This poem, written in the running-script style of Huang Tingjian (1045–1105), is one of two poems by Wen appended to this painting. Both texts reveal Wen Zhengming's early study of the Northern Song master's large-scale calligraphy. Wen Zhengming devoted his life to the revival and creative reinterpretation of the expressive traditions of Song and Yuan painting and calligraphy. Wen particularly admired the writing style of Huang Tingjian, a passion he acquired from his mentor Shen Zhou (1427–1509). Wen's bold calligraphy stands in marked contrast to the officially sanctioned standard-script style practiced by court bureaucrats and reflects his independent nature.
A final colophon by Wen explains the circumstances surrounding the poems' creation. Wen wrote the poems in 1512 for his friend Qian Tongai (1475–1549). The poems were subsequently acquired by Nanzhou, abbot of the Tianwang Temple. When Wen visited Nanzhou in 1515 he saw his poems and appended his colophon.
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Artwork Details
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明 文徵明 東林避暑圖 卷
Title:Summer retreat in the eastern grove
Artist:Wen Zhengming (Chinese, 1470–1559)
Period:Ming dynasty (1368–1644)
Date:calligraphy datable to 1512
Culture:China
Medium:Handscroll; ink on paper
Dimensions:Image (painting): 12 1/2 × 42 1/2 in. (31.8 × 108 cm) Image (colophon): 12 1/2 × 38 3/8 in. (31.8 × 97.5 cm) Overall with mounting: 13 in. × 9 ft. 9 1/2 in. (33 × 298.5 cm)
Classification:Paintings
Credit Line:Bequest of John M. Crawford Jr., 1988
Accession Number:1989.363.60
Inscription: Artist's inscriptions and signatures
1. 1 column in semi-cursive script, on the left-end of the painting:
Written by Wen Bi of Yanmen (in Shanxi Province, the ancestral home of the Wen family).
雁門文壁寫。
2. Three poems with a colophon in 55 columns in semi-cursive and cursive scripts, datable to 1512:
In the marshland it is deep spring and the foggy rains have ended; By the Yuecheng Bridge bank, the turbulent waters flow on. Wisps of clouds going westward are floating among green isles; The setting sun shines in mid-river on rising white gulls. Village shops are lonely and still—it’s the “Cold Food Festival”; The traveler is far away upon a magnolia boat. The fragrance fills the day while the east wind flurries; Though I would like to gather shore flowers, I cannot do so. “Done in a Boat on Stone Lake during the Cold Food Festival”
Outside the city in the green mist the willow leaves are tender, Going westward over (Lake) Dongting the waters are vast and gentle. I do not see my old friend by the crabapple oar, Swallows fly evenly over the islands of duruo flowers. As the sun falls the evening wind blows my night wine, The sky is cool and the river grasses call forth new sadness. Good time is loneliness—spring is like this. Ungrateful for the mountain flowers, I put them in my hair. “Remembrance While Walking Alone by a Stream on the Shangsi Festival”
In a lofty studio while the sun was setting, we casually did what others have done: With wine-cups we lingered, with laughter. Fragrant grasses filled the yard and swallows were on the wing. In the evening cool a gentle rain fell on the wutong trees. River fish plump as cooked jade—circling chopsticks. The green trees had stored springtime—a reddish glow. Relaxing, no doubts, and return was all the slower, I was at home in that lake lodge of the “Mountain-loving Gentleman.” “Drinking during a Late Rain in Mr. Tang’s Garden Pavilion”
Wen Bi, Zhengming, has just written this at a place deep within the verdant green bamboo area of Mr. Qian’s Western Garden.[1]
Previously I wrote this at Kongzhou’s [Qian Tong’ai, 1475–1549] place, and did not know that this was (since) acquired by Nanzhou. On the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month of the yihai year [1515] I happened to pass by the Tianwang Temple. Examining it, there welled up feelings of sadness. It has been three years since I wrote it. Each day my powers fail. I doubt that I could do this again. Zhengming again inscribed.[2]
[1] Translation by James Robinson. In Richard Edwards et al., The Art of Wen Cheng-ming: 1470–1559. Exh. cat. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Museum of Art, 1976, p. 71. Modified.] [2] Translation by James Robinson. Ibid., p. 72. Modified.
John M. Crawford Jr. American, New York (until d. 1988; bequeathed to MMA)
London. Victoria and Albert Museum. "Chinese Painting and Calligraphy from the Collection of John M. Crawford, Jr.," June 17, 1965–August 1, 1965.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Great Waves: Chinese Themes in the Arts of Korea and Japan II," March 22–September 21, 2003.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Chinese Painting, Masterpieces from the Permanent Collection," August 28, 2004–February 20, 2005.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Four Seasons," January 28–August 13, 2006.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Brush and Ink: The Chinese Art of Writing," September 2, 2006–January 21, 2007.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Arts of the Ming Dynasty: China's Age of Brilliance," January 23–September 13, 2009.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Yuan Revolution: Art and Dynastic Change," August 21, 2010–January 9, 2011.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Chinese Gardens: Pavilions, Studios, Retreats," August 18, 2012–January 6, 2013.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Companions in Solitude: Reclusion and Communion in Chinese Art," July 31, 2021–August 14, 2022.
Midian zhulin shiqu baoji sanbian 秘殿珠林石渠寶笈三編 (Catalogue of painting and calligraphy in the Qianlong imperial collection, third series). Preface dated 1816. Facsimile reprinted of an original manuscript copy. 10 vols. vol. 3, Taipei: National Palace Museum, 1969, pp. 1908–09.
Weng, Wan-go, and Thomas Lawton. Chinese Painting and Calligraphy: A Pictorial Survey: 69 Fine Examples from the John Crawford, Jr. Collection. New York: Dover Publications, 1978, pp. 68–69, cat. no. 32.
Nakata Yūjirō 中田勇次郎, and Fu C. Y. Shen 傅申. Ō-Bei shūzō Chūgoku hōsho meiseki shū 歐米收藏中國法書名蹟集 (Masterpieces of Chinese calligraphy in American and European collections) vol. 1, Tokyo: Chūōkōron-sha, 1981–82, pp. 46–49, pls. 43–46.
Shih Shou-ch'ien, Maxwell K. Hearn, and Alfreda Murck. The John M. Crawford, Jr., Collection of Chinese Calligraphy and Painting in the Metropolitan Museum of Art: Checklist. Exh. cat. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1984, p. 28, cat. no. 68.
Clunas, Craig. Elegant debts: The Social Art of Wen Zhengming, 1470–1559. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2004, pp. 60–61, fig. 21.
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