Yu Ge: More paintings  
 T of C 
Home
My
Work
Hand-
books
Qin as
Object
Qin in
Art
Poetry
/ Song
Hear,
Watch
Play
Qin
Analysis History Ideo-
logy
Miscel-
lanea
More
Info
Personal email me search me
Scenes Illustrating Guqin Melodies   /   Standard tuning Yu Ge  /   Ruibin tuning Yu Ge   /   Fishermen and woodcutters 首頁
More Illustrations for the Fisherman's Song 漁歌題目圖片
Here: Netting Fish;   below: Caught fish;   compare: scroll painting 上:捕魚圖;:得魚無賣處

These two paintings paintings both connect to Scene 12 of this scroll painting called Song of a Fisherman. Both of the scenes here show a fisherman "casting a net", as in the title both of Scene 15 of the >1505 Yu Ge (Fisherman's Song) and of Scene 12 of the 1525 Yu Ge.1 The image on the left is part of a long vertical scroll painting attributed to Ni Duan (early 15th c.).2 The one on the right has been attributed to Wu Wei (late 15th c.) but said more likely to date from the 19th century.3
 
Netting Fish, by Ni Duan (full image) 1 Netting Fish, attrib. Wu Wei 2

 
Footnotes (Shorthand references are explained on a separate page)

1. Casting a net (or "捕魚圖 Bu Yu Tu: Catching fish illustration")
The two paintings are interchangeable with regard to their appropriateness to one or the other melody/section of melody. The two section titles are:

>1505, Scene 15: 寒江撒網 Into the cool river casting a net
1525, Scene 12: 撒網絕流 Casting a net at a bend in the river

In contrast this scroll is directly tied only to the 1525 standard tuning Fisherman's Song.
(Return)

2. 倪端 Ni Duan (c. 1426- c. 1505; Wikipedia; 中文)
Ni Duan (824.52, style name 仲正 Zhongzheng) was a native of Hangzhou. The original of this painting is in the 國立故宮博物院 台北 National Palace Museum, Taipei (online here). The painting, called 捕魚圖 Bu Yu Tu (Catching fish illustration) is described in Possessing the Past, Treasures from the National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1996, pp. 348-9. The inscription is signed "東吳張誥 Zhang Gao of Eastern Wu" (a government official, 1433—1511).
(Return)

3. 吳偉 Wu Wei (1459-1508; Wikipedia)
Wu Wei (3453.510; Bio/1030 明湖廣江夏人,字次翁,號小仙,又號士英、魯天) was from Jiangxia in Huguang, style name Ziweng, nickname Xiaoxian, also Shiying and Lutian. The image here was made through a glass frame, hence the quality.

This painting was purchased in 2001 at a government art shop within the building housing the 中國美術館 National Art Museum of China. On the right side one can see the signature 小僊 Xiao Xian. The imperial seals are for Qing dynasty reigns and it came with a certificate saying it was a work by 吳偉 Wu Wei. However, its price suggested that this was very unlikely, and later expert examination judged the painting to be a "high quality 19th century forgery". The copy above was photographed through a glass frame, hence the quality.

Wu Wei himself painted a great variety of subjects. Those showingguqin include this portrait of a lady qin player. He is also credited with a 漁樵琴酒圖 painting of Fisherman and Woodcutter with Qin and Wine.
(Return)
 

Appendix
Painting by unidentified artist

This painting by an as-yet unidentified artist shows a fisherman on his boat in the reeds seemingly contemplating his jar of wine. This and the inscription beginning at top right show that it thus has the same theme as 1525, Scene 13. The inscription begins by quoting the second line of a poem called 西村 West Village, attributed to 郭祥正 Guo Xiangzheng (1035-1113). The full poem is,

遠近皆僧剎,西村八九家。
得魚無賣處,沽酒入蘆花
Buddhist temples are scattered far and near,
        Village cottages number eight or nine here.
As there’s nowhere to sell the fish he caught,
        The fisherman takes into reeds the wine he bought.

The translation is by 陳君朴 Chen Junpu from 200 Chinese-English Quatrains by Song Poets, p.57.