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This bamboo brush holder shows a scholar inside a mountain retreat under trees. On its back side, a cliff inscribed with a text by the Tang poet Bai Juyi (772–846) describes the carefree life of a scholar among family and servants in the countryside.<br><br>The text in cursive script style calligraphy (<em>xingshu</em>) says:<br><br><em>A ten-acre [home], a five-acre yard with a water pool, and a thousand bamboos. Don’t say the field is narrow, or the location remote. It is enough to accommodate the knee and rest the shoulder. It has a hall and a yard, a bridge and a boat. It has books and wine, songs and string [instruments]. An old man in the midst of it, his white beard flowing. [He] is moderate and satisfied, has no demands and needs. Like a bird he chooses a branch, builds a nest, and rests at ease. Like a fish in a swamp, that does not know how wide the ocean is. . . . All I like, lies before me. I drink a cup of wine from time to time, recite a [poem], wife and children play, chicken and dogs are at leisure, and I will grow old here. </em>

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Page
1
Source index
0
Type
photo
Media ID
e6d2310ee56ad903
Size
unknown

Document data

ID
154265
Core
obj
Type
object
DTO data
{
    "id": "154265",
    "contentType": "object",
    "title": "Brush Holder with Figures in Landscape and Poetic Inscription by Wang Meilin from Jiading",
    "description": "This bamboo brush holder shows a scholar inside a mountain retreat under trees. On its back side, a cliff inscribed with a text by the Tang poet Bai Juyi (772–846) describes the carefree life of a scholar among family and servants in the countryside.<br><br>The text in cursive script style calligraphy (<em>xingshu</em>) says:<br><br><em>A ten-acre [home], a five-acre yard with a water pool, and a thousand bamboos. Don’t say the field is narrow, or the location remote. It is enough to accommodate the knee and rest the shoulder. It has a hall and a yard, a bridge and a boat. It has books and wine, songs and string [instruments]. An old man in the midst of it, his white beard flowing. [He] is moderate and satisfied, has no demands and needs. Like a bird he chooses a branch, builds a nest, and rests at ease. Like a fish in a swamp, that does not know how wide the ocean is. . . . All I like, lies before me. I drink a cup of wine from time to time, recite a [poem], wife and children play, chicken and dogs are at leisure, and I will grow old here. </em>",
    "date": "1800s",
    "citation": "https://clevelandart.org/art/1988.75",
    "rights": "CC0",
    "rightsUri": "CC0",
    "language": "en",
    "wikidata": [
        "Q60745903"
    ],
    "creators": [
        388601
    ],
    "genreSpecific": [
        "Wood"
    ],
    "iiifBase": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1988.75/1988.75_web.jpg",
    "thumbnailUrl": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1988.75/1988.75_web.jpg",
    "largeImageUrl": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1988.75/1988.75_web.jpg",
    "imageCount": 1,
    "source": "import",
    "dimensionsRaw": "Overall: 16 x 12.4 cm (6 5/16 x 4 7/8 in.)",
    "cul": [
        "China, Qing dynasty (1644-1911), Daoguang reign (1821-50)"
    ],
    "accession": "1988.75"
}

Context sent to Scholar

Document identity
{
    "localId": "154265",
    "label": "Brush Holder with Figures in Landscape and Poetic Inscription by Wang Meilin from Jiading",
    "core": "obj",
    "dtoType": "object"
}
Document source metadata
{
    "id": "154265",
    "contentType": "object",
    "title": "Brush Holder with Figures in Landscape and Poetic Inscription by Wang Meilin from Jiading",
    "description": "This bamboo brush holder shows a scholar inside a mountain retreat under trees. On its back side, a cliff inscribed with a text by the Tang poet Bai Juyi (772–846) describes the carefree life of a scholar among family and servants in the countryside.<br><br>The text in cursive script style calligraphy (<em>xingshu</em>) says:<br><br><em>A ten-acre [home], a five-acre yard with a water pool, and a thousand bamboos. Don’t say the field is narrow, or the location remote. It is enough to accommodate the knee and rest the shoulder. It has a hall and a yard, a bridge and a boat. It has books and wine, songs and string [instruments]. An old man in the midst of it, his white beard flowing. [He] is moderate and satisfied, has no demands and needs. Like a bird he chooses a branch, builds a nest, and rests at ease. Like a fish in a swamp, that does not know how wide the ocean is. . . . All I like, lies before me. I drink a cup of wine from time to time, recite a [poem], wife and children play, chicken and dogs are at leisure, and I will grow old here. </em>",
    "date": "1800s",
    "citation": "https://clevelandart.org/art/1988.75",
    "rights": "CC0",
    "rightsUri": "CC0",
    "language": "en",
    "wikidata": [
        "Q60745903"
    ],
    "creators": [
        388601
    ],
    "genreSpecific": [
        "Wood"
    ],
    "iiifBase": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1988.75/1988.75_web.jpg",
    "thumbnailUrl": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1988.75/1988.75_web.jpg",
    "largeImageUrl": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1988.75/1988.75_web.jpg",
    "imageCount": 1,
    "source": "import",
    "dimensionsRaw": "Overall: 16 x 12.4 cm (6 5/16 x 4 7/8 in.)",
    "cul": [
        "China, Qing dynasty (1644-1911), Daoguang reign (1821-50)"
    ],
    "accession": "1988.75"
}
Document source extras
{
    "tec": "carved bamboo",
    "tombstone": "Brush Holder with Figures in Landscape and Poetic Inscription by Wang Meilin from Jiading (筆筒), 1800s. Wang Meilin (Chinese, active c. 1825). Carved bamboo; overall: 16 x 12.4 cm (6 5/16 x 4 7/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund, 1988.75",
    "titleInOriginalLanguage": "筆筒",
    "collection": "China - Qing Dynasty",
    "inscriptions": [
        {
            "inscription": "A ten-acre [home], a five-acre yard with a water pool, and a thousand bamboos. Don’t say the field is narrow, or the location remote. It is enough to accommodate the knee and rest the shoulder. It has a hall and a yard, a bridge and a boat. It has books and wine, songs and string [instruments]. An old man in the midst of it, his white beard flowing. [He] is moderate and satisfied, has no demands and needs. Like a bird he chooses a branch, builds a nest, and rests at ease. Like a fish in a swamp, that does not know how wide the ocean is. . . . All I like, lies before me. I drink a cup of wine from time to time, recite a [poem], wife and children play, chicken and dogs are at leisure, and I will grow old here.",
            "inscription_remark": "Inscribed by Wang Meilin"
        }
    ],
    "didYouKnow": "Bamboo was considered a humble material that suited the Confucian ideals of frugality and modesty.",
    "citations": [
        {
            "citation": "\"The Year in Review for 1988.\" <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em> 76, no. 2 (1989): 30-75.",
            "page_number": "Referenced: cat. no. 211, p. 74, Reproduced: p. 209",
            "url": "http://www.jstor.org/stable/25160061."
        }
    ],
    "url": "https://clevelandart.org/art/1988.75",
    "creditline": "John L. Severance Fund",
    "updatedAt": "2026-05-29 07:58:41.722000",
    "imageUrl": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1988.75/1988.75_print.jpg",
    "sourceId": 154265,
    "dept": "Chinese Art",
    "coll": "China - Qing Dynasty",
    "med": "carved bamboo",
    "creatorTags": [
        "male"
    ],
    "thumbnail_url": null,
    "image_url": null
}
Page context
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