This large hanging scroll commemorates an autumn outing with friends. Unlike Shitao’s album, where the viewer’s path is prescribed by the order of the leaves, this work presents a single, large composite image and invites the viewer to decide how to travel from vignette to vignette. One might begin at the bottom, in the house where a man waits to receive guests and move upward to the boats mooring by the bridge at middle right, then to the drinking party in the grove at middle left, and ultimately to the distant trees at the top. When creating a large hanging scroll, Shitao had to rely on the power of his composition to knit the scenes together and guide the viewer’s journey.
The three inscriptions at the top of this painting tell the story of its inspiration. Shitao commemorates an autumn drinking outing with friends by capturing visually the free, swirling feeling of roaming drunk through the woods. His third poem concludes with the lines:
In an instant, mists and clouds can return to their primeval form; Red trees fill the skies spreading fire through the heavens. I invite you, sir, to get drunk on my black brushstok es; Lie down and watch the frosty forest as falling leaves swirl. —Trans. adapted from Aschwin Lippe
This artwork is meant to be viewed from right to left. Scroll left to view more.
Artwork Details
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清 石濤 (朱若極) 秋林人醉圖 軸
Title:Drunk in Autumn Woods
Artist:Shitao (Zhu Ruoji) (Chinese, 1642–1707)
Period:Qing dynasty (1644–1911)
Date:ca. 1702
Culture:China
Medium:Hanging scroll; ink and color on paper
Dimensions:Image: 63 3/8 × 27 3/4 in. (161 × 70.5 cm) Overall with mounting: 8 ft. 11 1/2 in. × 33 3/8 in. (273.1 × 84.8 cm) Overall with knobs: 8 ft. 11 1/2 in. × 36 7/8 in. (273.1 × 93.7 cm)
Classification:Paintings
Credit Line:Gift of John M. Crawford Jr., 1987
Accession Number:1987.202
Signature:
Inscription: Artist’s inscriptions and signatures
1. 8 columns in semi-cursive script:
To keep my door closed all year around was very common; Once I went out to the countryside I suddenly became quite wild. On the narrow paths I didn’t encounter those I have to politely greet; In the wildness I rested my back choosing my own poetic friend. (I am referring to the recluse, Ni Yongqing.) Not because we had parted for a long time, but due to our spiritual affinity, We rejoiced and loosed our gowns. I laughed aloud at myself in Baocheng; Being drunk I wrote the poem with red trees all over the sky.
Last year, with Su Yimeng and Xiao Zheng I again went to Baocheng to see the red leaves in the region. As I returned home, deeply drunk, I playfully wrote this poem, but did not create the painting. This year I paid a visit to Master Songgao [Mao Jike 毛際可, 1633-1708] and viewed the scroll of Zhuxi (Yangzhou) that I painted for him in the past. He asked, “I wish you could use ten thousand dots of vermilion and rouge to sketch a painting of a man drunk in autumn woods for me. What do you think?” I replied, “I shall fulfill your wish in three days.” Upon returning home, I let go of myself and playfully painted this and added an inscription.[1]
White clouds and red trees over the wild fields, Some people are leaving and some are returning. Yesterday I went to the countryside to look around; Various treasures spread over the blue mountains. Men got drunk with grasses and trees; When the west wind stops blowing, we will try to awake. Not knowing what great refinement means, Being old I have become more interested in the silly and idiotic. In ancient times Hutou (Gu Kaizhi, ca. 345-406) was incomparable in three realms. Now I am idiotic in three realms: an idiotic man, idiotic words, and idiot painting. True idiocy is hard to come by. I am presenting this idiotic work to my venerable elder Song, which embodies the true idiocy I have attained for a laugh from him. Qingxiang Chenren, Dadizi, Ji at the Qinglian Caoge Studio
In an instant, mist and clouds can resurrect antiquity; Leaves as red as if they were burning fill the whole sky. I invite you to get totally drunk under my black brush, Lying back to watch falling leaves swirl in the frosty forest. Next day I added a quatrain for a laugh from Master Songgao. Qingxiang again.
頃刻煙雲能復古，滿空紅樹漫燒天。 請君大醉烏毫底，臥看霜林落葉旋。
次日復題一絕寄上松臯先生一咲。清湘又。
Artist’s seals
Chi jue 癡絕 Qingxiang Laoren 清湘老人 Toubai yiran bu shizi 頭白依然不識字 Gaohuangzi Ji 膏肓子濟 Gongyang tianhe 供養天和 Azhang 阿長 Soujin qifeng da caogao 搜盡奇峰打草稿
Collectors’ seals
Gao Xiang高翔 (1688–1753) Gao Fenggang jieguan yiguo 高鳳岡借觀一過 Zhang Daqian 張大千 (Chang Dai-chien, 1899–1983) Daqian Jushi gongyang bai shi zhi yi 大千居士供養百石之一 Dafeng Tang Jianjiang Kuncan Xuege Kugua moyuan 大風堂漸江髡殘雪箇苦瓜墨緣
Gu Luofu 顧洛阜 (John M. Crawford, Jr., 1913–1988) Gu Luofu 顧洛阜 Hanguang Ge 漢光閣 Hanguang Ge Zhu Gu Luofu jiancang Zhongguo gudai shuhua zhi zhang 漢光閣主顧洛阜鑒藏中國古代書畫之章
Unidentified Yulan Tang zhenshang 郁蘭堂珍賞
[1] All translations are from Department records.
John M. Crawford Jr. American, New York (until 1987; donated 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.
Providence. Bell Gallery, List Art Center. "The Individualists: Chinese Painting and Calligraphy of the 17th Century from the Collection of John M. Crawford, Jr.," April 26, 1980–May 18, 1980.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Peach Blossom Spring," November 21, 1983–June 3, 1984.
Madison. Elvehjem Museum of Art. "Chinese Landscape Painting," October 1, 1992–January 1, 1993.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "When the Manchus Ruled China: Painting under the Qing Dynasty (1644–1911)," February 2–August 18, 2002.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Dreams of Yellow Mountain: Landscapes of Survival in Seventeenth-Century China," September 13, 2003–February 22, 2004.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Art of the Brush: Chinese Painting and Calligraphy," March 12–August 14, 2005.
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. "Bridging East and West: The Chinese Diaspora and Lin Yutang," September 15, 2007–February 10, 2008.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Art of the Chinese Album," September 6, 2014–March 29, 2015.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Companions in Solitude: Reclusion and Communion in Chinese Art," July 31, 2021–August 14, 2022.
Guo Wei 郭威, ed. Dafeng Tang mingji 大風堂名蹟 (Masterpieces from the collection of the Dafeng Tang Studio) vol. 2, [Taipei?]: Yayun Tang, 1954, pl. 4.
Chō Dai-sen 張大千. Taifudo meiseki 大風堂名蹟 (Masterpieces from the collection of the Dafeng Tang Studio) Kyoto: Benrido, [1955–56], vol. 2, pl. 4.
Smith, Bradley, and Wan-go Weng. China: A History in Art. New York: Harper & Row, [1972?], p. 249.
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. 96, cat. no. A15-003.
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. 48, cat. no. 163.
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