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Wikimedia Commons · Public domain · Hover to magnify, click for fullscreen
Original file
About This Work
This handscroll illustrates verses from the ancient Chinese 'Book of Odes', capturing figures moving through a soft, ink-washed landscape of hills and trees. The scene emphasizes harmony with the natural order and seasonal cycles, conveyed through delicate brushwork and subtle tonal variations. A vertical column of calligraphy on the right side provides the textual context for the imagery.
Inscriptions(Chinese)
其始蕡。 祭韭九月 肅霜十月 滌場朋酒 斯饗曰殺 羔羊躋彼 公堂稱彼 兕觥萬壽 無疆 七月
Translation
The wild vines are beginning to bear fruit. We present the offerings of leeks in the ninth month; In the tenth month, the frost descends. We clear the threshing ground, and share the wine; We feast and kill the lambs, and go up to the Duke's hall; we raise the horn cups of rhinoceros horn, Wishing for ten thousand years of life, Without limit. Seventh Month