This is a faithful photographic reproduction of a two-dimensional, public domain work of art. The work of art itself is in the public domain for the following reason: Public domainPublic domainfalsefalse Karya ini berada dalam domain awam di negara-negara dengan tempoh hak cipta hayat pencipta ditambah 70 tahun atau kurang. You must also include a United States public domain tag to indicate why this work is in the public domain in the United States. Note that a few countries have copyright terms longer than 70 years: Mexico has 100 years, Jamaica has 95 years, Colombia has 80 years, and Guatemala and Samoa have 75 years. This image may not be in the public domain in these countries, which moreover do not implement the rule of the shorter term. Honduras has a general copyright term of 75 years, but it does implement the rule of the shorter term. Copyright may extend on works created by French who died for France in World War II (more information), Russians who served in the Eastern Front of World War II (known as the Great Patriotic War in Russia) and posthumously rehabilitated victims of Soviet repressions (more information). Fail ini telah dikenal pasti sebagai bebas daripada sekatan-sekatan yang dikenali mengikut undang-undang hak cipta, termasuk semua hak berkaitan dan berjiran. https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/PDMCreative Commons Public Domain Mark 1.0falsefalse The official position taken by the Wikimedia Foundation is that "faithful reproductions of two-dimensional public domain works of art are public domain". This photographic reproduction is therefore also considered to be in the public domain in the United States. In other jurisdictions, re-use of this content may be restricted; see Reuse of PD-Art photographs for details.

The Way of the Academicians (翰林風)

from “Hua Ying Chin Chen” (Variegated Positions of the Flower Battle, Chinese name:花營錦陣),

China, Ming dynasty (1368–1644)

The text to the picture reads:

Surrounded by a lingering fragrance, and so handsome as to make the ladies pelt him with fruit till his carriage is full, who is that gentleman of dignified mien? In order to explore the Charm of the Rose he has inveigled his partner into allowing him to try the Flower of the Hindgarden. The other is a little bashful and gently pushes him away, for this is quite a departure from the ordinary! Looking over his shoulder he calls out softly: “Hurry a bit! And please don’t say anything to the others!”* (座上香盈果滿車，誰家年少潤無瑕。為探薔薇顏色媚，賺來試折後庭花。半似含羞半推脫，不比尋常浪風月。回頭低喚快些兒，叮嚀休與他人說。)

Signed: The Candidate from the South (南國學士)

• Note: The translator of this text (R.H. Van Gulik, the well known sinologist and author of the Judge Dee mystery novels) strangely introduces feminine pronouns (corrected here) into the description, making the pair appear a male-female couple. That interpretation flies in the face of all the cues to the contrary:

The title: Male love was common, not to say universal, in the exclusively male world of the scholars.

The image: In all Ming period erotic depictions of couples, the women are shown with bound feet, demurely hidden by tiny shoes. Thus the bare foot, dangling for all to see, is the conclusive signifier of the male partner.

The signature: The South was traditionally known as the seat of male love in China.

It is impossible to believe that Van Gulik would have been so naive as not to realize this. The only question is whether he merely kow-towed to mid-twentieth century convention (his book on Ming erotic prints came out in 1951) or whether he chose to misrepresent the image due to personal bias. Or was he a secret sympathizer, carrying on in western style the venerable Chinese tradition of encoding?