Plum's the Word. Muiderslot, Muiden, and Emperor Qianlong's Screen, Hermitage Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
In the early seventeenth century a circle of literary friends met at Muiden Castle under the aegis of Pieter Corneliszoon Hooft (1581-1647), the lord of the manor and well-known man of letters. Famously called the Muiderkring it celebrated arts, sciences and music. Hooft was especially close to Maria Tesselschade Roemers Visscher (1594-1649), a poet, singer and engraver of glass. Visiting the Castle this morning and seeing Plum blossoms everywhere around my memory was jolted to the first lines of a letter Hooft wrote her on August 1, 1636: "De prujmen beginnen al teffens op een bodt te rijpen, en te roepen Tesseltje, Tesseltje mondtje" (=The plums of one accord are already ripening, and they call out: Tessellet! hurry here, Tessellet!)
A few hours later in the Amsterdam Hermitage Museum I was thrilled to see this eighteenth-century Chinese room screen (see inset) with a Plum Tree. On the back is a poem by Emperor Qianlong (1736-1747). Plum Blossoming time in China is the end of winter; his poem appropriately begins with 'And only the mei (=Plum tree) is white'. And a few lines later: 'Like a powder of pearls [are] the blossoms of the plum'.
Plum's the Word. Muiderslot, Muiden, and Emperor Qianlong's Screen, Hermitage Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
In the early seventeenth century a circle of literary friends met at Muiden Castle under the aegis of Pieter Corneliszoon Hooft (1581-1647), the lord of the manor and well-known man of letters. Famously called the Muiderkring it celebrated arts, sciences and music. Hooft was especially close to Maria Tesselschade Roemers Visscher (1594-1649), a poet, singer and engraver of glass. Visiting the Castle this morning and seeing Plum blossoms everywhere around my memory was jolted to the first lines of a letter Hooft wrote her on August 1, 1636: "De prujmen beginnen al teffens op een bodt te rijpen, en te roepen Tesseltje, Tesseltje mondtje" (=The plums of one accord are already ripening, and they call out: Tessellet! hurry here, Tessellet!)
A few hours later in the Amsterdam Hermitage Museum I was thrilled to see this eighteenth-century Chinese room screen (see inset) with a Plum Tree. On the back is a poem by Emperor Qianlong (1736-1747). Plum Blossoming time in China is the end of winter; his poem appropriately begins with 'And only the mei (=Plum tree) is white'. And a few lines later: 'Like a powder of pearls [are] the blossoms of the plum'.