Until the early 1340s, Ni Zan lived the life of a wealthy dilettante, spending his time among the precious books, antiques, and flowers of his Pure and Secluded Pavilion. His painting style at the time, as seen here, exhibits a studied archaism in which his interest in descriptive detail is at odds with his self-conscious use of calligraphic "hemp fiber" brushstrokes in the manner of tenth-century masters. Ni's gentleman seated in a rustic pavilion is shorthand for the scholar in his studio. His florid poem exhibits a similarly precious quality of one entirely absorbed in his immediate surroundings. It reads, in part:
In the bright days, bamboo wave in the breeze; In the dark nights, parasols of fir hold up the moon. Burning incense I use [a censer in the form of] a gilded duck; Gathering scattered petals, I place them inside my pillow. (trans. Wen Fong)
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元 倪瓚 秋林野興圖 軸
Title:Enjoying the Wilderness in an Autumn Grove
Artist:Ni Zan (Chinese, 1306–1374)
Period:Yuan dynasty (1271–1368)
Date:dated 1339
Culture:China
Medium:Hanging scroll; ink on paper
Dimensions:Image: 38 5/8 × 27 1/8 in. (98.1 × 68.9 cm) Overall with mounting: 8 ft. 10 7/8 in. × 35 7/8 in. (271.5 × 91.1 cm) Overall with knobs: 8 ft. 10 7/8 in. × 40 in. (271.5 × 101.6 cm)
Classification:Paintings
Credit Line:Bequest of John M. Crawford Jr., 1988
Object Number:1989.363.38
Inscription: Artist’s inscriptions and signatures[1]
(8 columns in standard script, dated 1339)
After I painted Enjoying the Wilderness in an Autumn Grove for Xiaoshan, he brought it back to me in the mid ninth month for an inscription. It happened that on the fifteenth of last month, upon seeing the blossoming cassia tree in front of my Jingchu Zhai Studio, I composed the following poem. From spring to autumn this year there hadn’t been a single day when I felt truly inspired. That was the only thing I composed, which I recorded at the left:
How I delight in autumn, both the inkstone and mat cool; With the bamboo shade rolled up, a fine dew on my robe. Forest gate and cave mouth bring forth fresh pleasures; Green rain and yellow mist enclose my remote bed. In the bright days, bamboo wave in the breeze; In the dark nights, parasols of fir hold up the moon. Burning incense I use [a censor in the form of] a gilded duck; Gathering scattered petals I place them inside my pillow. On the fourteenth day of the ninth lunar month of the jimao year [October 16, 1339], Yunlinsheng, Ni Zan.
(5 columns in standard script, dated 1354): In the winter [of the fourteenth year of the Zhizheng era], the eleventh month of the jiawu year [1354], I stopped on my travel at the South Bank of Fuli [a town near Suzhou]. Lu Mengde, who just returned from Wusung [near Shanghai], brought this to show me. It has been kept in the family of his friend, Mr. Huang Yunzhong. I painted this on a whim. It has been sixteen years since then. I sighed at the sight of it, which felt like from another world. Zan, having inscribed it a second time at the left [of the picture], gave it back. On the nineteenth day [December 3, 1354].
Gu Luofu 顧洛阜 (John M. Crawford, Jr., 1913–1988) 顧洛阜 漢光閣
Illegible: 5
[1] Translations from Department records.
John M. Crawford Jr. American, New York (until d. 1988; bequeathed to MMA)
London. Victoria and Albert Museum. "Chinese Painting and Calligraphy from the Collection of John M. Crawford, Jr.," June 17, 1965–August 1, 1965.
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. "Bridging East and West: The Chinese Diaspora and Lin Yutang," September 15, 2007–February 10, 2008.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Landscapes Clear and Radiant: The Art of Wang Hui (1632–1717)," September 9, 2008–January 4, 2009.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Yuan Revolution: Art and Dynastic Change," August 21, 2010–January 9, 2011.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The World of Khubilai Khan: Chinese Art in the Yuan Dynasty," September 28, 2010–January 2, 2011.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Chinese Gardens: Pavilions, Studios, Retreats," August 18, 2012–January 6, 2013.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Masterpieces of Chinese Painting from The Met Collection (Rotation One)," October 31, 2015–October 11, 2016.
Guo Wei 郭威, ed. Dafeng Tang mingji 大風堂名蹟 (Masterpieces from the collection of the Dafeng Tang Studio) [Taipei?]: Yayun Tang, 1954, vol. 4, pl. 14.
Zhang Zhao 張照 et al. Midian zhulin shiqu baoji 秘殿珠林石渠寶笈 (Catalogue of painting and calligraphy in the Qianlong imperial collection). Preface dated 1745. Facsimile reprint of an original manuscript copy. vol. 1, Taipei: National Palace Museum, 1971, p. 427.
James Cahill. Hills Beyond a River: Chinese Painting of the Yuan Dynasty (1279–1368) New York: Weatherhill, 1976, pl. 47.
Suzuki Kei 鈴木敬, ed. Chûgoku kaiga sogo zuroku: Daiikan, Amerika-Kanada Hen 中國繪畫總合圖錄: 第一卷 アメリカ - カナダ 編 (Comprehensive illustrated catalog of Chinese paintings: vol. 1 American and Canadian collections) Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press, 1982, p. 109, cat. no. A15-063.
Shih Shou-ch'ien, Maxwell K. Hearn, and Alfreda Murck. The John M. Crawford, Jr., Collection of Chinese Calligraphy and Painting in the Metropolitan Museum of Art: Checklist. Exh. cat. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1984, pp. 24–25, cat. no. 46.
Fong, Wen C. Beyond Representation: Chinese Painting and Calligraphy, 8th–14th Century. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1992, pp. 479–85, pls. 116, 116a, b, figs. 194a–b, 195a-b.
Bian Yongyu 卞永譽. Shigu Tang shuhua huikao 式古堂書畫彙考 (Studies of calligraphy and painting from the Shigu Tang Studio). Preface dated 1682, juan 10 of painting section. Reprinted in Zhongguo shuhua quanshu 中國書畫全書 (Compendium of classical publications on Chi ptg. & calligr.) Edited by Lu Fusheng 盧輔聖. Shanghai: Shanghai shuhua chubanshe, 1993–2000, vol. 7, pp. 66–67.
Gao Shiqi 高士奇. Jiangcun xiaoxia lu 江村銷夏錄 (Jiangcun’s notes from whiling away the summer). Preface dated 1693. Reprinted in Zhongguo shuhua quanshu 中國書畫全書 (Compendium of classical publications on Chinese painting and calligraphy) Edited by Lu Fusheng 盧輔聖. Shanghai: Shanghai shuhua chubanshe, 1993–2000, vol. 7, p. 1005.
Yu Fengqing 郁逢慶. Yu shi shuhua tiba ji 郁氏書畫題跋記 ( Colophons and inscriptions on Calligraphies and Paintings by Yu). Postscript dated 1633. Reprinted in Zhongguo shuhua quanshu 中國書畫全書 (Compendium of classical Publications on Chinese painting and calligraphy) Edited by Lu Fusheng 盧輔聖. Shanghai: Shanghai shuhua chubanshe, 1993–2000, vol. 4, p. 636.
Zhang Chou 張丑. Fashu minghua jianwen biao 法書名畫見聞表 (List of calligraphies and paintings seen and heard). 17th century. Reprinted in Zhongguo shuhua quanshu 中國書畫全書 (Compendium of classical publications on Chinese painting and calligraphy) Edited by Lu Fusheng 盧輔聖. Shanghai: Shanghai shuhua chubanshe, 1993–2000, vol. 4, p. 121.
Zhang Chou 張丑. Qinghe shuhua fang 清河書畫舫 (Painting and calligraphy barge from Qinghe). Preface dated 1616. Reprinted in Zhongguo shuhua quanshu 中國書畫全書 (Compendium of classical publications on Chinese painting and calligraphy) Edited by Lu Fusheng 盧輔聖. Shanghai: Shanghai shuhua chubanshe, 1993–2000, vol. 4, p. 354.
Zhang Chou 張丑. Qinghe shuhua fang 清河書畫舫 (Painting and calligraphy barge at Qinghe). Preface dated 1616, juan 7. Reprinted in Zhongguo shuhua quanshu 中國書畫全書 (Compendium of classical publications on Chinese painting and calligraphy) Edited by Lu Fusheng 盧輔聖. Shanghai: Shanghai shuhua chubanshe, 1993–2000, vol. 4, p. 354.
Chen Zhuan 陳撰. Yuji Shanfang huawailu 玉几山房畫外錄 (Comments on paintings from the Yuji Mountain Studio). 18th century. Reprinted in Meishu congshu 美術叢書 (Compendium of publications on fine arts), edited by Huang Binhong黄賓虹. vol. 1, Nanjing: Jiangsu guji chubanshe, 1997, p. 455.
Flacks, Marcus. Custodians of the Scholar's Way: Chinese Scholars' Objects in Precious Woods. London: Sylph Editions, 2014, p. 20.
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