Poem by Du Fu in running-standard script 行楷書杜甫《戲題王宰畫山水圖歌詩》 (冊頁)

Object Details

• Artist

  Bada Shanren 八大山人 (朱耷) (1626-1705)

• Label

  Song Playfully Inscribed on a Landscape Painting by Wang Zai by Du Fu (712-770).

  Ten days to paint a river

  five days to paint a rock,

  An expert does not suffer feeling pressed or hurried

  Wang Zai must approve before he leaves a mark behind.

  How mighty, this landscape from the Kunlun to Fanghu,

  That hangs upon the whitened wall of your lofty hall.

  From Baling along Dongting Lake to east of far Japan,

  The river passes Red Bluff to join the Silver Stream:

  In the middle, dragons fly among the clouds and mist,

  Fishermen and boatmen pull in to riverbank and shore,

  Mountain trees are flattened by huge billows of wind.

  No one from the past equals him in painting distance,

  Just a foot must correspond to, say ten-thousand li,

  If I could get a pair of sharpened Bingzhou scissors,

  I'd slice off a half of Wusong Creek to take along.

  Translation by Stephen D. Allee

• Provenance

  To 1997

  Wang Fangyu (1913-1997), to 1997 [1]

  To 1998

  Shao F. Wang, New York and Short Hills, NJ, by descent, to 1998

  From 1998

  Freer Gallery of Art, purchased from Shao F. Wang in 1998

  Notes:

  [1] According to Curatorial Note 3, Joseph Chang and Stephen D. Allee, May 7, 1998, and Joseph Chang and Stephen D. Allee, August 18, 1998, in the object record.

• Collection

  Freer Gallery of Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  In Pursuit of Heavenly Harmony: Paintings and Calligraphy by Bada Shanren (1626-1705) from the Bequest of Wang Fangyu and Sum Wai (April 26 to October 13, 2003)

• Previous custodian or owner

  Wang Fangyu (1913-1997)

  Shao F. Wang

• Origin

  China

• Credit Line

  Purchase — funds provided by the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation in honor of the 75th Anniversary of the Freer Gallery of Art

• Type

  Calligraphy

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

  There are restrictions for re-using this media. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page.

  The information presented on this website may be revised and updated at any time as ongoing research progresses or as otherwise warranted. Pending any such revisions and updates, information on this site may be incomplete or inaccurate or may contain typographical errors. Neither the Smithsonian nor its regents, officers, employees, or agents make any representations about the accuracy, reliability, completeness, or timeliness of the information on the site. Use this site and the information provided on it subject to your own judgment. The National Museum of Asian Art welcomes information that would augment or clarify the ownership history of objects in their collections.

Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1690s

• Name

  Wang, Fangyu, Wang, Shao F.

• Place

  China

• Topic

  Art, Chinese Art, Qing dynasty (1644 - 1911), Shao F. Wang collection, Poetry

• Culture

  Chinese

• Object Type

  Calligraphy (visual works)