It now possesses also the most beautiful picture.
The reward which you have now received is the admiration of all.
Your scholar, Han-Kang, is already on the way to perfection, but the horse he has painted is only skin with nothing beneath it;
He is far from possessing your genius.”
This is a somewhat enthusiastic perception of our old paintings. We have a great number of amateur painters in China, chiefly amongst the literary classes, who paint pictures to give to their friends.
These pictures are precious, because poems are always written by the side of the paintings.
I remember having seen two celebrated pictures which would not be parted with at any price. One represents the open sea, in the middle of which a fisherman is seen in his boat, which is covered with snow. It is accompanied by a poem which fully equals the Pauvres Gens of Victor Hugo. The other represents a mountain with its top hidden in clouds. In the middle of the mountain is a stream which runs down to its foot, and floating in the water is seen a cabbage-leaf. The poem that is written on this picture ends with the following line:—
“Behind the white cloud there were still people living.”
And, sure enough, the cabbage-leaf bespeaks the presence of man, who alone could transport cabbage-leaves to the top of a cloudy mountain.