Fan inscription:
仙禁生紅葯
微芳不自持
幸因清切地
還遇艶陽時
名見桐君籙
香聞鄭國詩
孤根苦可用
非直愛華滋
蒋徳璟
「蒋徳璟印」
“Within the palace grow red herbs,
With only a slight fragrance they do not support themselves;
They are fortunate to be in the purest place,
And will reappear in the late spring.
Their name appears in the book of Master Tong,*
Their aroma is known in the poetry of the State of Zheng,**
Their bitter roots can be used as medicine
It is not for flowering alone that they are loved.”
Jiang Dejing
[Jiang Deinjing yin]
The forty characters of this poem, arranged in eight lines of five-characters each, pay homage to the medicinal herbs grown in the imperial gardens. Their history was very long in China, with their name and aroma mentioned in books and poetry of the ancient period. Written in graceful xing “running script” style, the work is a testament to the artist’s elevated calligraphic technique and to his historical knowledge of early texts.
Jiang Dejing (1593-1646), called Ruoye, was a noted calligrapher from Jinjiang, Jiangsu province. His short life, perhaps truncated by the disturbances attendant on the end of the Ming dynasty, meant that he was survived by relatively few works, of which the present fan is a fine example.
*Master Tong served the Yellow Emperor, studying medicinal herbs.
**Poems of the State of Zheng are. Included in the Book of Odes.
Detail of fan seal:
