Physical Dimensions: Painting: 94.5 x 30.5 cm (37 3/16 x 12 in.); Overall with knobs: 202 x 55 cm (79 1/2 x 21 5/8 in.)
Provenance: Qing imperial collection [seals of Emperor Qianlong, r. 1736–1795], Zhang Yanmou 張燕謀 [1846–1913], Wen Qi 文祁 [1900s], (Jean-Pierre Dubosc [1904–1988], Paris, France, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art), The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Inscriptions: Artist's inscription, signature, and 2 seals on the separate sheet of paper above the painting:
In the empty studio sitting in deep loneliness;/
Like cool sound sending pure beauty,/
Or pendants swinging in the wind,/
Or a solitary qin suggesting running water./
Where is that sound from?/
The green poles in the courtyard,/
Clear and light like an echo,/
The sound and ears are in tune./
The sound of bamboo now very beautiful;/
My ears are also clear./
Who says the sound is in the bamboo?/
To know it depends on oneself./
A noble person is like a tall bamboo;/
A thin bamboo is like the noble man./
When the sound enters, the mind responds,/
Only one thing but artificially separated./
A bystander searching for the sound,/
But the sound can only be found in silence./
Otherwise I am still I,/
Bamboo is still bamboo./
Even if I live with bamboo every day,/
Still the music will be a thousand miles away./
Look at sound's most primeval source:/
Did it enter a zither or a lute?
Composing a poem on Listening to the Bamboo. Written by Zhengming at the Ting yun guan. Wen Zhengming
[2 seals] Wen Zhengming yin 文徵明印; Wei geng yin wu yi jiang 惟庚寅吾以降., [印] 文徵明印; 惟庚寅吾以降., 5 seals of the Qianlong emperor (r. 1736-95), [印] 金粟山藏經紙
Department: Chinese Art
Culture: China, Ming dynasty (1368–1644)
Credit Line: Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Fund
Collection: ASIAN - Hanging scroll
Accession Number: 1977.172
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