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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
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- Type
- photo
- Media ID
- e6d2310ee56ad903
- Size
- unknown
Document data
- ID
- 154265
- Core
- obj
- Type
- object
DTO data
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"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",
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"language": "en",
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388601
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"imageCount": 1,
"source": "import",
"dimensionsRaw": "Overall: 16 x 12.4 cm (6 5/16 x 4 7/8 in.)",
"cul": [
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],
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}
Context sent to Scholar
Document identity
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"label": "Brush Holder with Figures in Landscape and Poetic Inscription by Wang Meilin from Jiading",
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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",
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"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)"
],
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}
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",
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Page context
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