Shanghai Scroll

[TimHolden]

Hi,

We recently moved house and, whilst digging through boxes after the move, I unearthed this scroll. 

I bought the scroll in Shanghai in (I'm pretty sure) November 1988 from a shop somewhere behind the Bund.

Looking at the changed skyline of Shanghai I'm fairly sure the shop will long since have disappeared.

Can anyone help with a translation?

Regards, Tim

(5 photos uploaded)

[Jim]

The two large characters look to me to read 鹤拳 or "crane fist", a boxing style.

The line in your second photo reads 南岳衡山海湾 (full form characters though, unlike my typing) which is a place name, Nanyue Hengshan is a very famous mountain and I can only presume Haiwan is a place there.

In the fourth photo the characters are 岁次, a literary way of saying the year the work was done, then a year in the sexagenary cycle, 戊辰 I think, which most recently was 1988 so would fit with your provenance.

Can't quite make out all the characters in the last picture, so will leave that for someone else!

[Tomsima]

I think that character is the cursive of 壽, which would make it 鶴壽 (not 鶴拳) and 海濤 (not 海灣).

 

Looking closer, the seal below also reads 海濤, which would suggest it is the name of the calligrapher.

 

The other part reads 端午書於海上

[Jim]

1 hour ago, Tomsima said:

I think that character is the cursive of 壽, which would make it 鶴壽 (not 鶴拳) and 海濤 (not 海灣).

That seems much more likely!

[TimHolden]

Thanks to you both for your replies.  Let me try and Summarise what I think you have said:

1) The 2 large characters in the centre of the scroll are 鶴壽 (which according to Google is "Hè shòu") and not 鶴拳 ("Crane Fist").  Is Google correct and, if so, what is the meaning of"Hè shòu"?  A bit of googling indicates that it's reference to the wishing long life like a Crane.

2) On the lower left of the scroll (photo 2) is 南岳衡山海湾 which should be read as "Nányuè héngshān hǎiwān".  This is the mountain that Jim referred to, and Haiwan is either a location in the area or (according to Google) might be "Nanyue Hengshan Bay"

3) Also on the lower left is a red seal (photo 3) that may be 海濤 (Hǎi tāo) the calligrapher.

4) Top left (photo 4) is probably the date (1988), though I can't match Jim's characters to the picture, and an unknown red seal.

5) Bottom let (photo 5) is 端午書於海上, which Google translates as "Dragon Boat Festival at sea"

So overall it may be a wish for long life associated with a boat race.

[Jim]

50 minutes ago, TimHolden said:

On the lower left of the scroll (photo 2) is 南岳衡山海湾 which should be read as "Nányuè héngshān hǎiwān".  This is the mountain that Jim referred to, and Haiwan is either a location in the area or (according to Google) might be "Nanyue Hengshan Bay"

Think Tomsima is correct there, I read that last character wrong and those two together are Haitao which appears to be the calligrapher's pen-name.

ETA So the whole line is more "Haitao of Hengshan Mountain"

 

As for the rest, yes it's a wish for you to enjoy the fabled longevity of the crane. That bit about the Dragon Boat festival is saying it was written then, 海上 also possibly meaning beside the sea (or even a large lake) and I expect actually referring to Shanghai here, which is the same two characters in reverse and a seaside metropolis, as you know. 

 

[Tomsima]

just for clarity, 端午 does not refer to a 'boat race', but the 5th day of the 5th month of the lunar calendar, so the line means something closer to

"written by the sea on '5/5' (ie 'duanwu'), Duanwu is also commonly known as 'dragon boat festival', but is a much richer festival than, to remember the famous poet Quyuan (from an area in present day Hubei province…just saying!)