12Hanging scroll, ink on paper
88.0 x 40.0 cm. (34 3/4 x 15 3/4 in.)
Inscription:
“West of the public office of Qi’an, on the bank (of the
river), is the Zhen River Pavilion. Its flowers and bamboo
are brilliant, with the mountains and water reflected all
around, providing scenes that are perfectly suited to the
four seasons and putting to shame what workers
established there, which is inadequate to the inner
subtlety of what faces it.
During the second month of Spring of the year 1697,
the drifting peach blossoms contended in beauty, just
as in Zijiu’s (Huang Gongwang, 1269-1354) picture of
the ‘Fuqun Mountains.’ At leisure from translating and
official documents, my hand copied the scene on a scroll
so that later, when it is unrolled, it will be like talking as of old with the spirit of the mountains. Ten days after the Day of Cold Food (the day before the Qingming festival) during the year 1697 of the Kangxi reign era, painted and inscribed by Jia Xuan from Helong (‘East of the River’).”
Artist’s seals:
Xuetang taishou (“Prefect of the Snowy Embankment”); Kezhai Jia Xuan; Wan’gan shuwu (“Library of Ten-thousand Bamboo Stems”)