Unknown
佚名

The Metropolitan Museum of Art states:

The Nine Songs are lyrical, shamanistic incantations dedicated to nine classes of deities worshipped by the Chu people of south China during the first millennium B.C. The original text consists of eleven songs, ten of which are transcribed and illustrated here. The illustrations are preceded by a portrait of the poet Qu Yuan (343–277 B.C.), which is accompanied by an essay entitled "The Fisherman," recounting the poet's state of mind toward the end of his life.

Zhao Mengfu's paintings for the Nine Songs in the baimiao, or "white-drawing" style, are based on compositions by Li Gonglin (ca. 1041–1106) and were a primary source for later fourteenth-century paintings of this theme by Zhang Wu (active 1333–65) and others. Because the calligraphy in the album does not compare with the best of Zhao Mengfu's writing, it is probable that these leaves represent close, reliable copies of Zhao's important work, executed during the fourteenth century. One leaf, "The Lord of Clouds," is a later replacement (no earlier than the seventeenth century).

Chinese text, standard script:

屈原像

屈原既放，游於江潭，行吟澤畔，顏色顦顇，形容枯槁。漁父見而問之曰：“子非三閭大夫歟？何故至於斯？”屈原曰：“舉世皆濁我獨清，眾人皆醉我獨醒，是以見放。”漁父曰：“聖人不凝滯於物，而能與世推移。世人皆濁，何不淈其泥而揚其波？眾人皆醉，何不餔其糟而歠其醨？何故深思高舉，自令放為？”屈原曰：“吾聞之，新沐者必彈冠，新浴者必振衣。安能以身之察察，受物於汶汶者乎！寧赴湘流，葬於江魚腹中。安能以皓皓之白，蒙世俗之塵埃乎！”漁父莞爾而咲，鼓枻而去，乃歌曰：“滄浪之水清兮，可以濯我纓。滄浪之水濁兮，可以濯我足。”遂去，不復與言。

English translation:

Portrait of Qu Yuan

When Qu Yuan was banished, he wandered, sometimes along the river’s banks, sometimes along with the marsh’s edge, singing as he went. His expression was dejected and his features emaciated. A fisherman caught sight of him. ‘Are not you the Lord of the Three Wards?’ said the fisherman. ‘What has brought you to this pass?’ ‘Because all the world is muddy and I alone am clear,’ said Qu Yuan, ‘and because all men are drunk and I alone am sober, I have been sent into exile.’ ‘The Wise Man is not chained to material circumstances,’ said the fisherman, ‘but can move as the world moves. If all the world is muddy, why not help them to stir up the mud and beat up the waves? And if all men are drunk, why not sup their dregs and swill their lees? Why get yourself exiled because of your deep thoughts and your fine aspirations?’ Qu Yuan replied, ‘I have heard it said: “He who has just washed his hair should brush his hat; and he who has just bathed should shake his clothes.” How can I submit my spotless purity to the dirt of others? I would rather cast myself into the waters of the river and be buried in the bowels of fishes than hide my shining light in the dark and dust of the world.’ The fisherman, with a faint smile, struck his paddle in the water and made off. And as he went he sang: ‘When the Cang-lang’s waters are clear, I can wash my hat-strings in them; When the Cang-lang’s waters are muddy, I can wash my feet in them.’ With that he was gone, and did not speak again.

The album comprises:

• Leaf A
• Leaf B
  Portrait of Qu Yuan
  屈原像
• Leaf C
  The Great Unity, God of the Eastern Sky
  東皇太一
• Leaf D
  The Lord within the Clouds
  雲中君
• Leaf E
  The Goddess of the Xiang
  湘君
• Leaf F
  The Lady of the Xiang
  湘夫人
• Leaf G
  The Greater Master of Fate
  大司命
• Leaf H
  The Lesser Master of Fate
  少司命
• Leaf I
  The Lord of the East
  東君
• Leaf J
  The River Earl
  河伯
• Leaf K
  The Mountain Spirit
  山鬼
• Leaf L
  Hymn to the Fallen
  國殤

https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/40511

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• 1973.121.15a?p

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