Qian Xuan was one of the first scholar-painters to unite poetry, painting, and calligraphy within a single work. In Pear Blossoms a perfect interplay of poetic and pictorial imagery has been achieved. The artist's poem may be translated as follows:
All alone by the veranda railing, teardrops drenching the branches, Although her face is unadorned, her old charms remain; Behind the locked gate, on a rainy night, how she is filled with sadness. How differently she looked bathed in golden waves of moonlight, before the darkness fell.
Unlike Emperor Huizong's (r. 1101–25) Finches and Bamboo, which demonstrates a commitment to an accurate rendering of nature, Qian Xuan's flowering branch and the fading beauty it represents are expressions of the artist's personal feelings. Rather than rendering an objective description of the physical beauty of pear blossoms, Qian drew in a fine calligraphic line and used flat schematic patterns in elegant pale colors to create a mood of cool detachment, reflective of his state of mind. The tender lyricism of the poem is also fully present in his calligraphy, in which the brushstrokes echo the languidly twisting movement of the pear leaves.
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Outer wrapping
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Artwork Details
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元 佚名 倣錢選 梨花圖 卷
Title:Pear Blossoms
Artist:Unidentified
Artist: After Qian Xuan (Chinese, 1239–1301)
Period:Yuan dynasty (1271–1368)
Date:ca. 1280
Culture:China
Medium:Handscroll; ink and color on paper
Dimensions:Image: 12 5/16 x 37 7/8 in. (31.3 x 96.2 cm) Overall with mounting: 12 5/8 x 34 ft. 9 1/8 in. (32.1 x 1059.5 cm)
Classification:Paintings
Credit Line:Purchase, The Dillon Fund Gift, 1977
Object Number:1977.79
Inscription: Artist’s inscription and signature (4 columns in semi-cursive/standard script)
The lonely tear-stained face, teardrops drenching the branches, Though washed of makeup, her old charms remain. Behind the closed gate, on a rainy night, how she is filled with sadness. How differently she looked bathed in golden waves of moonlight, before darkness fell [1].
Old Man on the Zha Stream, Qian Xuan, Shunju
寂寞闌干淚滿枝， 洗粧猶帶舊風姿。 閉門夜雨空愁思， 不似金波欲暗時。
霅谿翁錢選舜舉
Artist's seals
錢氏 舜舉印章 舜舉 錢選之印 霅谿翁錢選舜舉畫印
Other inscription on the painting
Xiang Yuanbian 項元汴 (1525–1590), 1 column in standard script, undated:
Yi 貽 (inventory character)
Outer label strip
Pan Zhengwei 潘正煒 (1791–1850), 1 column in clerical script, undated; 1 seal:
宋遺老錢玉潭梨花卷 [印]：潘氏聼颿樓藏
Inner label strip
Yongxing 永瑆 (1752–1823) [11th son of Emperor Qianlong], 2 columns in standard script, undated; 1 seal:
Qian Shunju’s [Qian Xuan] Pear Blossoms with eighteen poetic colophons by people of the Yuan and Ming periods. Yijin Zhai [seal]: Yijin Zhai
錢舜舉梨花 元明人詩題計十八則。詒晉齋 [印]：詒晉齋
Colophons
1. Ma Zhuan 馬顓 (active late 14th c.), 5 columns in semi-cursive/standard script, undated; 3 seals:
Sir Percival David , London (until d. 1964); his widow, Lady David , later Mrs. Sheila Riddell, London (1964–1977; sold to MMA)
Cleveland Museum of Art. "Chinese Art Under the Mongols," October 1, 1968–November 4, 1968.
New York. Asia House Gallery. "Chinese Art Under the Mongols," January 9, 1969–February 2, 1969.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Peach Blossom Spring," November 21, 1983–June 3, 1984.
Zurich. Museum Rietberg. "The Mandate of Heaven: Emperors and Artists in China," April 2, 1996–July 7, 1996.
Museum für Asiatische Kunst, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin. "The Mandate of Heaven: Emperors and Artists in China," August 3, 1996–November 10, 1996.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The New Chinese Galleries: An Inaugural Installation," 1997.
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. 26–27, cat. no. A1-135.
Fong, Wen C. Beyond Representation: Chinese Painting and Calligraphy, 8th–14th Century. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1992, pp. 310–14, pls. 69, 69a, fig. 136.
Gu Fu 顧復. Pingsheng zhuangguan 平生壯觀 (Magnificent things seen in my life). Preface dated 1692, juan 9. Reprinted in Zhongguo shuhua quanshu 中國書畫全書 (Compendium of classical publications on Chinese painting and calligraphy) Edited by Lu Fusheng 盧輔聖. vol. 4, Shanghai: Shanghai shuhua chubanshe, 1993–2000, vol. 4, p. 986.
Pan Zhengwei 潘正煒. Tingfan Lou xuke shuhua ji 聼帆樓續刻書畫記 (Sequel to catalogue of calligraphies and paintings recorded at the Tingfan Lou Studio). Preface dated 1849. Reprinted in Zhongguo shuhua quanshu 中國書畫全書. Edited by Lu Fusheng 盧輔聖. Shanghai: Shanghai renmin meishu chubanshe, 1993–2000, vol. 11, pp. 905–906.
Wu Sheng 吳升. Daguan lu 大觀錄 (Records from a grand view). Preface dated 1712, juan 11. Reprinted in Zhongguo shuhua quanshu 中國書畫全書 (Compendium of classical publications on Chinese painting and calligraphy) Edited by Lu Fusheng 盧輔聖. Shanghai: Shanghai shuhua chubanshe, 1993–2000, vol. 8, pp. 461–62.
Wu Rongguang 吳榮光. Xinchou Xiaoxia ji 辛丑銷夏記 (Notes from the summer of the xinchou year), mid-19th century, juan 4, pp. 2a-4a. Reprinted in Zhongguo shuhua quanshu 中國書畫全書 (Compendium of classical publications on Chinese painting and calligraphy) Edited by Lu Fusheng 盧輔聖. Shanghai: Shanghai shuhua chubanshe, 1993–2000, vol. 13, pp. 893–94.
Yang Zhenguo 杨振国. Haiwai cang Zhongguo lidai ming hua: Liao, Jin, Xixia, Yuan 海外藏中国历代名画: 辽, 金, 西夏, 元 (Famous paintings of successive periods in overseas collections) Edited by Lin Shuzhong 林树中. vol. 4, Changsha: Hunan meishu chubanshe, 1998, pp. 104–105, pl. 59.
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