In 1799, the scholar Cao Zhenxiu wrote a cycle of sixteen poems about famous women of history and legend. Not content with the usual heroines—chaste widows and filial daughters—Cao selected women of more diverse talents, foregrounding poets, calligraphers, and warriors and arguing for an expanded notion of female virtue. She then commissioned the young virtuoso painter Gai Qi to illustrate her poems. Although some of the scenes take place indoors, several of them feature garden settings, including the ones you see here. Light in ink tone, Gai’s images display a seemingly endless variety of brushwork, from dry, rounded strokes to evoke the rough texture of rocks to pinpoint black lines to describe sharp grasses.
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Credit Line:Purchase, Bequests of Edna H. Sachs and Flora E. Whiting, by exchange; Fletcher Fund, by exchange; Gifts of Mrs. Harry Payne Bingham and Mrs. Henry J. Bernheim, by exchange; and funds from various donors, by exchange, 2016
Object Number:2016.362a–t
Inscription: Artist’s inscriptions and signatures
Leaf A-P: 16 paintings by Gai Qi with no artist’s inscription or signature
Leaf AA-PP: 16 inscriptions by Cao Zhenxiu [1]
Leaf AA (4 columns in standard script)
The Maiden Magu Selling Wine
In Penglai her duty was to harvest mulberry, Scattering rice in the air, her bird-like claws reached far. Her cunning gone, she turned into an old woman, All she could do was to sell wine in Yuhang.
[Signed] Moqin
麻姑賣酒 蓬萊按部記栽桑，撒米空中鳥爪長。狡獪漸除成一姥，祇堪賣酒向餘杭。 墨琴
Leaf BB (4 columns in standard script)
Lady Hongfu Combing her Hair
A single stroke of the comb mesmerized this man of valor, At the morning toilet, at a hostel, they spoke to the Bearded Hero. The beauty in red had barely awakened and was languidly stretching, She had not combed her hair [since fleeing from] the Sui Palace.
[Signed] Moqin
紅拂梳頭 眼底英䧺一拂中，曉妝逆旅話髯公。絳仙此際朝酲懶，猶未梳頭大業宮。 墨琴
Leaf CC (4 columns in standard script)
Cailuan Copied the Rhyme Dictionary
For more than ten years she toiled, copying out rhyme dictionaries, Bound in “dragon-scale format,” they were sold to afford relief to the scholar [2]. Now it was time to ride on the tiger’s back and return to the mountain abode, Having left the earth, she and her beloved lived like a pair of immortals.
[Signed] Moqin
彩鸞寫韻 寫韻辛勤已十年，龍鱗裝褙到公權。于今跨虎歸山去，別作雙雙世外仙。 墨琴
Leaf DD (4 columns in standard script)
Queen Mother [of the West] by the Celestial Pond
Walls of twelve layers enclosed a banquet room and the music of the sheng, When the Song of Yellow Bamboo [was sung], it silenced the sound of the horse’s hooves. Why don’t you linger a little longer with the Queen Mother? Under peach blossoms you may ask for the secret of long life.
[Signed] Zhenxiu
王母瑤池 層城十二宴吹笙，黃竹歌成駿足輕。何不小留依阿母，碧桃花下問長生。 貞秀
Leaf EE (4 columns in standard script)
Lady Xuanwen Teaching the Classics
At the Qu Terrace, discussions were focused on these lacquered slips and scroll writings, A crimson silk curtain was, by imperial decree, placed at the rear of the house. The family heritage of the Book of Rituals adhered to [the teachings of] Ma [Rong] and Zheng [Xuan]; Its transmission, however, lay in the hands of a woman.
[Signed] Moqin Nüshi
宣文授經 漆簡雲書議曲臺，絳紗敕向後堂開。禮家馬鄭尊師說，卻自裠釵授受來。 墨琴女史
Leaf FF (4 columns in standard script)
Zhaorong Appraising Poetry She was ordered to assess the literary merits in the Jinglong court (707–710), It was like pitting night-shining pearls against a bright moon. Princess Taiping aided her in printing her literary collections, So incomparable were these, even the leading literatus, the Duke of Yan, bowed to her talent.
[Signed] Zhenxiu
昭容枰詩 應奉文章說景龍，夜珠明月較量工。太平公主刊遺集，拜倒朝端燕國公。 貞秀
Leaf GG (4 columns in standard script)
Meng Guang Carrying an Urn
To prepare a meal was no easy matter, toiling as she must, She could not buy her spouse the verdant hills for reclusion. When could she build a thatched cottage to occupy in Gaoqiao, To send her aging spouse to live amidst reed curtains and papered doorways.
[Signed] Zhenxiu
孟光提甕 井臼勞勞一飯艱，未能偕隱買青山。何時結屋皋橋住，送老蘆簾帋閤閒。 貞秀
Leaf HH (4 columns in standard script)
The Weaving Maiden Crossing the Milky Way
The Milky Way has no bridge; one must wait for [a flock of] magpies to form it, Year after year, she regretted the error of her past. By the seventh day of the seventh month, she had produced piles of brocades, Yet they could not be the dowry for her betrothal to the cowherd boy.
Inscribed by Moqin Nüshi.
織女渡河 銀漢無橋待鵲填，湔車惆悵過年年。七襄枉自堆雲錦，難與牽牛抵聘錢。 墨琴女史題。
Leaf II (4 columns in standard script)
Yuzhen’s Conversion to Daoism
Her Doaist crucible and ingredients were being placed near the painted screen, Pursuing her desire, she cultivates her true essence atop the Southern Marchmount. The talisman for thunder and the beautiful scripts are being formed under a soft brus, For it is her wish to copy by hand the Spiritual Flight Sutra.
[Signed] Moqin Nüshi
玉真入道 丹竈砂牀近畫屏，欲隨南嶽鍊真形。雷符雲篆柔豪下，自寫靈飛六甲經。 墨琴女史
Leaf JJ (4 columns in standard script)
Luofu Harvesting Mulberry Leaves
Five horses illuminated the road ahead, While she carried a basket on a remote southern path. Even though [the master] did not command a thousand riders to head east. The Lady Luofu already had a rightful spouse.
[Signed] Moqin
羅敷採桑 五馬生光照路衢，提筺南陌傍城隅。便無千騎東方擁，也道羅敷自有夫。 墨琴
Leaf KK (4 columns in standard script)
The Qiao Sisters Reading Books Together
The spring deepened at Tongque [Terrace] and the bathing of silkworms had ceased, The sisters sat on an embroidered couch and opened a book together. As the Yinfu [Jing] was more suited to their husbands, Against blossoming flowers they read the Ernan.
[Signed] Moqin Nüshi
二喬觀書 銅雀春深罷浴蠶，繡墩雙坐共開函。陰符只合郎君讀，更向花前讀二南。 墨琴女史
Leaf LL (4 columns in standard script)
Ban Zhao Writing History
The task still undone, an imperial edict was sent to the Orchid Terrace to command its completion, At Dongguang Imperial Library, permission was granted for a refined presence, The repository of knowledge and literary flair now could be unveiled through the historian’s brush, It was not enough to awe the throng of scholars by one’s poetic gift.
[Signed] Zhenxiu
班昭修史 蘭臺餘業詔重修，東觀藏書許細紬。金匱文高看史筆，未甘詞賦壓羣流。 貞秀
Leaf MM (4 columns in standard script)
The Heavenly Maiden Scattering Flowers
By the couch where Vimalakirti lay, the Longhua assembly was set to begin, The fair blossoms, however, did not stick to the monk’s robe. The romantic pairing of hearts is but a worldly illusion, Were one to scatter flowers, it would best be the Manjusaka.
[Signed] Moqin Nüshi
天女散花 維摩榻畔會龍華，未見繽紛上戒裟。並蒂同心皆世幻，散花須散曼殊花。 墨琴女史
Leaf NN (4 columns in standard script)
Madame Wei Shuo Practicing Calligraphy
How impenetrable it is, this Battle Array [of the Brush], with strokes like zhi and bo, The fair lady brought her own style of calligraphy, however wrongly transmitted. Zhong [You], Wang [Xizhi], Yu [Shinan], and Chu [Suiliang] each sought a personal style, But the best was none other than this old woman.
[Signed] Zhenxiu
衛鑠臨池 筆陣森嚴磔與波，簪花有帖幾傳訛。鍾王虞褚尋書派，咄咄人閒數阿婆。 貞秀
Leaf OO (4 columns in standard script)
Zhongji’s Audience in the Inner Court
From Xingqing Palace she returned, her jade pendants tinkling, So refined is her family, they were all skilled in the art of calligraphy. By imperial decree, her Thousand Character Essay was embellished in jade, A Golden Lotus Lantern guided her straight back home.
[Signed] Zhenxiu
仲姬內宴 興慶朝回響珮琚，一家風雅揔能書。千文准敕教裝玉，也抵金蓮送直廬。 貞秀
Leaf PP (5 columns in standard script, dated 1799)
Madame Xi Volunteering Her Services
Outside the tent, light from swords brightened the banner, After Madame Xi, how many heroines can we count? The peach-flower [lady] returns late on horseback, Dripping with pearly sweat, her warrior robe was wet through and through.
Written aboard the Boat of Frothing Waves in the fourth year of the Jiaqing period, the jiwei year, three days before the summer solstice. [Signed] Moqin Nüshi, Cao Zhenxiu
1. Wang Qisun 王芑孫 (1755–1817), 9 columns in semi-cursive script, undated; 2 seals (Leaf Q):
As a couple, we have each written tihua shi [poems meant to be inscribed on paintings] for Qiyun [Shen Shu 沈恕,1775–1812]. We mounted these poems together in one scroll and stored the scroll in the Old Ni Garden. We then commissioned paintings of these poems from Gai Qi so that we could mount the pictures and poems into an album, and for this purpose we had to rewrite the poems. Afterwards, worried that opportunists might set their eyes on it and take it away surreptitiously or by force, we have solicited colophons from people to ensure our ownership. Although this work is like a cart of rustic straw sandals, we treasure it like a pair of jade. Isn’t this a bit overboard?[3] Written by Lengqie Shanren [Wang Qisun]. [Seals]: Wang Qisun, Oubo
2. Liao Yunjin 廖雲錦 (active ca. 1800), 1 column in standard script, dated 1800; 1 double-seal (Leaf PP):
嘉慶五年歲在庚申正月甲子青溪女史廖氏雲錦觀。 [印]：雲、錦
3. Guo Fengliang 郭鳳梁 (active mid-19th c.), 1 column in clerical script, dated 1842; 1 seal (Leaf R):
道光辛丑子月廿三日吳門郭鳳梁季乕甫敬觀于洞庭東麓。 [印]：鳳梁眼福
Title strip
Wu Hufan 吳湖帆 (1894–1968), 2 columns in semi-cursive script, dated 1946; 2 seals (on the brocade paperboard cover):
Album of Famous Women, painted by Gai Qixiang [Gai Qi] and inscribed by Cao Moqin [Cao Zhenxiu], title strip written on a spring day of the bingxu year, Wu Hufan. [Seals]: Wu, Dongzhuang
改七薌畫，曹墨琴題《列女圖》冊 丙戌春日吳湖帆署籤。 [印]：吳、東莊
[1] The inscriptions are translated by Ju-hsi Chou, in Journeys on Paper and Silk: The Roy and Marilyn Papp Collection of Chinese Painting. Exh. cat. Phoenix, AZ: Phoenix Art Museum, 1998, cat. 44, pp. 138-146. Modified. [2] “Dragon-scale format” (longlin zhuang 龍鱗裝) is a traditional format for binding books. [3] Translation after Anqi Xu.
Roy and Marilyn Papp , Phoenix, Ariz.（by 1998–d. 2016; her estate sale, The Roy and Marilyn Papp Collection of Chinese Paintings, Sotheby’s New York, September 14, 2016, lot 595, as "Gai Qi (1773-1828), Cao Zhenxiu (1762–ca 1822); Famous Women," to MMA)
Phoenix Art Museum. "Journeys on Paper and Silk: The Roy and Marilyn Papp Collection of Chinese Painting," February 28, 1998–April 19, 1998.
Nashville. Frist Center for the Visual Arts. "Lyrical Traditions: Four Centuries of Chinese Paintings from the Papp Collection," June 22, 2007–October 7, 2007.
Phoenix Art Museum. "Hidden Meanings of Love and Death: Selections from the Marilyn and Roy Papp Collection," April 27, 2013–September 2, 2013.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Streams and Mountains without End: Landscape Traditions of China," August 26, 2017–January 6, 2019.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Companions in Solitude: Reclusion and Communion in Chinese Art," July 31, 2021–August 14, 2022.
Chou, Ju-hsi. Journeys on Paper and Silk:The Roy and Marilyn Papp Collection of Chinese Painting. Exh. cat. Phoenix, AZ: Phoenix Art Museum, 1998, pp. 136–46, cat. no. 44.
Li, Junyi. Hidden Meanings of Love and Death in Chinese Painting: Selections from the Marilyn and Roy Papp Collection. Exh. cat. Phoenix, Arizona: Phoenix Art Museum, 2013, pp. 37, 87, cat. no. 13, figs. 18–23.
Brown, Claudia. Great Qing: Painting in China, 1644–1911. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2014, p. 139, fig. 5.11.
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