A hanging scroll depicting mountains in the foreground with houses and trees in the background as well as vertical calligraphy at the top of the scroll.
Peach Blossom Spring (Taoyuan tu 桃源圖)

© Li Huasheng

A hanging scroll depicting mountains in the foreground with houses and trees in the background as well as vertical calligraphy at the top of the scroll.
Peach Blossom Spring (Taoyuan tu 桃源圖)

On view

Asian Art
Huo Pavilion
Christina Lee Gallery

Peach Blossom Spring (Taoyuan tu 桃源圖),

1986

Li Huasheng 李華生, 1944–2018; born Yibin, China; died Chengdu, China
Chinese
Modern period, 1912–present
2008-1088

Li Huasheng creates an idealized image of reclusive life by depicting the Peach Blossom Spring described in a celebrated essay by the poet–politician Tao Qian (365–427), which is transcribed at the top of the scroll. The painting invites the viewer to wander through the imagined landscape. The journey begins with the boat in the lower-right corner and continues to a row of blooming peach trees followed by a cave, suggested at the middle left. In the upper part of the painting, the journey concludes with the arrival at the fantastic village of Peach Blossom Spring. With abstracted forms and succinct, bold brush- strokes, Li playfully translates the classical theme into a modern language of the so-called “new literati painting school.”

Yixu Chen, PhD candidate, Department of Art and Archaeology, Princeton University

Information

Title
Peach Blossom Spring (Taoyuan tu 桃源圖)
Dates

1986

Maker
Li Huasheng 李華生
Medium
Hanging scroll; ink and colors on paper
Dimensions
Painting: 136.8 × 69 cm (53 7/8 × 27 3/16 in.) mount: 226.5 × 81.9 cm (89 3/16 × 32 1/4 in.) with knob: 87.2 cm (34 5/16 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Jerome Silbergeld and Michelle DeKlyen
Object Number
2008-1088
Place Made

Asia, China

Signatures
signed
Inscription
Inscribed: 桃源圖 . . .右五橋先生桃花源記書以補1 白 晚唐司空圖作詩品二十四篇 其洗練篇有云 如礦出金 如鉛出銀 超心煉冶 絕愛緇磷2 之句 ？煉詩之癝然 作畫亦當以此法煉之 To the right is Mr. Five Willow's [Tao Yuanming's] "Peach Blossom Spring," the writing filling in the available space. Sikong Tu of the late Tang dynasty wrote a Critique of Poetry in twenty-four chapters. His chapter "On Refining" states, "Like extracting gold from a mine, like extracting silver from lead, purify your heart and discard the remains." This way of refining poetry when painting, one should also use this method for refinement. Man of Ba, Hasheng, at Jincheng [Chengdu]. (The remainder to the right is a complete text of Tao Yuanming's "Peach Blossom Spring") 1同“补” 2司空图 《二十四诗品》之七“洗炼”：如礦出金，如鉛出銀。超心煉冶，絕愛緇磷。空潭泻春，古镜照神。体素储洁，乘月返真。载瞻星辰，载歌幽人。流水今日，明月前身。 “绝爱缁磷”，对没有用的花哨表面不要恋恋不舍，要勇于删减 to be concise and pithy
Marks/Labels/Seals
Characters in ink on label adhered to edge of rolled scroll
Culture
Chinese
Period
modern Chinese styles and periods
Type
paintings, chinese painting styles, scroll paintings, hanging scrolls
Materials
ink, paper (fiber product)
Subject
peach blossoms, buildings, spring

–2008 Jerome Silbergeld and Michelle DeKlyen (Princeton, NJ), by gift to the Princeton University Art Museum, 2008.

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