On Happiness, Calligraphy in Seal Script Style (zhuanshu)
Medium
hanging scroll, ink on paper
Dimensions
132.7 × 32.3 cm
Classification
Painting
Department
Chinese Art
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
John L. Severance Fund
Accession Number
1999.174.6
Tags
male
About this artwork
Yang Yisun transcribed this ancient text on six narrow scrolls, starting at the top right and ending at the bottom left. Yang emphasizes the text’s historic nature by using the seal script style found on stone steles and bronze vessels. On Happiness features reflections of a scholar on a leisurely life in the countryside, composed by Han dynasty official Zhongchang Tong, who died the year the Han dynasty collapsed (AD 220). The idyllic life described in the text may bean evocation of the past in...