This Scroll of the Garden for Solitary Enjoyment(Dule Yuan Tu), painted by Qiu Ying of the Ming dynasty, illustrates scenes inspired by Sima Guang’s Account of the Garden for Solitary Enjoyment. The scroll sequentially depicts architectural and natural elements including the Water-Playing Pavilion, Study Hall, Fishing Hut, Bamboo-Cultivation Studio, Herb Garden, Flower-Watering Pavilion, and Mountain-Viewing Hall. The tail section of the scroll is appended with calligraphic works: Wen Zhengming’s transcriptions of Account of the Garden for Solitary Enjoyment and Seven Odes to the Garden, Su Dongpo’s Poem on the Garden for Solitary Enjoyment and colophons by Xiang Yukui and others. The scroll is now housed in the Cleveland Museum of Art.
Garden for Solitary Enjoyment, named by Song scholar Sima Guang (also known as Sima Wen, Duke of Wen), is depicted here per records of Luoyang’s famed gardens. In the scene, Sima Guang—dressed in white—reclines on a couch within a pavilion. Three towering pines, entwined with vines, canopy the structure. Four or five flower beds, each in full bloom, surround the pavilion, with servants carrying water to tend the plants. A cluster of three slender bamboos and a few mixed trees flank the front rockery. The composition uses bamboo groves to partition spaces: Sima Guang sits on a tiger-skin mat accompanied by a crane, while dense bamboos form a natural curtain overhead, evoking serene leisure. A single plant is rendered in each garden bed to emphasize horticultural uniqueness. At the far right, beyond the bamboo grove, a thatched cottage symbolizes Sima’s reclusive life, where he could freely roam and meditate among the woods.
