Immortal Rock

Wang Yin was born in NanJing, Jiangsu province but worked primarily in Shanghai. Although a professional artist he espoused literati values and published manuals on plum, orchid, bamboo and rock painting. This classic taihu garden rock represents the Daoist embodiment of changefulness; its rhythmic form is pierced through with holes large and small suggesting the rigors and erosion of time. The inscription by Wang reads:

When the phoenix flew away, heaven turned cold and the green Wutong tree died as did the grass. The rock perch alone remained; it stood in the clouds and awaited the ordinary birds. The phoenix call at sunrise lasted three thousand years. It was the end of the world. I often stop playing the Qin under the moonlight. It seems an immortal has emerged from the moon.

Done by Wang Yemei in winter; twelfth month, 1878 at Kyoto.