"Peach Blossom Spring," as first told by the poet Tao Qian (365–427), is the tale of a fisherman who, having followed a stream lined with blossoming peach trees, stumbles upon an idyllic community that for generations has been sequestered from political and social upheavals. He eventually takes his leave, but when he tries to find the stream again, it has vanished.
In Zhang Hong's keenly observed interpretation, the viewer is led from a winding stream through a cloudbank to the spot where the fisherman, oar in hand, first encounters the sheltered people, whose clothing styles haven't changed since the Qin dynasty (221–207 B.C.). The remainder of the scroll lovingly examines the ageless rhythms of rural life, especially those related to rice cultivation and silk production. Painted just six years before the collapse of the Ming dynasty, this vision of a utopian world must have been especially appealing.
Zhang Hong, a native of Suzhou, was an accomplished landscape and figure painter who became known as a Ming loyalist in the early years of the Manchu Qing dynasty (1644–1911). Mounted after Zhang's painting is another version of the story composed by Wang Wei (701–761), and transcribed by Zhang's fellow townsman Fan Yunlin (1558–1641), a scholar-official and calligrapher.
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Artwork Details
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清 張宏 桃源勝概圖 卷
Title:Peach Blossom Spring
Artist:Zhang Hong (Chinese, 1577–after 1652)
Period:Ming dynasty (1368–1644)
Date:dated 1638
Culture:China
Medium:Handscroll; ink and color on paper
Dimensions:Image: 9 1/2 × 74 5/8 in. (24.1 × 189.5 cm) Overall with mounting: 11 in. × 21 ft. 1 5/8 in. (28 × 644.2 cm)
Classification:Paintings
Credit Line:Gift of Julia and John Curtis, 2015
Object Number:2015.784.3
Inscription: Artist’s inscription and signature (5 columns in semi-cursive script)
In my spare time while returning from Piling by boat on a spring day of the wuyin year (1638), I came across some plain paper and painted Peach Blossom Spring on it. [Signed] Zhang Hong
戊寅春日，毗陵歸櫂之暇，偶有素紙，作《桃源勝概圖》。張宏
Artist’s seals
Zhang Hong 張宏 Jundu shi 君度氏
Label strip
Xia Qingyi 夏清貽 (1876–1940), 2 columns in seal and clerical scripts, undated; 1 seal:
明張君度《桃原勝概圖》卷 定遠齋藏。夏清貽謹署。[印]：清貽
Frontispiece
Cai Yu 蔡榆 (17th c.), 4 large characters in clerical script and 1 column in semi-cursive script, undated; 1 seal:
桃源勝概 壽白 [印]：蔡榆書畫
Colophons
1. Zou Zhilin 鄒之麟 (1574–ca. 1654), 6 columns in semi-cursive script, undated; 1 seal:
張君此卷全倣趙千里，而以己意出之，洵是神品，觀者勿以今人而忽之。晉陵逸老跋。 [印]：臣虎
2. Fan Yunlin 范允臨 (1558–1641), 28 columns in semi-cursive script, undated; 2 seals:
Zhao Qianli’s [Zhao Boju 趙伯駒, died ca. 1162] painting Peach Blossom Spring, accompanied with Song Siling’s [Emperor Song Gaozong 宋高宗, 1107–1187, r. 1127–1162] transcription of the rhymed prose and Li Xiya’s [Li Dongyang 李東陽, 1447–1516] inscription, is a masterpiece of all times and widely celebrated. Li Guodong, the magistrate of Jiaxing [in Zhejiang province] in the early Qing, inherited it. Lan Diesou [Lan Ying 藍瑛, 1585–ca. 1664] once had a viewing there. This scroll by Zhang Hejian [Zhang Hong], done with simple brushwork with an ancient spirit and moist coloration, is modeled after Qianli’s but mixed with his own ideas. It embodies the motto to follow the ancients without being restricted by them. That’s why Zou Mei’an [Zou Zhilin 鄒之麟] admired it. Could it be that Hejian also saw Qianli’s original work at the Li’s and recreated that memory with his own ideas! The painting is paired with Fan Changqian’s [Fan Yunlin 范允臨] poem “Song of the Peach Blossom Spring.” The calligraphy, expressive and lively in spontaneous ink strokes, evokes the soft songs of the goddess Kimnara who sang in a pool on the snow mountain and made five hundred pure-minded immortals lose their self-control. It could be considered on a par with Dong Siweng’s [Dong Qichang 董其昌, 1555–1636] writing. This poem is not included in [Fan’s] anthology, the Shuliao Guan ji, so the transcription here makes up for the oversight. Like ritual vessels with pearl and jade ornaments, the scroll now has paired treasures. Ershi Laoren [Cheng Qi] on the sixteenth day of the second month of the bingchen year (1976). [Seals]: Juyan Xuan, Ershi Laoren
When I visited Beijing for the first time about forty years ago, my father’s friend, the Hanlin Academician Guan Boheng [Guan Mianjun 關冕鈞, 1871–1933] from Cangwu [in Guangxi province], treated me with a feast and showed me marvelous art works, among which was this painting. Young and shy at the time, I wanted to have it but dared not say so. With it deep in my mind, I returned south in haste. Not long afterwards I heard that most of the Academician’s collection had gone to General Zhang Hanqing [Zhang Xueliang 張學良, 1901–2001], so this painting was like someone’s beautiful wife kidnapped by a powerful man. In the early spring this year, I took a trip to Hong Kong and saw it by chance, together with Fishermen on the Autumn River painted jointly by Da [Chongguang 重光, 1623–1692] and Wang [Hui 翬, 1632–1717]. Feeling as if running into a long lost friend who looked as well as we last met, I patted my thighs in excitement and acquired it despite the high price. Time flies. The past seems a dream. I have grown old. Pondering the present and recalling the past, I put the scroll away and sigh over the constant change of the world. Keweng noted again two days later. [Seals]: Cheng Qi yinxin, Bofen fu
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