Listening to the Bamboo

late 1400s-1500s

Wen Zhengming

Wen Zhengming (Chinese, 1470–1559)

Chinese Art

Listening to the Bamboo, late 1400s-1500s. Imitator of Wen Zhengming (Chinese, 1470–1559). Hanging scroll, ink on sutra paper; painting: 94.5 x 30.5 cm (37 3/16 x 12 in.); overall with knobs: 202 x 55 cm (79 1/2 x 21 5/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Fund 1977.172

Original Source

Maker/Artist: Wen Zhengming
Classification: Painting
Formatted Medium: hanging scroll, ink on sutra paper
Medium: hanging, scroll, ink, sutra, paper
Dimensions: Painting: 94.5 x 30.5 cm (37 3/16 x 12 in.); Overall with knobs: 202 x 55 cm (79 1/2 x 21 5/8 in.)
Inscribed: Inscription: Artist's inscription, signature, and 2 seals on the separate sheet of paper above the painting: In the empty studio sitting in deep loneliness;/ Like cool sound sending pure beauty,/ Or pendants swinging in the wind,/ Or a solitary qin suggesting running water./ Where is that sound from?/ The green poles in the courtyard,/ Clear and light like an echo,/ The sound and ears are in tune./ The sound of bamboo now very beautiful;/ My ears are also clear./ Who says the sound is in the bamboo?/ To know it depends on oneself./ A noble person is like a tall bamboo;/ A thin bamboo is like the noble man./ When the sound enters, the mind responds,/ Only one thing but artificially separated./ A bystander searching for the sound,/ But the sound can only be found in silence./ Otherwise I am still I,/ Bamboo is still bamboo./ Even if I live with bamboo every day,/ Still the music will be a thousand miles away./ Look at sound's most primeval source:/ Did it enter a zither or a lute? Composing a poem on Listening to the Bamboo. Written by Zhengming at the Ting yun guan. Wen Zhengming [2 seals] Wen Zhengming yin 文徵明印; Wei geng yin wu yi jiang 惟庚寅吾以降. Inscription: [印] 文徵明印; 惟庚寅吾以降. Translation: 2 artist's seals on middle right edge of the painting: Wen Zhengming yin; Wei geng yin wu yi jiang [It was in the gengyin year when I was born.] Remark: In his 2015 Silent Poetry catalogue, Ju-hsi Chou wrote that if one believes the seal, it can give a rough indication of the date for this painting. "Wen Zhengming's birth year was 1470, which fell in the gengyin year. Yet he did not carve this seal to celebrate his first genyin year, but his second one, i.e. 1530, after he had lived a full cycle of sixty years and was looking toward a long life beyond. In those days of pre-modern China, to live beyond sixty years as as rare as it was enviable." Inscription: 5 seals of the Qianlong emperor (r. 1736-95) Inscription: [印] 金粟山藏經紙 Translation: Seal (once on the calligraphy section and once on the painting): Jin su shan cang jing zhi Remark: These seals indicate that the painting and calligraphy are on the famous sutra paper from Mt. Jinsu.
Departments: Chinese Art
Accession Number: 1977.172
Credit Line: Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Fund
Exhibitions: The Art of Wen Cheng-ming. University of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor, MI (January 25-February 29, 1976); Asia House Gallery, New York, NY (April 7-June 7, 1976), 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)., Main Asian Rotation (Gallery 119). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (July 16-October 28, 2003).
Rights Statement: CC0