Loading

Plum Blossoms

Wang Shishen1747

The Cleveland Museum of Art

The Cleveland Museum of Art
Cleveland, United States

Download this artwork (provided by The Cleveland Museum of Art).
Learn more about this artwork.
  • Title: Plum Blossoms
  • Creator: Wang Shishen (Chinese, 1686-1759)
  • Date Created: 1747
  • Physical Dimensions: Overall: 142.7 x 75.5 cm (56 3/16 x 29 3/4 in.)
  • Type: Painting
  • Rights: CC0
  • External Link: https://clevelandart.org/art/1985.366
  • Medium: hanging scroll, ink on paper
  • Inscriptions: Artist's 4 poems, inscription, signature, and 3 seals: Looking for plum blossoms with friends, enjoying the fresh clear day, My black shoes and cotton socks feel light. With fine groves in front of the ancient temple door, I walk to and fro, as in a painting. One clear chime breaks the silence in the Mountains, All the heroes of the Six Dynasties, after a thousand years, are forgotten. Enjoy the idle days under a Buddhist window, Plum blossoms monopolize the east wind with their branches. Next to the little stone bridge is a path leading west, Wherever you walk, your staff will touch some dike of the Sui Dynasty. Tourists love only the Ch'i-ling temple, So sea-gulls take to startled flight and horses neigh. After ten years I revisited the I-su An, The old plums are no longer on the southeast side of the garden. I pass a peaceful night, though unable to offer fragrant flowers, As bright moonlight cheerlessly falls upon the Buddhist shrine. Four poems composed on our way from the Iron Buddha Temple to the I-su An Retreat at P'ing-shan, while looking for plum blossoms with friends. Ch'ao-lin, Wang Shih-shen painted [this]. [2 seals] Wang Shih-sheng; Chin-jen fu. [seal, lower right corner] Ch'ao-lin. trans. WKH/LYSL 3 colophons, 3 additional inscriptions, and 23 additional seals: 1 inscription, dated 1739, and 2 seals of Mao Yin-k'uei (17th-18th c.); 1 colophon and 3 seals of Lu K'uei-hsün (17th-18th c.); 1 colophon and 3 seals of Chu Chin (1686-1769); 1 colophon and 4 seals of Yü Pi-k'uei (17th-18th c.); 1 inscription and 2 seals of Yao Shih-yü (1695-1749); 1 inscription and 3 seals of ? Shu-teh; 1 seal of Shen Wu (dates unknown); 1 seal of Lou Ts'un (19th c.); 2 seals of Ch'eng Ch'i (20th c.); 2 unidentified.
  • Department: Chinese Art
  • Culture: China, Qing dynasty (1644-1911)
  • Credit Line: The Kelvin Smith Collection, given by Mrs. Kelvin Smith
  • Collection: ASIAN - Hanging scroll
  • Accession Number: 1985.366
The Cleveland Museum of Art

Get the app

Explore museums and play with Art Transfer, Pocket Galleries, Art Selfie, and more

Interested in Visual arts?

Get updates with your personalized Culture Weekly

You are all set!

Your first Culture Weekly will arrive this week.

Home
Discover
Play
Nearby
Favorites