Description
The artist writes at upper right:
Seeking good omens, four beauties go fishing.
Fish are ready for delicious bait,
As willow branches swing in spring breezes.
The four beauties are joined by a man (standing beside the post, with a blue cap), who suggested that catching fish would be an opportunity to tell fortunes.
Provenance
Xu Hongting [Hsü Hung-t'ing] [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Liu Song-bu [Liu Sung-pu], Shanghai [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Panama Pacific International Exposition, San Francisco, China Pavilion, 1915 [no. 285]; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1915, by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.
Inscriptions
[Translation] At upper right: Seeking good omens, four beauties go fishing. / Fish are ready for delicious bait, / As willow branches swing in spring breezes.
Credit
Acquired by Henry Walters, 1915
