id: 152550 accession number: 1985.366 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1985.366 updated: 2025-02-14 13:29:55.751000 Plum Blossoms, probably 1739. Wang Shishen (Chinese, 1686–1759). Hanging scroll; ink on paper; painting: 144.4 x 75.7 cm (56 7/8 x 29 13/16 in.); overall: 238 x 89.1 cm (93 11/16 x 35 1/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, The Kelvin Smith Collection, given by Mrs. Kelvin Smith 1985.366 title: Plum Blossoms title in original language: 梅花 series: series in original language: creation date: probably 1739 creation date earliest: 1739 creation date latest: 1739 current location: creditline: The Kelvin Smith Collection, given by Mrs. Kelvin Smith copyright: --- culture: China, Qing dynasty (1644-1911) technique: Hanging scroll; ink on paper department: Chinese Art collection: ASIAN - Hanging scroll type: Painting find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS * Wang Shishen (Chinese, 1686–1759) - artist --- measurements: Painting: 144.4 x 75.7 cm (56 7/8 x 29 13/16 in.); Overall: 238 x 89.1 cm (93 11/16 x 35 1/16 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: inscription: Artist's Poem 1. Looking for plum blossoms with friends, enjoying the fresh clear day,/ My black shoes and cotton socks feel light./ With fine groves in front of the ancient temple door,/ I walk to and fro, as in a painting. translation: remark: inscription: Artist's Poem 2. One clear chime breaks the silence in the Mountains,/ All the heroes of the Six Dynasties, after a thousand years, are forgotten./ Enjoy the idle days under a Buddhist window,/ Plum blossoms monopolize the east wind with their branches. translation: remark: inscription: Artist's Poem 3. Next to the little stone bridge is a path leading west,/ Wherever you walk, your staff will touch some dike of the Sui Dynasty./ Tourists love only the Ch'i-ling temple,/ So sea-gulls take to startled flight and horses neigh. translation: remark: inscription: Artist's Poem 4. After ten years I revisited the I-su An,/ The old plums are no longer on the southeast side of the garden./ I pass a peaceful night, though unable to offer fragrant flowers,/ As bright moonlight cheerlessly falls upon the Buddhist shrine. translation: remark: inscription: Artist's inscription, signature, and 3 seals: Four poems composed on our way from the Iron Buddha Temple to the I-su An Retreat at P'ing-shan, while looking for plum blossoms with friends. Ch'ao-lin, Wang Shih-shen painted [this]. [2 seals] Wang Shih-sheng; Chin-jen fu. [seal, lower right corner] Ch'ao-lin. translation: remark: inscription: 3 colophons, 3 additional inscriptions, and 23 additional seals: 1 inscription, dated 1739, and 2 seals of Mao Yin-k'uei (17th–18th c.); 1 colophon and 3 seals of Lu K'uei-hsün (17th–18th c.); 1 colophon and 3 seals of Chu Chin (1686–1769); 1 colophon and 4 seals of Yü Pi-k'uei (17th–18th c.); 1 inscription and 2 seals of Yao Shih-yü (1695–1749); 1 inscription and 3 seals of ? Shu-teh; 1 seal of Shen Wu (dates unknown); 1 seal of Lou Ts'un (19th c.); 2 seals of Cheng Qi 程琦 (1911–1988); 2 unidentified. translation: remark: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: A Private World: Japanese and Chinese Art from the Kelvin Smith Collection opening date: 1988-09-14T04:00:00 A Private World: Japanese and Chinese Art from the Kelvin Smith Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 14-November 13, 1988). title: When Salt was Gold: Yangzhou, City of Riches and Art opening date: 2023-05-12T04:00:00 When Salt was Gold: Yangzhou, City of Riches and Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (May 12-November 5, 2023). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS * {'description': 'Yōshū Hakkai [揚州八怪 = The Eight masters of Yangzhou]. Osaka Municipal Museum, Osaka, Japan (April 26-May 25, 1969).', 'opening_date': '1969-04-26T05:00:00Z'} * {'description': 'Eight Dynasties of Chinese Painting. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art (November 7, 1980-January 4, 1981); The Cleveland Museum of Art (February 10-March 29, 1981); Tokyo National Museum (October 4-November 17, 1982).', 'opening_date': '1980-11-06T05:00:00Z'} * {'description': 'Main Asian Rotation (Gallery 119). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (March 12-July 16, 2003).', 'opening_date': '2003-03-12T05:00:00Z'} --- PROVENANCE The Kelvin Smith Collection, Cleveland, OH, given by Mrs. Kelvin [Eleanor Armstrong] Smith [1899–1998] to the Cleveland Museum of Art date: ?–1985 footnotes: citations: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH date: 1985– footnotes: citations: --- fun fact: digital description: wall description: --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS Ōsaka Shiritsu Bijutsukan [大阪市立美術館 = Osaka Municipal Museum]. Yōshū Hakkai [揚州八怪 = The Eight masters of Yangzhou]. Ōsaka: publisher not identified, 1969. page number: p. 38 url: Ho, Wai-kam, Sherman E. Lee, Laurence Sickman, and Marc F. Wilson. Eight Dynasties of Chinese Painting: The Collections of the Nelson Gallery-Atkins Museum, Kansas City, and the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, in cooperation with Indiana University Press, 1980. page number: Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 267, pp. 365–366 url: --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1985.366/1985.366_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1985.366/1985.366_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1985.366/1985.366_full.tif