Xiao Yi obtaining the Lanting Manuscript by trickery
date: label: Date
content: 16th century
label: Period
content: Ming dynasty
name: label: Artist
content: Traditionally attributed to Qian Xuan 錢選 (late 13th century)
label: Calligrapher
content: Wen Zhengming 文徵明 (1470-1559)
notes: label: Label
content: Wen Zhengming was a painter, calligrapher, and scholar of the Ming dynasty. As a calligrapher, Wen Zhengming excelled in all the major scripts but most often practiced semicursive script, following the style of the master calligrapher, Wang Xizhi. Wang Xizhi (ca. 303-361) composed and wrote the Preface of the Lanting Gathering while with a number of eminent scholars and poets who drank wine as they worked along a winding brook surrounded by bamboo groves and mountains. The Preface became the most practiced and influential single piece of work in the entire history of calligraphy. Wen Zhengming wrote this version of the Preface when he was 84 years old, exactly 1200 years after Wang Xizhi had written the original composition.
label: Provenance
content: To 1910
label: Provenance
content: Worch et Cie, Paris, to 1910 [1]
label: Provenance
content: From 1910 to 1919
label: Provenance
content: Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Worch et Cie, Paris, in 1910 [2]
label: Provenance
content: From 1920
label: Provenance
content: Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [3]
label: Provenance
content: Notes:
label: Provenance
content: [1] See Original Kakemono and Makimono List, L. 652, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives. This object exhibits seals, colophons, or inscriptions that could provide additional information regarding the object’s history; see Curatorial Remarks in the object record for further details.
label: Provenance
content: [2] See note 1.
label: Provenance
content: [3] The original deed of Charles Lang Freer's gift was signed in 1906. The collection was received in 1920 upon the completion of the Freer Gallery.
label: Collection
content: Freer Gallery of Art Collection
label: Exhibition History
content: Old Tales Retold: Narrative in Chinese Painting (April 20 to October 20, 2013)
label: Exhibition History
content: Tales of the Brush: Literary Masterpieces in Chinese Painting (July 28, 2007 to January 13, 2008)
label: Exhibition History
content: From Concept to Context: Approaches to Asian and Islamic Calligraphy (July 28, 1986 to February 6, 1987)
label: Exhibition History
content: Chinese Figure Painting (September 17, 1973 to January 3, 1975)
label: Exhibition History
content: Chinese Art (January 1, 1963 to March 6, 1981)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Worch et Cie (C.L. Freer source)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)
place: label: Origin
content: China
topic: label: Topic
content: Ming dynasty (1368 - 1644)
label: Topic
content: China
label: Topic
content: Chinese Art
label: Topic
content: Charles Lang Freer collection
setName: label: Related Online Resources
content: Google Arts & Culture
label: See more items in
content: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Collection
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Charles Lang Freer
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: F1910.6
objectType: label: Type
content: Painting
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: CC0
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: Ink and color on paper
label: Dimensions
content: H x W (image): 24.6 x 77.1 cm (9 11/16 x 30 3/8 in)