1681), another famous courtesan of the Ming-Qing transition era, and lamenting her tragic fate] In the winter of the dingmao year [1927], the Recluse of the Qi Garden, Lucun, inscribed the portrait of Li Xiangjun, which has long been in Mr. Yang Jimei’s [Yang Xianrui] collection, with four quatrains.
箇兒姿藝譟江頭，藉甚花叢第一流。 別有傷心成孤墳，殘山賸水總含秋。
太息衣冠似沐猴，欲將香餌借青樓。 燕磯新譜難邀賞，不及桃花扇底愁。
並世圓圓珠暗投，未忘故主蓄陰謀。 飄零身世都泯跡，肯抱孤芳浼濁流。
煙花伴侶擬鸞儔，驀地風波起黨鉤。 縱有丹青傳阿堵，難將恨緒訴千秋。
丁卯冬淇園小隱菉村氏題楊君季眉舊藏李香君小影四絕。 [印]: 菉村
12. Lin Yutang 林語堂 (1895–1976), 24 columns in running script, undated [after May 1934]; 1 seal (on the mounting below the painting):
Xiangjun was a woman, Whose blood dyed a fan with peach blossoms. Her righteous courage shines through history, Subjecting men to shame.
Xiangjun was a woman, Whose personality was that of a untamed spirit. Hung on the wall of my study, [Her portrait] shows me what accomplishments a person is capable of.
Nowadays among the men of the world, Who still remains untamed? Everyone changes his allegiance between sunrise and sunset. What kind of attitude is this?
In our present world, There are only peddlers and liars. I miss the ancient beauty, Who would not stir chaos among us.
In May, the twenty-third year of the Republic [1934], I purchased this portrait from Yang Jimei [Yang Xianrui] through a friend. When I hung it in my Disengagement Studio, the whole room [brightened up], its former air of callow inanity gone forever. I felt intoxicated all day long. I had been trying to acquire this painting for a long time. To own it now is the greatest joy of my life. Lin Yutang.
[1] Documentation from Shi-yee Liu, Straddling East and West: Lin Yutang, A Modern Literatus: The Lin Yutang Family Collection of Chinese Painting and Calligraphy, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2007, no. 6, pp. 37-39.
Hsiang Ju Lin , Falls Church, VA (until 2005; donated to MMA)
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Bridging East and West: The Chinese Diaspora and Lin Yutang," September 15, 2007–February 10, 2008.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Companions in Solitude: Reclusion and Communion in Chinese Art," July 31, 2021–August 14, 2022.
Liu, Shi-yee. Straddling East and West: Lin Yutang, A Modern Literatus: The Lin Yutang Family Collection of Chinese Painting and Calligraphy. Exh. cat. Edited by Maxwell K. Hearn. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2007, pp. 34–39, cat. no. 6.
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