Bramble-leaf Rose
Chen Banding Chinese
Not on view
In literati style, Chen has combined word and image to create a whole greater than the sum of its parts. His subject is the bramble rose with "thorns like the teeth of a saw": its image is picked out in staccato brushwork and its qualities are noted in Chen's tight hand. His advice to gardeners is:
Growing at the side of the path,
They often catch your clothes.
Border them with fence and grass
And you easily pass among them.
[Trans. adapted from Ellsworth et al, Later Chinese Painting]
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