Gathering Acorns with Monkeys (隨狙拾橡圖), painted by the master tz’u poet Chiang Ch’un-lin (蔣春霖), is his only extant self-portrait, as well as his only extant painting. After Chiang Ch’un-lin committed suicide for abandoned love, this painting was passed down to his nephew Chiang Yü-leng (蔣玉棱). Later on, he asked the celebrated artist Wu Ch’ang-shuo (吳昌碩) to inscribe the painting, and the famous literatus Mao Kuang-sheng (冒廣生) chronicled the painting in Tz’u Commentaries from the Hsiao-san-wu Pavilion (小三吾亭詞話). There is nothing extravagant to claim that this painting is an extraordinary treasure in the world of Chinese classical literature. Perusing the images of Tz’u Lyrics from the Water-and-Cloud Pavilion (水雲樓詞) and Gathering Acorns with Monkeys, it is ever more woeful to contemplate the life adversities of a talented poet.

Curatorial and Editorial Department