南宋 楊皇后 楷書薄薄殘妝七絕 團扇冊頁 絹本|Quatrain on spring’s radiance

Empress Yang Meizi

early 13th century · Round fan mounted as an album leaf; ink on silk · Asian Art

During the Southern Song, artists and connoisseurs who wished to express their emotional responses to paintings frequently added poems to them. Empress Yang's poems appear on a number of paintings by such court artists as Ma Yuan (active ca. 1190–1225) and Ma Lin (active ca. 1180–after 1256); this quatrain must once have complemented a fan painting of flowers, but it reveals more about the state of mind of the empress than about the lost painting it accompanied: My makeup worn and faded, only the scent lingers; Still I shall enjoy spring's beauty before my eyes. Once you said to me, how a year blooms quickly and as quickly dies! Might we now forsake worldly splendors for the land of wine?

Artist

Empress Yang Meizi

Date

early 13th century

Medium

Round fan mounted as an album leaf; ink on silk

Culture

China

Department

Asian Art

Credit line

Bequest of John M. Crawford Jr., 1988