- Provenance
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To 1997
Wang Fangyu (1913-1997) and Sum Wai (1918-1996), to 1997 [1]To 1998
Shao F. Wang, New York and Short Hills, NJ, by descent, to 1998 [2]From 1998
Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Shao F. Wang in 1998Notes:
[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.
[2] See note 1.
- Previous Owner(s) and Custodian(s)
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Shao F. Wang
Wang Fangyu 1913-1997
Sum Wai 1918-1996
- Label
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Bada Shanren painted this undated work for a friend as a medium of social exchange and explained his motivation in an accompanying inscription that consists of a four line poem and short postscript. The theme of the painting and poem is the shaoyao peony, a popular garden plant. According to his postscript, Bada created this work on the annual celebration of the Birthday of Flowers--a festival that occurs on the twelfth day of the second lunar month--and was evidently responding to a poem written by his friend on the subject of the crab apple, which blooms at this time of year. Bada's poem reads:
I perused the classics, unnumbered glosses from the Han,
Lord Shao could not do any better than our feast today.
I dispatch this lovely flower within its pearl of jade:
Tell people just to wait until the later days of spring.
In the first two lines, Bada is simply saying: "I have looked diligently through the texts of antiquity and can find no record of a feast as sumptuous as the one we are enjoying today on the Birthday of Flowers." In the last two lines, Bada symbolically sends this painting of a budding shaoyao peony--which blossoms during the fourth lunar month--to remind his friend that in just a few weeks it will bloom even more splendidly than even the crab apple and other second-month flowers.
Poem translated by Stephen D. Allee
- Published References
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- Kristen Chiem. Paintings, Peonies, and Ming Loyalism in Qing-Dynasty China, 1644-1795. vol. 67, Number 1 Durham, NC. p. 99, fig, 10.
- Joseph Chang, Quianshen Bai, (Catalogue) Stephen Allee. In Pursuit of Heavenly Harmony: Paintings and Calligraphy by Bada Shanren from the Bequest of Wang Fangyu and Sum Wai. Exh. cat. Washington. cat. 23, pp. 110-111.
- Thomas Lawton, Thomas W. Lentz. Beyond the Legacy: Anniversary Acquisitions for the Freer Gallery of Art and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. vol. 1 Washington, 1998. pp. 244-251.
- Collection Area(s)
- Chinese Art
- Web Resources
- Google Cultural Institute
- SI Usage Statement
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CC0 - Creative Commons (CC0 1.0)
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