Chan/Zen art and philosophy blend strict rigor with playful irreverence. The dignified image of an aging master learnedly poring over an abstruse scripture is undercut by the poetic inscription, which suggests that true enlightenment may just as well be found elsewhere:
In this volume of scripture, The words have no clear meaning. The sun rises, the moon sets, When will I finish reading it? —Translation after Wen C. Fong
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元 佚名 玉谿思珉題贊 對月圖 軸
Title:Reading a sutra by moonlight
Artist:Unidentified artist , early 14th century
Period:Yuan dynasty (1271–1368)
Date:ca. 1332
Culture:China
Medium:Hanging scroll; ink on paper
Dimensions:Image: 29 3/8 x 13 in. (74.6 x 33 cm) Overall with mounting: 59 x 13 5/8 in. (149.9 x 34.6 cm) Overall with knobs: 59 x 15 1/2 in. (149.9 x 39.4 cm)
Classification:Paintings
Credit Line:Edward Elliott Family Collection, Purchase, The Dillon Fund Gift, 1982
Accession Number:1982.3.2
Inscription: Artist's seal (spurious)
Muxi 牧谿
Inscription
Yuxi Simin 玉谿思珉 (d. 1337), 5 columns in semi-cursive script, undated; 1 seal:
In this one volume of sutra, The words have no clear meaning. The sun rises, the moon sets, When will I finish reading it? [1] Inscribed by Simin of the Baofu [Temple]. [Seal]: Yuxi
只這一卷經，字字無分曉。 日出月又落，幾時看得了。 保福思珉讚。 [印]：玉谿
[1] Trans. from Wen C. Fong, Beyond Representation: Chinese Painting and Calligraphy 8th–14th Century. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1992, p. 361.
[ Ellen B. Elliott , Princeton, NJ, 1981; sold to MMA]
Lawrence. Spencer Museum of Art, University of Kansas. "Latter Days of the Law: Images of Chinese Buddhism, 850–1850," August 28, 1994–October 9, 1994.
Asian Art Museum of San Francisco. "Latter Days of the Law: Images of Chinese Buddhism, 850–1850," November 16, 1994–January 11, 1995.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Traditional Scholarly Values at the End of the Qing Dynasty: The Collection of Weng Tonghe (1830–1904)," June 30–January 3, 1999.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Text and Image: The Interaction of Painting, Poetry, and Calligraphy," January 23–August 16, 1999.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "A Millennium of Chinese Painting: Masterpieces from the Permanent Collection," September 8, 2001–January 13, 2002.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Douglas Dillon Legacy: Chinese Painting for the Metropolitan Museum," March 12–August 8, 2004.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Secular and Sacred: Scholars, Deities, and Immortals in Chinese Art," September 10, 2005–January 8, 2006.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Brush and Ink: The Chinese Art of Writing," September 2, 2006–January 21, 2007.
New York. Japan Society Gallery. "Awakenings: Zen Figure Painting in Medieval Japan," March 28, 2007–June 14, 2007.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The World of Khubilai Khan: Chinese Art in the Yuan Dynasty," September 28, 2010–January 2, 2011.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Another World Lies Beyond: Chinese Art and the Divine," August 24, 2019–January 5, 2020.
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, p. 126, cat. no. A17-004.
Fong, Wen C. Beyond Representation: Chinese Painting and Calligraphy, 8th–14th Century. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1992, pp. 356–59, pls. 79, 79a.
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