Inscription: Artist’s inscriptions and signatures

Leaf A (1 column in standard script)

Hongshou

洪綬

Leaf B (1 column in semi-cursive script)

Hongshou

洪綬

Leaf C (1 column in semi-cursive script)

Hongshou

洪綬

Leaf D (1 column in standard script)

Chen Hongshou

陳洪綬

Leaf E (1 column signature in clerical script, inscribed on banner)

Hongshou

洪綬

Leaf G (1 column in standard script)

Hongshou

洪綬

Leaf H (1 column in standard script)

Drawn by Chen Hongshou

陳洪綬寫。

Leaf I (1 column in standard script)

Chen Hongshou

陳洪綬

Leaf J (1 column in standard script)

Hongshou

洪綬

Leaf K (1 column in seal script)

Hongshou

洪綬

Leaf L (1 column in semi-cursive script, dated 1619)

Painted by Hongshou in the jiwei year [1619].

洪綬己未年畫。

Artist's seals

Lianzi 蓮子 [Leaves A, G]
Chen Hongshou yin 陳洪綬印 [Leaf B]
Zhanghou shi 章侯氏 [Leaf C]
Chen Hongshou yin 陳洪綬印 [Leaf D]
Chen Hongshou yin 陳洪綬印 [Leaves E, J]
Zhanghou shi 章侯氏 [Leaf H]
Hongshou 洪綬 [Leaf I]
Hongshou 洪綬 [Leaf K]

Label strip

Unidentified artist, 1 column in standard script, undated; 2 illegible seals:

Lianzi [Chen Hongshou] Emulating Ancient masters. In the collection of the Zipian Lu Studio.

蓮子摹古。自偏廬藏。 [二印不辨]

Frontispiece

Weng Tonghe 翁同龢 (1830–1904), 2 columns in large clerical script followed by 9 columns in standard script [on double album leaves], undated:

Chen Zhanghou’s [Hongshou] album in the manners of earlier masters

Zhanghou [Chen Hongshou] died in the ninth year of the Shunzhi reign – the renchen year [1652]. This album is dated to the jiwei year, when the master was long dead. But if [the date] refers to the jiwei year of the Wanli reign era of the former Ming dynasty [1619], then he was barely twenty at the time. How could he have acquired such mature brushwork? I suspect that the date is a mistake for the jichou year [1649]. I greatly admire these paintings, so I have recorded this. Pingsheng [Weng Tonghe][1]

陳章侯橅古冊
章侯先生卒於順治九年壬辰。此冊題己未，則先生歿久矣。若前明萬歷己未，則年才二十，烏得此蒼古之筆？疑己丑之誤也。此畫余所矜賞，故記之。瓶生

Collectors’ seals

Zhao Rong 趙榮 (fl. ca. 1859)
Zimu 子木 (Leaf J)

Wen Tonghe 翁同龢 (1830–1904)
Jun Zhai shoucang 均齋收藏 (Leaf A)
Shuping huajian 叔平畫鑑 (Leaf LL)
Jinhu Ge Zhu 救虎閣主 (Leaf LL)

Weng Wange 翁萬戈 (1918–)
Wange zhenshang 萬戈珍賞(on second page of mounting paper inside front cover)
Weng Wange jianshang 翁萬戈鋻賞(on second page of mounting paper inside front cover)

Unidentified
Xiling siyin 喜齡私印 (Leaf L)
Luo shi jiacang 羅氏家藏 (on second page of mounting paper inside front cover)

[1] Translation from Department records.

Mr. and Mrs. Wan-go H. C. Weng , New York (until 2005; donated to MMA)

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The New Chinese Galleries: An Inaugural Installation," 1997.

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Traditional Scholarly Values at the End of the Qing Dynasty: The Collection of Weng Tonghe (1830–1904)," June 30–January 3, 1999.

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The World of Scholars' Rocks: Gardens, Studios, and Paintings," February 1–August 20, 2000.

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "A Millennium of Chinese Painting: Masterpieces from the Permanent Collection," September 8, 2001–January 13, 2002.

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Great Waves: Chinese Themes in the Arts of Korea and Japan II," March 22–September 21, 2003.

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Anatomy of a Masterpiece: How to Read Chinese Paintings," March 1–August 10, 2008.

Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, University of California at Berkeley. "Repentant Monk: Illusion and Disillusion in the Art of Chen Hongshou (1599–652)," October 25, 2017–January 28, 2018.

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Recasting the Past: The Art of Chinese Bronzes, 1100–1900," February 27, 2025–September 28, 2025.

Cahill, James. The Distant Mountains: Chinese Painting of the Late Ming Dynasty, 1570–1644. New York: Weatherhill, 1982, pp. 245–48, 262, 281, pls. 130–31.

Gao Juhan (James Cahill) 高居翰. Shan wai shan: wan Ming huihua 1570–1644 山外山：晚明繪畫（1570–1644) (The distant mountains: Chinese painting of the late Ming dynasty, 1570–1644) Translated by Wang Jiaji 王嘉驥. Taipei: Shitou chuban gongsi, 1997, pp. 308–309, figs. 7.20–.21.

Weng Wan-go 翁萬戈. Chen Hongshou 陳洪綬 (Chen Hongshou: His life and art). vol. 2, Shanghai: Shanghai renmin meishu chubanshe, 1997, pp. 31–42, cat. no. 8.

Hearn, Maxwell K. How to Read Chinese Paintings. Exh. cat. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2008, pp. 150–55, cat. no. 34.

He Muwen 何慕文 (Hearn, Maxwell K.). Ruhe du Zhongguo hua: Daduhui Yishu Bowuguan cang Zhongguo shuhua jingpin daolan 如何读中国画 : 大都会艺术博物馆藏中国书画精品导览 (How to read Chinese paintings) Translated by Shi Jing 石静. Beijing: Beijing daxue chubanshe, 2015, pp. 150–55, cat. no. 34.