Zhang Xin 張莘
(1744-ca. 1820)

Calligraphy in xing running-script style: “White-rock Cliff Cottage” 1783

Hanging scroll, ink on paper
135.5 x 46.5 cm. (53.3/8 x 18 1/4 in.)

Inscription:
“By White-rock Cliff cottage
green grass is thick,
Ascending to clarity discussing banishment
the return is slow;
Through the Spring dream rain
has often moved the tiles,
All the day through the spirit wind
does not fill the banners.

The green-calyx flower came
lacking a settled place,
From rooted orchids the fragrance has fled
and still has not returned at this time;
The Jade Gentleman understands this
having passed into the immortals’ register,
I will face the heavenly streets
and ask Zi the way.

Written during the twelfth lunar month of the renyin year (January 3-February 2, 1783) at the Sunny Mountain Hostel in Nagasaki by the Bamboo-planting Man, Zhang Kun.”

Artist’s seals:
Zhang Kun; Zhongzhuren (“Bamboo-planting Man”); Xigao (“Worthless Westerner”)

Japanese box inscription:
Dated 1874 by Murata Kokoku (1831-1912), Nanga painter born in Fukuoka