Inscription: Artist’s inscriptions and signatures

Leaf A (2 columns in standard script, dated 1757):

Painted on Chongyang Festival in the ninth month of the dingchou year of the Qianlong reign era [1757].

乾隆丁丑九月展，重陽日畫。


Leaf B (14 columns in standard script, dated 1757):

Monk Huihong Juefan (1071–1128) of the Shimen Monastery (in Yunxi, Jiangxi Province) painted plums. My reclusive friend Ding Jingshen [Ding Jing, 1695–1765] has a hanging scroll by him. Crowded with flowers and dense with branches, it is both unique and exceptional. Wang Mian (1287–1359) from Yuecheng [Kuaiji, Zhejiang] followed in his footsteps. I am only following his ideas, not imitating his forms. Several centuries later, [painters] like Wang Yan, Xin Gong, and Chen Xianzhang (active 15th c.) followed in Wang Mian’s footsteps.
Jiliu Shanmin [Jin Nong] painted and inscribed on the seventh day of the tenth month of the dingchou year [November 18, 1757] at the abode of Luo Ping, my poetry student from Guangling [Yangzhou].[1]

石門僧畫梅，吾友丁處士敬身藏一軸，密萼繁枝，孤詣獨絕，踵後塵者越城王郎。余仿其意，不求形似耳。後數百年，若王彥、辛貢、陳憲章之流，又踵越城王郎後塵也。丁丑十月七日稽留山民畫記，時在廣陵詩弟子羅聘宅。


Leaf C (4 columns in standard script):

The older the plum tree, the more energetic it becomes;
A man appears by the river inn and at the mountain tower.
The tree reaches its full purity when cold permeates every branch;
One begins to realize its previous incarnation is the bright moon.

Painting, poetry, and calligraphy by Qujiang Waishi [Jin Nong] on the tenth day of the tenth month.

老梅愈老愈精神，
水店山樓若有人。
清到十分寒滿把，
始知明月是前身。

曲江外史畫詩書，十月十日。


Leaf D (15 columns in standard script):

Sparrows chirp;
The fragrance was brought to my home on a sudden.
A branch is shining on my eyes;
Is it the snow or the plum?

Xiye Jushi [Jin Nong] painted and composed a new ci poem by lamplight on the tenth day of the tenth month.

雀查查，忽地吹香到我家。
一枝照眼，是雪是梅花。

昔耶居士小筆並填新詞，十月十日鐙下。


Leaf E (3 columns in standard script):

Family from the Shuiyue (Water Moon) Village.

Qujiang Waishi sketched on the fourteenth day

家世水月邨。

十四日曲江外史寫意。


Leaf F (1 column in standard script):

Sufaluo ji sufaluo (suvarna) painted on the fifteenth day of the tenth month.

蘇伐羅吉蘇伐羅畫，十月十五日。


Leaf G (2 columns in standard script):

A snow-white plum tree is superior to jade;
When wind stops, I stand by it enjoying counting flowers.

Qujiang Waishi painted and inscribed on the twenty-seventh day.

雪一株，玉不如，風亭小立數花鬚。

曲江外史廿七日寫並題。


Leaf H (3 columns in standard script):

In my hometown, there were a dozen of plum trees by a disserted pavilion at the foot of the Gushan Hill. The trees were in different shapes and it was said that they were planted by the immortal Bu (Lin Bu, 967–1028). Whenever plum blossomed, I always enjoyed looking at them and composed poems on the site. Now while living in Yangzhou, I recall the scenes of years ago and casually painted them again. I believe they still keep their archaic style. ujiang Waishi painted and inscribed.

吾郡孤山下荒亭之中，有梅十數，橫斜多態，相傳逋仙手植。每花時，余必吟賞其側。今客揚州，追想風格，漫尔寫此，尚不失其古貌也。曲江外史畫記。


Leaf I (3 columns in standard script):

Plum flowers are spreading downward by the traveler’s inn;
They moor the grief and sorrow of parting when friends leave.
Recently when all my old friends are leaving me,
To whom can I pick up a plum to send?

Painting, poetry and calligraphy by Jiliushanmin.

驛路梅花影倒垂，
離情别緒繫相思。
故人近日全疎我，
折一枝兒寄與誰？

稽留山民畫詩書。


Leaf J (3 columns in standard script):

A monk from the mountain send me rice;
He asked me for a playful ink painting.
I painted a few very thin plum flowers;
Their fragrance spread over the painting and into my nose.
It grows by a pine tree
till it becomes clear and pure;
Then, I shall happily invite a few friends by the river
To fetch water from a spring to match each other’s tea.

Qujiang Waishi painted and composed a new ci poem.

山僧送米，乞我墨池游戲。
極瘦梅花，畫裏酸香香撲鼻。
松下寄，寄到冷清清地。
定笑約溪翁三五，看罷汲泉鬥茶器。

曲江外史寫，並譜新詞


Leaf K (3 columns in standard script):

Music plays aloud from parties of my neighbors on the east;
Traffic noise goes on day and night around streets on the west.
Only this old man loves to have a nap after the noon;
He doesn’t want to open the door after plums blossom.

Painting, poetry, and calligraphy by Jiliushanmin.

東鄰满坐管弦鬧，
西舍終朝車馬喧。
只有老夫貪午睡，
梅花開候不開門。

稽留山民畫詩書。


Leaf L (22 columns in standard script):

A letter from a Sichuan monk came yesterday;
He asked about the plum flowers, then about the crane.
Wild plum tree and skinny crane both are fine;
Only this old man’s back and legs are sick.
Because of that I have to often close the door;
Once closed, it feels like living in a village on Mt. Luofu.
When painting plums at moonlight, the crane is nearby;
When the crane dances, it purifies my soul.
It is common for me to paint plums in exchange of rice;
How can I expect the social elite to give me free food?
I am often hungry and the crane is starving;
Carrying the crane and holding the plums I fall asleep.

Monk Lou of the Jingneng Monastery on Mt. Emei sent his pupil Adun here with a letter asking about me. I wrote a poem in response. The next month I painted this small painting and added the poem to it. Xiye Jushi inscribed.

蜀僧書來日之昨，先問梅花後問鶴。
野梅瘦鶴各平安，只有老夫病腰脚。
腰脚不利嘗閉門，閉門便是羅浮邨。
月夜畫梅鶴在側，鶴舞一回清人魂。
畫梅乞米尋常事，那得高流送米至。
我竟長饑鶴缺糧，携鶴且抱梅花睡。

峨眉山中精能院漏尊者遣單丁阿鈍持書相訊，作詩畣之。改月畫此小幅，又書此詩，昔耶居士記。


Artist’s seals

Jin Jijin yin 金吉金印 (Leaf A, H, I)
Shou men 壽、門 (Leaf B, E, F, G)
Dongxin xiansheng 冬心先生 (Leaves, C, D, L)
Nong 農 (Leaf D)
Guquan 古泉 (Leaf K)


Label strip

He Weipu 何維樸 (1842–1922 or 1844–1925), 1 column in clerical script and 2 columns in semi-cursive script, undated (on brocaded album cover):

Paintings of plums by Mr. Jin Dongxin [Jin Nong], twelve leaves, in the collection of Yun’an [Xu Yingkui, d. 1903]. Inscribed by Shisun [He Weipu].

金冬心先生畫梅十二葉，筠盦藏。詩孫題。

Collectors’ seals

Wu Yun 吳雲 (1811–1883)
二百蘭亭齋所藏書畫印 (Leaf G)

Yang Shiqi 楊士琦 (1862–1918)
杏城珍玩 (Leaf A, B, D, F, G, I, J, K, L)

Zhu Shaozhou 祝紹周 (1893–1976)
祝氏芾南收藏記 (Leaf A, B, C, D, F, G, I, J, K, L)

Zhang Boju 張伯駒 (1897–1982)
伯駒心賞 (Leaf A)
叢碧 (Leaf L)
張伯駒 (Leaf L)

Unidentified
歙南曹氏過雲樓鑒藏 (Leaf A, F)


[1] Translations are from Department records
丁敬身，即丁敬（1695–1765）。

Edward Elliott Family Collection , (by 1986, to Dillon); Douglas Dillon American, New York (until 1986; donated to MMA)

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Peach Blossom Spring," November 21, 1983–June 3, 1984.

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Text and Image: The Interaction of Painting, Poetry, and Calligraphy," January 23–August 16, 1999.

New York. China Institute in America. "A Modern Literati's Life," February 12, 1999–June 20, 1999.

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Cultivated Landscapes: Reflections of Nature in Chinese Painting with Selections from the Collection of Marie-Hélène and Guy Weill," September 10, 2002–February 9, 2003.

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Eccentric Visions: The Worlds of Luo Ping (1733–1799)," October 6, 2009–January 10, 2010.

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Noble Virtues: Nature as Symbol in Chinese Art," September 10, 2022–January 29, 2023.

Suzuki Kei 鈴木敬, ed. Chûgoku kaiga sogo zuroku: Daiikan, Amerika-Kanada Hen 中國繪畫總合圖錄: 第一卷 アメリカ - カナダ 編 (Comprehensive illustrated catalog of Chinese paintings: vol. 1 American and Canadian collections) Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press, 1982, pp. 139–40, cat. no. A17–070.