Wang Meng, one of the Four Yuan Dynasties, has a "Bamboo stone picture axis" (also known as the "Yellow Crane Mountain Qiao Bamboo Stone Youling Rock Poetry Axis", see the right picture), which is 77.2 cm high and 27 cm wide, ink and pen on paper, and is now in the Suzhou Museum. In the upper left, several branches of ink bamboo slanted out, and Xiao scattered indifferently. The lower part is dotted with several large and small fist stones, covered with hemp, dotted with moss, polychrome light ink, and the fist stones are thick and wet. In the middle of the canvas, there is a large blank space, and the inscription is seven words and four sentences.
This painting is an orderly work. According to the original title of the painting, this work was composed by Wang Meng at the invitation of Deji. According to the seal on the canvas, Deji's surname is Zhang. Who is Zhang Deji? Deji surname Zhang Mingwei, character Deji, number boat Zhai, Yuan Dynasty collector, Jiangsu Jintan people, famous for writing books. This seal also appears in the volume of Zhao Mengfu's book "Eight Songs of Autumn Xing" (shanghai museum collection), and Ni Yunlin's "Complete Collection of Qingjue Pavilion" also has a poetry bibliography, which shows that this person has a wide range of contacts and is known among the southeastern scholars.
The Yuan Sijia is known for its seclusion, and Wang Meng calls himself Huang HeshanQiao, why is he so close to Zhang Deji? As the American scholar Gao Juhanyun said, "Just a hermit woodcutter, his travels seem to be broader." In 1360, Wang Meng visited Suzhou, where he spent some time and attended many gatherings of literati. According to the American scholar Wen Yicheng, Wang Meng seems to have had close ties with the Gusu Zhang regime in the 1660s, and even loyal to the Zhang regime, but his situation in Wudi may be more embarrassing, because his poems during his time in Su repeatedly used allusions to Xi Shi, Fu Cha, Fan Li and others. In addition to this painting, there is another painting of Wang Meng's "Bamboo Stone Flowing Spring Map" completed in 1364, which is also related to his political activities. The "Bamboo Stone Flowing Spring Map" was written by Xi Yingzhen, a strategist and Taoist priest in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties. In addition, in Yang Ji's poem "Yellow Crane Monk Song - Record of the Gift to the King" and Chen Ji's anthology preface, wang Changshi is called. In this way, the relationship between Wang Meng and Zhang Deji is actually a colleague relationship, at least they have a common political orientation. In view of the relationship between Zhang and Wang, this painting can still be attributed to the gifts between his peers, so the author was not strictly restricted by the Painter, and after painting the ink bamboo requested by the Painter, he wrote down with great interest the four travel poems he had just created.
In the Ariake generation, this painting was obscured and did not appear in public and private bibliographies. Based on the plutonium prints and related documents on the paintings, we can get a glimpse of their circulation. The white text seal of the "Gradual River Monk" in the lower right corner is the self-use seal of gradual river (1610-1664), one of the four monks of the Ming Dynasty. This painting was made in 1364, and the white inscription "Gradual River Monk" on it shows that gradually river came into contact with this painting about 300 years later, but it is not known whether this is a mark left after viewing it, or whether it was indeed hidden for it.
The left side of the painting has a four-square mark that helps to clarify the second half of the journey of this painting. The upper left "Jing Ting Secret Play" Zhu Wen Rectangular Seal and the "Lu Gong Private Seal" white text seal are the jianzang seals of Lu Gong, a native of Wu County, Suzhou. Lu Gong (1741-1818), the character Mengzhuang, the number of the Court. Qianlong is a person, reading and ancient, fine appreciation, happy stele collection, more collection of ancient poster paintings, dot dyeing flowers, quaint and elegant brushwork. The white text rectangular seal of "Xiabi Huangrui Family Collection" in the lower left is the late Qing Dynasty Taizhou scholar Huang Ruijian Collection Seal.
Huang Rui (1837-1889) was a scholar, bibliophile, and collector of calligraphy and painting in Linhai, Zhejiang in the late Qing Dynasty, with the characters Yurun, Zizhen, and Lan Shu, a native of Linhai (present-day Linhai), who focused on the revision of local history after failing the examination. "Qiu Lai Ge" is his library building, and there is also "Ai Ri Caotang", also known as "Xi'nan Book Collection", which gathers thousands of books for his own study and writing. The "Gu Zishan Secret Seal" in the lower left is the collection seal of Gu Wenbin (1811-1889), the owner of Suzhou Guoyun Building.
In addition, there is Miao Yuezao's "Allegorical Record" bibliography: "The right picture zhang jianyang is hidden, the magic of bamboo and stone does not need to be said, and the kaifa is also pure and exquisite." As Miao said, the painting was originally in Zhang Jianyang's place. Zhang Jianyang, that is, the famous collector Zhang Chunxiu in the early Qing Dynasty. Zhang Chunxiu, Zi Min, also known as Jing Zhai, birth and death years unknown. Born in Fengtian Liaoyang, Fengtian Province, his ancestral home is Fengtian, and he belongs to the Manchurian Zhengbai Banner and is clothed by the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
As mentioned above, who owned this painting in the period from the end of the Yuan Dynasty to the beginning of the Qing Dynasty has no literature to prove it, and may still be in the hands of Zhang Deji's descendants. During the Kangyong period, it was transferred to Zhang Chunxiu (1647-1706) in Hebei, and Zhang Chunxiu may have been owned by Lu Gong (1741-1818) of Wu County. During the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, due to the destruction of Suzhou by war, the collections of various families were scattered, and perhaps this painting was owned by Huang Rui (1837-1889) of Taizhou. As for when this painting was in the Yunlou, the "Record of Calligraphy and Paintings of the Passing Cloud Building" did not give an account. It is foolish to think that Gu Wenbin should have obtained this painting during his tenure in Ningshao Dao, that is, the five years from the ninth year of Tongzhi (1870) to the first year of Guangxu (1875) when he was reinstated as a Shao Daotai in Dongning, Zhejiang Province, and retired due to illness. These five years were the period when Gu Wenbin and Gu Cheng's father and son vigorously collected calligraphy and paintings, and the focus of their collection was mainly on the scattered products of collectors in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, taizhou is the jurisdiction of Ningshao Province, and it is reasonable that huang's collections are included in the pocket. After Gu's collection, it was stamped with "Gu Zishan Secret Seal" and "Divine Product" seal. After Gu Wenbin's death, the calligraphy and painting belonged to Gu Heyi, the son of Gu Cheng, and after Heyi's death, the calligraphy and painting were divided into four parts, and this painting belonged to Gu Gongshuo, the fifth room. In 1960, the Suzhou Museum was established, and Gu Gongshuo served as the deputy director. He led by example, and when mobilizing others to donate cultural relics, he personally took the lead and donated 124 cultural relics to the Suzhou Municipal Government, including this "Bamboo stone map axis". After this axis was transferred to the public collection, it gradually entered people's vision and was successively included in large-scale catalogs.