Jade mountain inscribed with poems

Imperial and literati travelers often left their calligraphy on mountainsides at scenic locations—this decorative object with “pine and rock” motif refers to that common practice. Both sides have areas reserved for imperial poems: the front describes the piece as ancient jade, newly carved, and praises its purity. The other poem mentions the recluse with walking staff carved on the reverse, and imagines him high on Mount Lu viewing clouds.

Nephrite

7 5/8 x 5 3/4 x 2 in. (19.37 x 14.61 x 5.08 cm)

Eugene Fuller Memorial Collection

35.11

Not currently on view

Resources

Exhibition HistoryPortland, Oregon, Portland Art Museum, Gift to a City: Masterworks from the Eugene Fuller Memorial Collection in the Seattle Art Museum, Nov. 3 - 28, 1965. Cat. no. 66.

Bellingham, Washington, Mt. Baker Rock Club, 1967.

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Asian Art Museum, Shu: Reinventing Books In Contemporary Chinese Art, Aug. 9 - Dec. 2, 2007.

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Pure Amusements: Wealth, Leisure, and Culture in Late Imperial China, Dec. 24, 2016 - May 15, 2022.

Published ReferencesHandbook, Seattle Art Museum: Selected Works from the Permanent Collections, Seattle, WA: Seattle Art Museum, 1951, p. 78 (b&w)

Seattle Art Museum, Enagagement Book, March, 1953

Gift to a City, exhibition catalogue. Portland, OR: Portland Art Museum, 1965, cat. no. 66

Thomas, Edward B., Oriental Art in the Seattle Art Museum, in Art in America, no. 1, 1965, illus. p. 55

Seattle Art Museum, Enagagement Book, 1972, no. 23 and no. 24

Watt, James C. Y., Chinese Jades From The Collection Of The Seattle Art Museum, Seattle: Seattle Art Museum, 1989, p. 95

Wills, Jade Of The East, pl. 58

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