# Seal translation



## Jcollector

Hello everybody,
kindly can you help me in translation of these seals/inscription? I suppose in chinese.
They come from the drawing posted below. Thank you in advance!


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## azhong

The first is, from LEFT to RIGHT (which is the traditional horizontal writing direction in Chinese), 
江南春意 / 庚午年 / 若虛 / ? 麗

And the second is "江山如畫”


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## yangyi chen

麗？.. ？？？？江南春意（right to left）
    虚
.........
.........
（？江）
（？南）
？
畫


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## Jcollector

Thank you @azhong and @yangyi chen for you reply.
Do you know the meaning of this words?
Thank you!
Jc


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## azhong

Jcollector said:


> ...


My English isn't good enough. I've called out for help. Let's wait for responses.


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## Jcollector

azhong said:


> My English isn't good enough. I've called out for help. Let's wait for responses.


Thank you very much @azhong, waiting for your reply...


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## Lamb67

Chinese-forum.com is another option 😁


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## Jcollector

Lamb67 said:


> Chinese-forum.com is another optionchinese-forum*s*.com


chinese-forum*s*.com
😀


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## Jake_Chan

*江南春意* is the title of the landscape painting.

江南 literally refers to the area south of the Yangtze River. Today, it includes Shanghai, northern Zhejiang, southern Jiangsu, and southeastern Anhui.

春意 means the atmosphere of spring (春天).

江南 and 春天 are important concepts with symbolic meanings in classical Chinese literature.

From the title, we get the idea that the painting depicts spring in the area south of the Yangtze River in China.



There were two *庚午年* in the 20th century - 1930 and 1990 - according to the traditional Chinese chronological system.



*若虚* is _*possibly*_ a pseudonym. It may derive from the Chinese idiom of _虚怀若谷_, meaning 'broad-minded like a valley and willing to accept others' opinions'.

So it could be deduced that the painting was made in 1990 or 1930 probably by a painter named 若虚。



*江山如畫*（江山如画）means the natural scenery is as beautiful as a picture.

江山如畫（江山如画）comes from the poem _念奴娇·赤壁怀古_ by 苏轼, a renowned poet of the Song Dynasty.


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## azhong

I agree with all Jake said with my thanks. He had well explained everything I planned to say but I can't with my poorer English, and he's even said more.
After his thorough explanations, pls allow me to add some more minor notes:


Jake_Chan said:


> *江南春意...*


literally, "river-south-spring-atmosphere"


Jake_Chan said:


> There were two *庚午年* in the 20th century - 1930 and 1990 - according to the traditional Chinese chronological system.


1. Please refer to the wikipedia page: "Sexagenary cycle”
2. 1990, 1930, 1870, 1810,etc (minus 60 each time)


Jake_Chan said:


> *若虚* is _*possibly*_ a pseudonym.


Possible, a literary name they gave themselves. Or it's also possibly to the person's motto. 
Their name should be "X麗", one of the seal in the first picture. 
若虚, literally "like empty".


Jake_Chan said:


> *江山如畫*（江山如画）....


literally, "river-mountain-like-painting"


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## henter

azhong said:


> I agree with all Jake said with my thanks. He had well explained everything I planned to say but I can't with my poorer English, and he's even said more.
> After his thorough explanations, pls allow me to add some more minor notes:
> 
> literally, "river-south-spring-atmosphere"
> 
> 1. Please refer to the wikipedia page: "Sexagenary cycle”
> 2. 1990, 1930, 1870, 1810,etc (minus 60 each time)
> 
> Possible, a literary name they gave themselves. Or it's also possibly to the person's motto.
> Their name should be "X麗", one of the seal in the first picture.
> 若虚, literally "like empty".
> 
> literally, "river-mountain-like-painting"





azhong said:


> 江山如畫翻译成英语不如用picturesque。我记得还有一个是with a storybook view


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## henter

*春意=it's suffused with an air of Spring. 若虚 这个不好解释。也许是没有的意思。有个成语是深藏若虚。百度的解释是“比喻人有真才实学，但不爱在人前卖弄。” 

如果这里的若虚有差不多的意思，翻译成英文就是emptiness或者nothingness. 我也是猜的。我没研究过古文 😳*


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## Jcollector

Thank you friends for your cooperation. The artist' name is unknown but the information you found is the most we can understand.


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## Jcollector

Anyway, from chinese-forums.com, the second character of the seal is 麗 ("wondering whether it is one character instead of two, 酈 is a surname in Chinese").
Bye


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