QING DYNASTY

Both rubbings are taken from stone engravings by Jia Li, which have been dated by the inscription to the 38th year and the 39th year of Kangxi (1699 and 1700) respectively. Jia Li is an official during the Kangxi period, and was once the governor of Huangzhou (modern Hubei province). He had a collection of Dong Qichang's calligraphy on Daoist scriptures, which he published in the 34th year of Kangxi (1695), four years before he made the first stone engraving. He is a bamboo lover, and according to the inscription on the first engraving, he made two previous engravings of bamboo when he was governor in Huangzhou. This third engraving, titled Xu zhong junzi (A Gentleman of Humbleness), was made when he was sent to a new post in central China, and was erected in his study. The inscription also quoted Yang Zhu Ji (On Growing Bamboo) by the Tang poet Bo Juyi, in which he praised the virtue of the plant.

The second stone engraving, titled Lanjie tu (Painting of Orchid and Bamboo), was done a year later. The inscription discusses the way in which bamboo and orchid were represented in paintngs throughout the ages. Jia Li thinks most representations of bamboo are too forceful, while painting of orchids tend to portray them with excessive gentleness. His own version here is an attempt of a more balanced representation of the subject.