Mandarin orange

Qi Baishi Chinese

Not on view

This simple ink play by Qi Baishi evokes the squat form of a mandarin orange through a few casual flicks of the brush. Much of the rest of the composition is taken up with the artist’s inscription:

Greatly Auspicious! Playfully painted by Old Man Jieshan.
大吉。借山老人戱。

Qi’s inscription confirms the identity of the fruit, as the character for “auspicious” 吉 (ji) is close to the form and sound of the character for mandarin orange 桔 (ju).

Mandarin orange, Qi Baishi (Chinese, 1864–1957), Framed album leaf; ink on paper, China

This image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.

Open Access

As part of the Met's Open Access policy, you can freely copy, modify and distribute this image, even for commercial purposes.

API

Public domain data for this object can also be accessed using the Met's Open Access API.