Master of the Water, Pine and Stone Retreat 水松石山房主人
All Nature’s Splendours Captured in this Gourd Heaven, 2015
Ink on cloud dragon paper
15 3/8 x 282 5/8 in
39 x 718 cm
39 x 718 cm
With four seals of the artist, 水松石山房 Shuisongshi shanfang (‘The Water, Pine and Stone Retreat’), 山外山樵 Shanwai shanqiao (‘The mountain woodcutter who is not in the mountains’), 攜杖老人 Xiezhang laoren...
With four seals of the artist, 水松石山房 Shuisongshi shanfang (‘The Water, Pine and Stone Retreat’), 山外山樵 Shanwai shanqiao (‘The mountain woodcutter who is not in the mountains’), 攜杖老人 Xiezhang laoren (‘The old man who carries the staff’), and
Flying Cranes (pictorial seal)
Inscriptions:
Title Slip:
All Nature’s Splendours Captured in this Gourd Heaven
The Master of the Water, Pine and Stone Retreat
With one seal of the artist, 水松石山房Shuisongshi shanfang (‘TheWater, Pine and Stone Retreat’)
Title Panel:
All Nature’s Splendours Captured in this Gourd Heaven
Inscribed by the Master of the Water, Pine and Stone Retreat, recalling a marketplace friend from the Later Han
With three seals of the artist, 水松石山房Shuisongshi shanfang (‘TheWater, Pine and Stone Retreat’), 石狂 Shikuang (‘Stone Fool’), and 竹虛 老人Zhuxu laoren (‘Old man as Empty Inside as Bamboo')
Colophon:
At dawn, staff in hand, I climb the crags,
and by dusk settle among the mountains.
Scarcely a peak rises as high as this hut
facing crags and overlooking winding streams.
Forests stretch before the mountain's open gate
boulders heaped round its very steps.
Mountains crowd around, blocking out roads.
Trails wander into bamboo thickets.
Visitors lose their way on coming up
or forget the paths leading home when they descend.
Raging torrents rush through the dusk,
Monkeys howl throughout the night.
Deep in meditation I hold the inner pattern,
nurturing the Way, never severing from it.
My heart is one with the autumn trees,
My eyes delight in the flowering of spring.
I inhabit the constant and await my end,
Content to dwell in peace, accepting the flux of things.
I only regret that there is no kindred spirit here
to climb this ladder of sky and clouds with me.
Within the gourd there is no time, Xie and I dwell on the same mountain. Inscribed at the Garden at the Edge of the Universe, recalling the words of Xie Lingyun, in the winter of 2015
With three seals of the artist, 如如居士 Ruru Jushi (‘The retired scholar who believes that all doctrines are equal’), 終日到門惟白雲 Zhongri daomen wei baiyun (‘All day long to this gate come only the white clouds’), and人磨墨墨磨人 Renmomo momoren (‘Man grinds the ink; ink grinds the man’)
Flying Cranes (pictorial seal)
Inscriptions:
Title Slip:
All Nature’s Splendours Captured in this Gourd Heaven
The Master of the Water, Pine and Stone Retreat
With one seal of the artist, 水松石山房Shuisongshi shanfang (‘TheWater, Pine and Stone Retreat’)
Title Panel:
All Nature’s Splendours Captured in this Gourd Heaven
Inscribed by the Master of the Water, Pine and Stone Retreat, recalling a marketplace friend from the Later Han
With three seals of the artist, 水松石山房Shuisongshi shanfang (‘TheWater, Pine and Stone Retreat’), 石狂 Shikuang (‘Stone Fool’), and 竹虛 老人Zhuxu laoren (‘Old man as Empty Inside as Bamboo')
Colophon:
At dawn, staff in hand, I climb the crags,
and by dusk settle among the mountains.
Scarcely a peak rises as high as this hut
facing crags and overlooking winding streams.
Forests stretch before the mountain's open gate
boulders heaped round its very steps.
Mountains crowd around, blocking out roads.
Trails wander into bamboo thickets.
Visitors lose their way on coming up
or forget the paths leading home when they descend.
Raging torrents rush through the dusk,
Monkeys howl throughout the night.
Deep in meditation I hold the inner pattern,
nurturing the Way, never severing from it.
My heart is one with the autumn trees,
My eyes delight in the flowering of spring.
I inhabit the constant and await my end,
Content to dwell in peace, accepting the flux of things.
I only regret that there is no kindred spirit here
to climb this ladder of sky and clouds with me.
Within the gourd there is no time, Xie and I dwell on the same mountain. Inscribed at the Garden at the Edge of the Universe, recalling the words of Xie Lingyun, in the winter of 2015
With three seals of the artist, 如如居士 Ruru Jushi (‘The retired scholar who believes that all doctrines are equal’), 終日到門惟白雲 Zhongri daomen wei baiyun (‘All day long to this gate come only the white clouds’), and人磨墨墨磨人 Renmomo momoren (‘Man grinds the ink; ink grinds the man’)
