DBS Singapore Gallery 1

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一枝老干撑天地，几点寒花寂寞开，寻得个影松竹报，冒将风雪夜凉来。高冠天题。

印：喜曙楼，冠天，高家三子。

Inscription

A single old bough props up heaven and earth / A few speckles of cold flowers bloom in quietude / Wanting to report to the pine trees and bamboos the slightest hint of spring they have sensed / They braved the wind, the snow and the cold night to come forth

Inscribed by Ko Koon-tin.

[Seal impression]: The Gladness-for-Daybreak House. Koon-tin, the third son of the Ko family.

（原文, 印）

老干诗人骨，酒晕吴姬面，数点见精神，寒姿霜雪练。二山居士嘱题，李西浪。

印：李西浪。

Inscription

The old bough is like the poet’s tough character / The inebriated blush is reminiscent of the faces of beautiful ladies from the Wu region / A resilient spirit comes through in the few speckles of flowers / The frigid pose is like pure, white silk amidst the frost and snow

Inscribed by Li Xilang at the request of the Lay Buddhist of Two Mountains.

[Seal impression]: Li Xilang.

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干老而劲，梢短如㦸，含笑花稀，写我胸臆。梅花为天下神奇，而诗人有所酷好，余于雨晴振笔写此，其胜枝密花繁否耶。乙酉（1945）仲夏二山居士，时客南溟。

印：二山日利，山（象形印）。

Inscription

The bough is old but energetic / The twigs are short but pointed like halberds / The sparse blossoms look as if they are smiling / This image is an expression of what fills my heart.

Plum blossoms are an utterly amazing thing in this world, a favourite of the poets. I painted this when the rain had cleared. I wonder if this is better than a dense multitude of branches and flowers.

By the Lay Buddhist of Two Mountains, then a migrant in the Southern Seas, in midsummer of the year of yiyou (1945).

[Seal impression]: Two Mountains, sharper by the day. [Pictographic seal]: “Mountain”

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一出风尘占百魁，乾坤梦梦劫初回。年年争趁春消息，报与寒梢作玉堆。癸巳（1953）蔡寰青。

印：蔡，未盦。

Inscription

Emerging beyond worldliness, it is superlative in every way / As if it has returned from the beginning of time where the universe lay in murkiness / Year after year it vies to stay close to the coming of spring / About which it informs its frigid twigs, so that they may produce masses of jade-like flowers

By Cai Huanqing in the year of kuisi (1953).

[Seal impression]:Cai, Wei’an.

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绰约修来问几生，墨香浓妆态斜横。不须禁体题诗句，已悟先生品与清。丙戌（1946）小阳春，蘅香（杜蘅香）。

印：蘅香。

Inscription

For how many lifetimes has she cultivated herself to achieve such gentle grace? / With the fragrance of ink and luxuriant make-up, she presents herself aslant and reclined / There is no need to inscribe poetry here that must refrain from specific words / I have understood how sublime and undefiled the painter is

By [Du] Hengxiang in the 10th month of the year of bingxu (1946).

[Seal impression]: Hengxiang.

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古干缀疏花，羞谁竞物华，冷香逗月夜，独媚老逋家。庾岭占先春，颇思将远人。飞鸿渺天际，聊尔寄精神。☐章两首奉题。载灵道长兄墨梅希正。沈逸史。

印：逸史。（注：“☐”标记代表该字无法辨识）

Inscription

This aged bough decorated by sparse blossoms / Is not ashamed to compete against other beauties of Nature / Tantalising the moonlit night with its cold fragrance / It alone mesmerises the old hermit

Over the Dayu Ridge, you are the first to embody the coming of spring / One desires very much to give you to someone far away / But as the swan geese are flying out of sight over the horizon / One can only take you as a token of invigorated spirit

Two [poems] for the plum plant painted in ink by the Daoist elder Jai Ling for comments, inscribed in the hope of receiving correction. By Shen Yishi.

[Seal impression]: Yishi.

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炎陬写寒意，笔下悟机深。凛凛冰霜貌，悠悠天地心。讵堪移闹市，端合住仙岑。幽怀别有託，漫从皮相寻。乙酉（1945）秋日，澈徵。

印：（无印）

Inscription

In the remote, sweltering lands of the south, the painter depicts coldness / There is an apprehension in his painting of profound mysteries / Behind the forbidding icy look / There is a heart that connects with the unperturbed, timeless Universe / How can such a plant ever be moved to a bustling city? / It really should remain in the high mountains of the transcendents / The hidden sentiments of the painter are infused somewhere indeed / It is futile for me to search for them in superficial appearances

By Chezheng on an autumn day in the year of yiyou (1945).

[No seal impression]

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逸韵高情雪里加，岁寒三友实堪誇。如今忽报春来到，大地风风飘庆国花。乙酉（1945）夏至光汉（郑光汉）。

印：光汉书画

Inscription

Adding an ethos and sentiments of sublimity to a snowy environment / For this, the Three Friends of Winter [i.e., the pine, the bamboo, and the plum] really ought to be praised / As now appears the sudden hint of the coming of spring / Fragrance wafts across the land, celebrating our national flower

By [Tay] Kong Han, summer solstice in the year of yiyou (1945).

[Seal impression]: Kong Han’s calligraphy and paintings.

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二山居士爱梅花，画到梅花林逋家。此日岭南花正好，仙人共与馆胡麻。载灵道长雨中过我，款以佳酿，畅谭竟日，得未曾有，出示大作直轴嘱题，悦如笔前游翠湖黑龙潭，独赏庐梅芬芳，直透脑海也，书此以博一粲。丙戌（1946）冬弟 张明慈同客狮岛。

印：张，明慈，幼怀之印。

Inscription

The Lay Buddhist of Two Mountains loves plum blossoms / The ones he paints look as if they belong to [the Song dynasty hermit] Lin Bu’s home / Today these flowers must look beautiful in southern China / The transcendents house them together with [such sublime items as] sesame

The Daoist elder Jai Ling visited me in the rain, and treated me to good wine. Conversing freely for the whole day, we had a fruitful time like nothing ever experienced before. He showed me his masterpiece, a vertical scroll, and asked me for an inscription. The painting offered such pleasure, as if one was visiting the Green Lake or Black Dragon Pool on paper, and enjoying by oneself the fragrance of Lushan’s plum blossoms that seeped into the head so strongly. I hereby write this, hoping to win a smile.

By Zhang Mingci, fellow migrant in Singapore, in the winter of the year of bingxu (1946).

[Seal impression]: Zhang, Mingci. The seal of Youhuai.

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曾经浩劫苦吟身，写出冰肌不染尘。多艺多才姑勿论，一株梅树见精神。民国三十六年（1947）元旦，二山老兄属题即希教正。闽南谢云生同客星洲。

印：谢，云生，广平馆客。

Inscription

The painter has been through great tribulations, and he struggles to compose the best poetry / His painting here brings out the purity of an ice-like body untainted by worldliness / That the painter possesses multiple talents goes without saying / A single plum tree suffices to demonstrate his sublime spirit

By Xie Yunsheng from southern Fujian, a fellow migrant in Singapore, on the first day of the 36th year of the Republic of China (1947) at the request of old brother Two-Mountains, in the hope of receiving correction.

[Seal impression]: Xie, Yunsheng. Guest at [the Tang dynasty rhapsodist Song] Guangping’s House.

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关河风雪地凝寒，欲采梅花第几山。一自广平辞世后，妩媚从不嫁人间。己丑年（1949）二月春日君复曾心影奉题。

印：曾心影。

Inscription

With wind and snow raging at the border passes and rivers, coldness solidifies across the land / One wishes to pick plum blossoms, but to which mountain should one go? / Ever since [the Tang dynasty rhapsodist Song] Guangping left this world / This alluring beauty has never married into the human world

Inscribed by Junfu, Chan Sim Ying, on a spring day in the 2nd month of the year of jichou (1949).

[Seal impression]: Chan Sim Ying.

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花心起墨晕，春色在毫端。录东坡句，为二山先生题画。瘦石（张瘦石）。

印：张，石。

Inscription

A blush of ink arises within the blossoms / The liveliness of spring comes forth from the tip of the brush hair

[Su] Dongpo’s verses copied as an inscription for the elder gentleman Two-Mountains’ painting. By [Chang] San Sheh.

[Seal impression]: Zhang, Shi.

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雪掩庾关白，花开邓尉深。一枝生气韵，数点见天心。恭题二山先（生）铁干古梅即希二正。宗弟炎（黄炎）。

印：黄炎，一方山人。

Inscription

Snow covers the Dayu Pass with whiteness / The sea of blooming flowers makes Mt. Dengwei look deep / A single stalk exudes a lively energy / While a few speckles of flowers show us Heaven’s penchant for life

An inscription respectfully added to the elder gentleman Two-Mountains’ iron-hard, aged plum bough, in the hope of receiving correction. By [Huang] Yan, a younger brother from the same clan.

[Seal impression]: Huang Yan, Recluse of a Region.

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林逋去后见精神，几点冷香墨气新。笛里关山难著笔，天南空忆一枝春。丙戌（1946）秋日，楚才（刘楚才）。

印：楚才。

Inscription

[The Song dynasty hermit] Lin Bu is gone, but the resilient spirit of his plant comes through / The few speckles of flowers exude a cold fragrance amidst the fresh inkiness / The feel of border passes and mountains looming in the sound of a bamboo flute—that is difficult to portray with the brush / We in the southern regions of the world recall, to no avail, spring embodied in a single stalk

By [Liu] Chucai on an autumn day in the year of bingxu (1946).

[Seal impression]: Chucai.

（原文, 印）

逋仙已老去，孤岭谁为欢。岁暮无知己，贞魂绕笔端。丙戌（1946）十二月吴得先题于星洲。

印：吴育（艹字头）之印。

Inscription

The hermit-transcendent Lin Bu is ageing away / Who else is there to delight in you upon the lonesome ridge? / Now, at the end of the year, no one knows you / Your chaste soul lingers at the tip of the painter’s brush

Inscribed by Goh Teck Sian in Singapore during the 12th month of the year of bingxu (1946).

[Seal impression]: Seal of Wu Yu.

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岭上先开第一枝，二山折取事南移。炎荒六月闻敲雪，冷艳幽香自合时。壬辰（1952）六月潘潔夫敬题。

印：潘☐☐（注：另两个字因印章模糊不清无法辨识）

Inscription

The first stalk to bloom upon the ridge / Has been broken off and taken to the south by Two-Mountains / To hear the sound of snow being beaten, now in the sixth month in a sweltering, remote land / The icy charm and quiet aroma are appropriate for the time in their own way nonetheless

Inscribed respectfully by Pan Jiefu in the 6th month of the year of renchen (1952).

[Seal impression]: Pan [??] (Note: the last two characters cannot be deciphered.)

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凌空存老干，冒雪着寒花。天地精英在，梅开处士家。二山宗兄先生指政。少怀（黄少怀）题，壬辰（1952）冬于星洲。

印：少怀。

Inscription

The old bough stands in the void / Bearing cold flowers in the snow / Herein lies the finest excellence of Heaven and Earth / Plum blossoms blooming in the home of a virtuous hermit

Inscribed by [Huang] Shaohuai in Singapore during the winter of the year of renchen (1952), for elder gentleman Two-Mountains, an elder brother from the same clan, to correct.

[Seal impression]: Shaohuai.

（原文, 印）

天心已暖还嘘冻，故使梅花瘦几分。老干疏花应莫负，寒香晴腊貯穠春。二山居士嘱题☐干古梅，奉咏一绝即希教政。癸巳（1953）冬月，首生。

印：首生。（注：“☐”标记代表该字无法辨识）

Inscription

Warmth has come with Heaven’s penchant for life, blowing upon the frozen / Yet the painter has made the plum plant a little more emaciated / Its old bough and sparse blossoms should not be treated unfairly / On a snowless winter day, its frigid aroma is packed with the dazzling abundance of spring

An inscription for the aged plum plant with a [hardy?] bough, added at the request of the Lay Buddhist of Two Mountains—along with a quatrain I composed—in the hope of receiving correction. By Shousheng in the winter month of the year of kuisi (1953).

[Seal impression]: Shousheng. (Note: The "☐" mark indicates that the character cannot be deciphered.)

（原文, 印）

居士画梅墨犹湿，萧斋已见春光集。疏枝瘦干格调高，借问众芳谁可及。二山宗仁兄正之。孟圭（黄孟圭）敬题。

印：（无印章）

Inscription

The ink is still wet on the plum plant painted by the Lay Buddhist / But already the splendour of spring is converging because of it in my bleak
studio / Its sparse branches and emaciated bough are of a high taste / Who among the flowers, may I ask, can compare to it?

Inscribed respectfully by [Huang] Menggui for Two-Mountains, an elder brother from the same clan, to correct.

[No seal impression]

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腕底春风绝世姿，淡施脂粉不矜奇。丹青须借名人手，许替梅花画折枝。二山先生示政。胡超球。

印：超球。

Inscription

The painter has produced a peerless look of beautiful spring / Rendered with attenuated glamour, it does not show off any extraordinariness / When it comes to painting, it takes a famed maestro to do this / Only someone like this may paint a plum plant as a broken-off stalk

By Hu Chaoqiu, for the elder gentleman Two-Mountains to correct.

[Seal impression]: Chaoqiu.

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乙酉（1945）夏，星洲淪于暴日者经三年，荼毒惨苛，凤竄鴞翔，顾余不善画，偶尔写此籍以消忧。光复后装潢至今十载中，先后得诸友留题者凡十有九人，词翰因缘，洵可宝之。乙未（1955）夏二山黄载灵识于石叻律（石叻路）G四号。

印：二山日利，（另一圆形印模糊不清，似象形印，无法用文字反映出来）。

Inscription

In the summer of the year of yiyou (1945), Singapore had fallen to the tyrannical Japanese invaders for three years. Great horrors and brutalities abounded; phoenixes had to scurry around while the owls soared. Although I was not good at painting, I painted this by chance to dissipate my unhappiness. The painting was mounted after Singapore was delivered from occupation, and in the ten years between then and now, 19 of my friends had left their inscriptions thereon on different occasions. Such a convergence of connections forged through poetry and calligraphy is truly worthy to be treasured.

Recorded by Wong Jai Ling, alias Two-Mountains, during summer in the year of yiwei (1955) at No. 4, G, Silat Road.

[Seal impression]: Two Mountains, sharper by the day. [Coupled with the unclear impression of a round, possibly pictographic, seal]