Poet on a Mountaintop (杖藜遠眺) Shen Zhou (沈周, 1427-1509), Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) Album leaf, ink on paper, 38.7 x 60.3 cm, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri Shen Zhou exemplified literati painting in another way - his blending of poetry and painting, the arts of words and images. Many of Shen Zhou's paintings include poems of his own - many also include poems composed by friends. The painting below is one of Shen Zhou's most famous. The scholar alone in nature seems to be looking out not over a chasm of rocks and clouds, but directly at the poem that Shen Zhou has placed before him. The poem reads as follows: White clouds sash-like wrap mountain waists, The rock terrace flies in space, distant, a narrow path. Leaning on a bramble staff, far and free I gaze, To the warble of valley brook I will reply, whistling. (Translation from Indiana University.)  |
