明 倣董其昌 行書節錄陶潛《歸去來辭》 扇頁|Passage from Tao Qian's "Returning Home"
Medium
Folding fan mounted as an album leaf; ink on gold paper
Dimensions
6 7/8 x 19 7/8 in. (17.5 x 50.5 cm)
Classification
Calligraphy
Culture & Period
China · Ming dynasty (1368–1644)
Department
Asian Art
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Bequest of John M. Crawford Jr., 1988
Accession Number
1989.363.97
Tags
Art Historical Context
This exquisite folding fan, remounted as an album leaf features a passage from Tao Qian's (Tao Yuanming) celebrated 5th-century poem *Returning Home* (*Gui qu lai xi ci*), rendered in flowing running script (xingshu) with ink on shimmering gold paper. Attributed to the Ming dynasty Dong Qichang (1555–1636), it measures 6 7/8 x 19 7/8 inches and captures the essence of a scholar's retreat from official life to rustic simplicity—a timeless Chinese ideal of harmony with nature. Dong Qichang, a pivotal figure in late Ming art, was renowned for his calligraphy and theoretical writings that champio...
About the Artist
Dong Qichang · 1555–1636
Dong Qichang (1555–1636), born in Huating in present-day Shanghai's Songjiang region, emerged from a scholarly yet impoverished family as the son of a local school teacher. A precocious child, he passed the prefectural civil service examination at age twelve, securing entry to a government school, and later sat for the imperial exams, placing second at seventeen to his cousin due to inferior calli...