The pictorial forms, coloring, compositions, and brushwork of these six leaves are clearly based on the styles of Yuan literati masters and their Ming dynasty followers in Suzhou. And this is precisely what the artist himself indicates in his inscription, in which he mentions Zhao Mengfu (1254-1322), his wife Guan Daosheng, and Wang Meng of the Yuan, and Wen Zhengming (1470-1555) of the Ming.
Xiang Peiyu, called Xiaoqi and Kongting, was born in Xiuning, Anhui province but moved to live in Weiyang, modern Yangzhou in Jiangsu province. He excelled in painting, especially landscapes, and a work now in the Shanghai Museum and dated to the year 1787 exemplifies the same refined literati style as does the present album of 1790 (fig. 1). Both of these paintings make manifest the more conservative aspects of Yangzhou painting, found earlier in the works of Fang Shishu (1692-1751), who lived in the same city.
Fig. 1. Xiang Peiyu: “Viewing Yellow Leaves in the Huizhao Temple, 1787, after Zhongguo
gudai shuhua tumu, Beijing, 1990, vol. 5, no. 1-4161, p. 339.
Individual leaves – transcriptions & translations:
Leaf 1:
聴松禅客耳能聰、
着個幽軒萬木中。
風捲翠濤聲急處,
海門飛出老虬龍。
“Listening to the pines the Chan adept has ears that can hear,
in a secluded hut among a myriad trees;
Winds roil the blue-green waves where sounds are extreme,
and at the entry to the sea flies up an old twisting dragon (pine).
–
碧眼支郎耳更
聰軒楹占断白
雲中有聲聴
到無聲處錯
認長松是老龍
Blue eyes indicate his intelligence and his ears more excellent,
pillars of the house stand firm within the white clouds;
On hearing a sound he goes to a place of silence,
mistaking a tall pine for an old dragon.
–
臨王叔明聴松圖
並録呉元善柯
九思句
小溪項佩魚
I copied Wang Shuming’s (Wang Meng) ‘Listening to the Pines’ picture and also recorded poems by Wu Yuanshan and Ke Jiusi.
Xiang Peiyu, called Xiaoqi.” 小溪項佩魚
Artist’s seals: Xiao「小」; Qi 「溪」
Leaf 2:
Artist’s seal: Xiangshi Xiaoqi 「項氏 小溪」
Leaf 3:
人生貴極是王侯、
浮利浮名不自由。
争得似、一扁舟。
弄月吟風帰去休。
調寄川撥棹
“The most honored things in life are princes and earls,
but fleeting wealth and volatile fame do not bring freedom;
Strive to attain this: a sliver of a boat,
in which to enjoy the moon, sing to the wind, return and rest.
In tune with (the poem) Chuan bo Zhao [note: by Wang Zhe of the Yuan]
–
渺々煙波一葉舟、
西風木落五湖秋。
盟鷗鷺、傲王侯。
管甚鱸魚不止釣。
Over a boundless expanse of mist and waves floats a tiny boat,
A west wind drops tree leaves on lake Wu Hu in autumn;
ally with seagulls and herons, not haughty princes and earls,
what matter if not fish are caught.
Zhao Mengfu 趙孟頫, rhyming with Chuan bozhuo 韻寄川撥棹
–
小溪項佩魚臨趙承旨（趙孟頫）溪山漁隠並録其句
Xiang Peiyu, called Xiaoqi, copied Zhao Chengzhi’s painting of ‘Fisherman-recluse in Streams and Mountains’ and recorded his poetic lines.”
Artist’s seal: Peiyu 「佩魚」
Leaf 4:
Artist’s inscription: “Xiaoqi”「小溪」
Artist’s seal: Peiyu「佩魚」
Collector’s seal:
Hanmoxuan shuhuaji 「翰墨軒書画記」
Leaf 5:
小溪臨文待詔（文徴明）梅竹山居図
“Xiaoqi copied Wen Daizho’s (Wen Zhengming) painting ‘Blossoming Plums and Bamboo by Mountain Retreat’.”
Artist’s seals: Kongting 「孔庭」; Xiang「項」
Leaf 6:
庚戌立春後二日小溪項佩魚写
於課畊書屋時六十有九
“Two days after the first day of spring during the year 1790, Xiaoqi painted this in the Kegeng Library at the age of sixty-nine sui.”
Artist’s seals: Peiyu 「佩魚」; Xiang「項」
Detail of album cover:
項小溪山水冊
乙亥夏五下瀚偕李生翁途偶息歌盦主人天
(漢)出所庋秦度竟延年瓦當及元明清□□
書画冊巻多種瀏覧終日心開目時坿書数語
臣謹眼福 朱羖□ ６頁
紹興大路書画舫装潢
Xiang Xiaoxi [Xiang Peiyu] Landscape Album
During the last ten days of May in the year 1935, in the company of Li Shenweng (1875~1964), we happened to take a rest at the Ge An (House of Song [i.e. Singing]). The master, Tian [Han], showed us his treasures: tomb tiles from the Qin to Han periods and various albums and scrolls of paintings and calligraphies by Yuan, Ming and Qing period masters. Viewing them leisurely all day, I write several words finding them sincerely pleasing to my eyes.
Zhu Gu ? [third character of name illegible]
Six leaves: a Calligraphy & Painting Studio in Shaoxing mounted them.