Title:Chrysanthemums and Cabbages
Maker:Tao Cheng (Chinese)
Medium: handscroll, ink and slight color on paper
Measurements: Overall: 253.7cm x 28.6cm
Date:1490
Classification: painting
Acquisition: Anonymous Gift
Location: Not on display
Accession Number:1960.40
Department: Chinese Art
Inscription: Artist's seal at beginning of painting: Yun-hu.
16 inscriptions and 52 additional seals: 1 poem and 1 seal of Chang Yüan-chen (1437-1507); 2 poems and 6 seals of Ni Yüeh (1444-1501); 2 poems and 4 seals of Chao Hsiang (n. d.); 2 poems and 2 seals of Wu Hsi-hsien (1437-1489); 2 poems and 2 seals of Lü Ch'ang (1449-1511); 2 poems and 6 seals of Fu Han (1435-1502); 2 poems and 2 seals of Feng Chüeh (n. d.); 1 poem and 1 seal of Ts'ai Ch'i (n. d.); 1 poem and 3 seals of Chiao Fang (act. 1464-1517); 1 poem and 3 seals of Li Tung-yang (1447-1516); 2 seals of Wang Wen-chih (1730-1802); 3 seals of Ku Yün (n. d.).
Poems after Chrysanthemums:
Several bushes of chrysanthemums grow in front of the Five-Willow Cottage,
The yellow ones are really yellow and the white ones white.
This affable and decent fellow, young in years and unsophisticated,
Has snapped one of the branches to dip in ink.
Chang Yüan-chen
[The Five-Willows Cottage was the home of the poet T'ao Ch'ien (Tao Yüan-ming, 365-427).]
Where at the Eastern Fence can you grieve for the Soul of the Hsiang River?
A man of upright character is mourned within the traces of ink.
White jade with a slight flaw would be a grievance forever,
Later men should understand why even the roots of the flowers are washed.
Ni Yüeh
[Eastern Fence refers again to the poet T'ao Ch'ien, while the Soul of the Hsiang River refers to the poet Ch'u Yüan, (4th-3rd c. BC).]
A clump of chrysanthemum grows in front of the bamboo pavilion,
The winds of many autumns have blown since we parted beyond the river.
Straining wine through the official's cap of T'ao [Ch'ien] to prolong autumn's pleasures,
The mists and clouds of ten thousand miles belong to the intoxicated.
Chao Hsiang
It is a different spring if mulberry is planted during the latter part of the year,
The dust of the world originally did not drop on clothing.
Who spills out ink under the Eastern Fence
And paints so freely this portrait of chrysanthemums for the venerable Sir T'ao?
Wu Hsi-hsien
This full tray of ink for painting [flowers] at the Eastern Fence;
Their whiteness or yellowness is not essential in capturing their beauty.
I don't have to go to Chiang-nan to see them myself.
At my old house grow two or three branches.
Lü Ch'ang
Who daubed autumn flowers with ink
As if they were dark dew on a branch tip only vaguely seen at evening?
Af ter the lazy clouds disperse, no one paints;
A certain unconventionality pervades this painting.
Fu Han
To satisfy his hunger, [the chrysanthemums] have at times entered the poetry of Ch'ü Yüan; Taking up the wine cup, it felt close to T'ao Ch'ien.
[With them I am like] a lonely root sustained by deep water
Or an old man to whose hair the color of youth returns.
Feng Chüeh
Poems after Cabbages:
The ink splashes are fresh from a frosty brush dipped in pond water;
I can visualize that time when Yün-hu [T'ao Ch'eng] first showed his talents.
I lament the places where I scribbled before,
Who would open them to inscribe a poem?
Ts'ai Ch'i
[The first line is an allusion to the famous Chin calligrapher Wang Hsi-chih (303-379), who practiced calligraphy so diligently at the edge of a pond that the water turned black with ink.]
After rain the vegetables begin to grow;
How are the colors of the masses lately!
Once you get used to them, the tastiest parts are the ends of the roots;
I don't know if they can be used for "seasoning soup."
Ni Yüeh
["Seasoning soup" is an allusion to the statesmanship of a chief minister.]
This crop of purple stalks and green leaves is late and irregular;
Now the rainy season is over for the Eastern Garden.
All the nobles nowadays dine on meat;
Who of them knows the flavor of this [cabbage].
Chiao Fang
How many times has a new crop grown green in the vegetable plot;
It's always helped the honest man to sober up after drinks.
I intend to go to the deepest part of the stream-crossed garden
To refresh myself in the fragrance and dew of evening.
Li Tung-yang
After rain, the white silk is filled with fragrant vegetables;
How many times this happens in Mr. T'ao's paintings.
On whom will you depend to present a memorial to the ruler?
Don't let this color emerge on the faces of the people.
Wu Hsi-hsien
[The last line is meant as a warning to officials: the color of the vegetables (green) may be pleasing in itself, but when it emerges on the faces of the starving poor, it signifies a badly governed world.]
For twenty years I have feasted on the excellent mutton of an official;
Yet I talk and dream about the garden and its vegetables.
Do not merely say it is good to chew the root of the cabbage--
You must taste to understand what poverty is.
Fu Han
The capital is never a place for an apprentice in the "garden of scholarship."
Who would write about gardens and vegetables on an examination paper?
I've walked throughout the country in spring;
Make sure the people don't show this color.
Lu Chang
Af ter a wash of rain, the spring garden is still in order;
The flavor [of the cabbage] is more suitable with a small drink and the hum of a tune.
The rich and powerful in their mansions consume dish after dish of meat;
Vegetarian food is known only by the scholars.
Chao Hsiang
A new cabbage is nourished with dew;
It takes a long time to grow and mature.
The business of "seasoning the soup" is your responsibility;
Better command the gardener to take care [of the cabbages].
Feng Chüeh
局部高清
陶成(生卒年月不详)，字孟学，后更敬学，宝应县城人，明成化七年(1471年) 举人。陶成博学多才，工诗及篆隶书法，尤擅长丹青，自号“云湖仙人”。明成化弘治年间，士大夫尤尊礼学，陶成鄙之。他作山水花鸟，或作人物，均气韵飘逸，意境悠远，被尊为画坛巨匠。明文学家鉴赏家李开先说：“云湖画如富春先生，云白山青，悠然野趣。”陶成与明初浙派创始人戴进及其以后的江夏派之首吴伟并驾齐 驱。徐邦达主编的《中国绘画史图录》载有陶成的《云中送别图卷》，人物形神兼备，衣纹线条流畅，款曰“成化二十二年丙午夏五月望后四日也”。现藏北京故宫博物院。另所著《北观》已失，仅存序。
