Leaf & Spine

Cover art · garden

Oath of the Peach Garden, from Romance of the Three Kingdoms

Matsumura Goshun (Japanese, 1752–1811), c. 1780.

Oath of the Peach Garden, from Romance of the Three Kingdoms
Oath of the Peach Garden, from Romance of the Three Kingdoms — Cleveland Museum of Art

Using it on a cover

The print file prints up to 8.5 x 11.3 in at 300 ppi — enough for a full 6 x 9 in front cover. Wider than a 6 x 9 cover: crop about 12% of the width, or use it as a wraparound across back and spine.

About the work

This painting depicts a pivotal scene from the classic Chinese historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms . Three men, Liu Bei, seen to the left, and Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, seen to the right, become sworn brothers amid peach blossom trees. Set toward the end of China’s Eastern Han dynasty (25–220 CE), the episode features the tagline “We seek not to be born on the same day but hope that we may die on the same day.” Written in the 1300s, the first published translation in Japanese appeared around 1690, after which it exploded in popularity.

More garden art

Diptych with the Passion of Christ (right wing): Crowning with Thorns and Agony on the Garden Diptych with the Passion of Christ (right wing)… Unknown artistc. 1400 The Garden of the Rousseau Family The Garden of the Rousseau Family James Ensor (Belgian, 1860–1949)1885 Under the Trees (from "The Public Gardens") Under the Trees (from "The Public Gardens") Édouard Vuillard (French, 1868–1940)1894 Ravana addresses Sita in the garden of Lanka, from Chapters 53 and 54 of the Aranya Kanda (Book of the Forest) of a Ramayana (Rama’s Journey) Ravana addresses Sita in the garden of Lanka… Unknown artistc. 1725 Garden for Solitary Enjoyment Garden for Solitary Enjoyment Qiu Ying (Chinese, 1494–1552)1515–52 Women bathing before an architectural panorama Women bathing before an architectural panorama Fayzullah (Indian, active c. 1730–1765)c. 1765

Sources & data