What Is This?

This is certainly WAY non-food chat, but I was lounging here in JiLS Central and surveying my space, and I realized that the LTH brain trust might be able to help me solve an almost 20-year old mystery -- to wit, WHAT IS THIS:



Yes, I know a couple of things about it It is a rubbing, and it is from mainland China. It was a gift from a friend who spent a college year abroad there in 1987-88; he sent it to me for my 21st birthday (that would be in 1987, for those keeping score). Anyway, he gave no further explanation and I lost touch with him years ago, when he moved to Taiwan permanently to teach English. I framed it, and it's been on the wall of every place I've called home since then (all nine of them).

Here are some details:







So, while I've certainly enjoyed its presence, I have no idea what it signifies. Does anyone know what this is, what it means ... ? Thanks.

I forwarded this to my father (who teaches chinese literature) and he has this to say:

This is probably a carved stone stele that is a copy of a painting from the 17th century or so. It is probably in honor of Lord Guan, who was a famous warrior known for his faithfulness and uprightness, and is therefore now the patron saint of merchants(!!) so you often see shrines to him in small shops etc. in China. (The first two characters across the top are definitely his name--dad's not sure what the other two are, but thinks they have something to do with a forest, probably metaphorically). There are many temples/shrines to Lord Guan, so it's possible that that's where the stele is or was. He thinks that the object with the links is probably a seal, or "chop", which people often wore on links hanging from their belts/sashes. As for the bamboo, it often represents scholars in art, since they are able to be blown about by fortune but not be broken. It also might be there just because it's pretty!

Dad says that if you can get a clearer picture of the characters beneath the print of the seal, and the two small characters next to the seal itself, he'd be able to tell you much more about the image. He also forwarded this to a grad student of his who specializes in old-form chinese characters to see what the other two characters across the top mean.

This is my dad's grad students reply--take a deep breath--it's long:

> A good charade for the New Year's Eve! But I have to confess that I couldn't
> figure it out without searching in the internet.
>
> The four characters read "Guan Gong Shi Zhu" (Guan Gong's bamboo poem). That
> is, the bamboo leaves will turn out to be characters, if we could look
closely
> enough. And here is the story:
>
> 不谢东君意，丹青独立名
> 莫嫌孤叶淡，终究不凋零
(This is the poem formed by the leave, I expect; it would take me a bit of
work to translate; I can do better with the prose)
> 九朝古都洛阳城南七公里的关林镇，有一个著名的旅游区关公庙，亦称关林。相传这里是埋葬蜀
汉
> 名将关羽首级的地方。 Seven kilometers south of Luoyang in Guanlin (Guan's
Grove) Township is the Lord Guan Temple, a local tourist site, also called
Guan's Grove. REportedly this is where the head of the famous general Guan Yu
is buried.
> 关林占地百亩，有翠柏800余株，殿宇廊屋150余间，碑刻70余方。二殿上悬光绪题“光照日
> 月”匾，内有关公坐像。 the site covers 30-plus acres and has over 800 cypress
trees, with a large temple complex having over 70 carved stone steles. Near
the second building is one inscribed by the Guangxu emperor (around 1900);
inside is a statue of Lord Guan seated.
> 二殿之旁有一碑，是70余座碑刻中唯一的一座刻画碑，此碑上所刻即“关帝诗竹”。它画中藏
诗，Beside the second building is a unique stele, on which is carved "Lord
Guan's Bamboo Poem" in which a poem is hidden in a painting.
> 原为关公借物寄情，读来令人回味无穷。此碑纵102厘米，横38厘米。碑上有两竿翠竹拔地而起，雄
健 This is because Guan chose this to express his deep feelings. it is 102 by
38 centimeters and has two stalks of bamboo on it; the one on the left curves
toward the right and has lots of leaves, which, upon close inspection, form
characters that read "I bow not to the Lord of the East; with my resiliant
strength I've established my fame; don't disparage me because my leaves are
light, they never fall just because of a little frost." [Or something like
that.}
> 挺劲。左方一竿竹子稍向右斜出，清新俊逸的丛丛竹叶，疏密有致，丰丽滴翠。整个画面构图简练，
主
> 题突出。若是细细观察和品味，你会发现，这些似在临风摇曳中下垂的簇簇竹叶竟组成了一个个文
字，
> 原来是一首五言诗：“不谢东君意，丹青独立名；莫嫌孤叶淡，终久不凋零。”画的右上端还有两方
刻
> 印，上边是阴文“关羽之印”，下方为阳刻“汉寿亭侯”。 There are two seals on it; on
the right one says "Seal of Guan Yu" and below it says "Marquis of Shouting of
the Han [Dynasty]". The "lord of the East" here refers to Cao Cao; [for
details refer to the novel "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" available online in
chinese and probably in english, too. What follows here recounts some of
Guan's confrontations with Cao, the usurper of the Han throne about 202 CE.]
> 这幅竹中藏诗的画，还有一段有趣的历史故事。诗中的“东君”指曹操。据《三国演义》第25至
27
> 回记载及有关传说，刘备为曹操所败，关羽被俘，被爱才惜将的曹操留居营中。曹操很器重他，请汉
献
> 帝封侯赐爵，即“汉寿亭侯”，同时金银相赠，千方百计使关羽归顺投降。而关羽衷心不改，一心系
念
> 着兄长刘备。一天，他思索着给刘备写封信，可又担心被曹操发现，于是就画了这幅竹画托人捎给刘
> 备，表达了富贵不能淫的品格，这即后人所熟悉的“身在曹营心在汉”之典故的出处。
> 关帝诗竹画是清康熙55年（公元1716年）韩宰临摹的。关羽究竟有无此作，无处考证。据有关
资料
> 显示，清代文人善用竹叶、花、鸟等组字成画。关帝诗竹很可能是他们附会而成。This picture
was painted in 1716 by Han Zailin, who, because it was fashionable then to use
bamboo, flowers, and birds in paintings, probably made the whole thing up.

JiLS--I hope you're not sorry you asked!

LTH never ceases to amaze me. Good lord.

gleam wrote:LTH never ceases to amaze me.

Ditto. Deepest appreciation to geli, his father and his father's student for doing this work. I hope it was as pleasurable for you all as it has been instructive and valuable for me.

My father was enormously pleased to get this info for you--he is thrilled any time I express interest in his area of study. I mean, how often do I get to ask my dad about 17th century chinese poetry?? Of course this isn't as good as deciding I want to go back to grad school, but it's a step...

his father

*ahem* "her father" would suit me better

eta: I think that "Marquis of Shouting" would make an excellent signature line for someone. I would use it myself, but I don't know what the feminine of Marquis is...

geli wrote:

his father

*ahem* "her father" would suit me better

One learns by asking or by showing one's ignorance and waiting for the world to respond; I've now done both!

geli wrote:eta: I think that "Marquis of Shouting" would make an excellent signature line for someone. I would use it myself, but I don't know what the feminine of Marquis is...

It's Marchioness.

David, Baron Birria, Vicomte de Carnitas

geli wrote:
eta: I think that "Marquis of Shouting" would make an excellent signature line for someone. I would use it myself, but I don't know what the feminine of Marquis is...

It's Marchioness

and voila!

geli wrote:and voila!

Well, voilà, too, another convert.

____________________
Celebrant
Mystic Order of the Indecipherable Scroll