Detail View: The AMICA Library: Listening to the Bamboo

AMICA ID: 
CMA_.1977.172
AMICA Library Year: 
2001
Object Type: 
Paintings
Creator Name: 
Wen Zhengming
Creator Nationality: 
Asian; Far East Asian; Chinese
Creator Role: 
artist
Creator Dates/Places: 
1470 - 1559
Creator Name-CRT: 
Wen Zhengming
Title: 
Listening to the Bamboo
Title Type: 
Primary
View: 
Full View
Creation Date: 
late 1400s-1500s
Creation Start Date: 
1500
Creation End Date: 
1559
Materials and Techniques: 
hanging scroll, ink on Sung sutra paper
Dimensions: 
Overall: 94.5cm x 30.5cm
AMICA Contributor: 
The Cleveland Museum of Art
Owner Location: 
Cleveland, Ohio, USA
ID Number: 
1977.172
Credit Line: 
Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Fund
Inscriptions: 
Artist's inscription, signature, and 2 seals on separate sheet of paper above painting:In the empty studio sitting in deep loneliness;Like cool sound sending pure beauty,Or pendants swinging in the wind,Or a solitary ch'in 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 Cheng-ming at the T'ing-yün kuan. Wen Cheng-ming [2 seals] Wen Cheng-ming yin; Wei keng-yin wu i chiang. [ 2 seals on middle right edge of painting] Wen Cheng-ming yin; Wei keng-yin wu i chiang.trans. LYSL/WKH7 additional seals: 5 of the Ch'ien-lung emperor (r. 173695); 2 unidentified.
Rights: 
Provenance: 
(Jean-Peirre Dubosc)
Related Image Identifier Link: 
CMA_.1977.172.tif