Works after Wang Xizhi in running script

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Maker(s)
Artist: Dong Qichang θ‘£ε…Άζ˜Œ (1555-1636)
Calligrapher: Frontispiece by Wang Wenzhi ηŽ‹ζ–‡ζ²» (1730-1802)
Historical period(s)
Ming dynasty, 1636
Medium
Ink on paper
Dimensions
H x W (image): 30 x 305.1 cm (11 13/16 x 120 1/8 in)
Geography
China
Credit Line
Purchase β€” Charles Lang Freer Endowment
Collection
Freer Gallery of Art
Accession Number
F1982.3
On View Location
Currently not on view
Classification(s)
Calligraphy
Type

Handscroll

Keywords
China, Ming dynasty (1368 - 1644), running script
Provenance
Provenance research underway.
Label

Dong Qichang held several high-ranking positions during his career but spent much of his life in retirement. As a calligrapher he was one of the great masters, excelling in virtually every major style of standard, running, and cursive script that had developed since the fourth century and making numerous contributions and refinements of his own.

This scroll contains three texts based on different models of running script by Wang Xizhi (ca. 303-361). He inscribed the scroll on March 15, 1636, upon returning from a trip to the mountains to view flowers, some six months before his death. Few known works from the last year of Dong Qichang's life are extant.

Published References
  • Nakata Yujiro, Fu Shen. O-bei shuzo Chugoku hosho meiseki shu [Masterpieces of Chinese Calligraphy in American and European Collections]. 6 vols., Tokyo, 1981-1983. vol. 6: pls. 1-3, I.
  • Joseph Chang, Qianshen Bai, (Catalogue) Stephen Allee. In Pursuit of Heavenly Harmony: Paintings and Calligraphy by Bada Shanren from the Bequest of Wang Fangyu and Sum Wai. Exh. cat. Washington. p.16, fig. 5.
  • Thomas Lawton, Joseph Chang, Stephen Allee. Brushing the Past: Later Chinese Calligraphy from the Gift of Robert Haftield Ellsworth. Exh. cat. Washington. pp. 46-47, fig. 8.
Collection Area(s)
Chinese Art
Web Resources
Google Cultural Institute
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