Fruit

Fruit

Seed

Is – no more no less

"Wild lotus"

"Wild Lotus", by Bada Shanren (ZhuDa)

The blossoms of that lotus

(translation of inscribed poem in painting)

The blossoms of that lotus have no fragrance; 

Its long stalks will hold no wine cups. 

What may it become if it drinks not for a hundred years? 

The time will come when it will bear new roots of amber yellow (wine)

Bada Shanren (ZhuDa) (1626-1705)

(The lotus – a conventional symbol of purity – (is) a desolate metaphor of the Middle Kingdom, devoid of fragrance, celebration and life – Zhu Da’s only consolation is that one day a native dynasty – symbolised by the amber yellow wine – will emerge and China will be restored. (source: extract of Art Journal 25, National Gallery of Victoria)

"Lotus" (circa 1665)

Early tribute

.... in the fierce heat of the midday sun, I stumble unexpectedly on a bed of Lotus, and I gaze for the first time on the lovely flowers, which, growing in the black mud, are to the Japanese the symbols of purity – ‘A pure and beautiful woman in a haunt of vice’; ‘A man of stainless honour in a wicked world.’  Such exquisite tender colours, such perfection of form, such stately grace of growth – set round with mighty and shapely leaves with their undercolouring of pale blue, which seems in the sunlight to reflect the heavens – has the Lotus, that it is no wonder religion has set it on the highest pinnacle of its symbolism.  The beautiful penciling of the veins on the petals seems to have been the fount of inspiration for the old Buddhist artists, whose work was never perfect until the gold lines on the flowers they loved to paint vied with Nature in her accuracy.

            In the early morning the rising sun receives a royal salute of welcome from a hundred and one opening buds.

Francis Piggott CJ (1852-1925)

Early tribute

"Bodhisattva Leading the Way"

Bodhisattva Leading the Way - image was discovered at Dunhuang, western China, in the "Thousand-Buddha cave". The bodhisattva is leading a woman to the Pure Land on the golden cloud ( upper left corner). His right hand holds an incense burner and his left hand holds a lotus flower.

... The lotus ....

"A tea house at Kamakura" by Alfred Parsons, R A

... The lotus is one of the most difficult plants which it has ever been my lot to try and paint; the flowers are at their best only in the early morning, and each blossom after it has opened closes again before noon the first day, and on its second day the petals drop.  The leaves are so large and so full of modeling that it is impossible to generalize them as a mass; each one has to be carefully studied, and every breath of wind disturbs their delicate balance, and completely alters their forms.  Besides this, their glaucous surface, like that of a cabbage leaf, reflects every passing phase of the sky, and is constantly changing in colour as clouds pass over ….

Alfred Parsons (1847-1920)