Xiao Yi Obtaining the Lanting Manuscript by Trickery
Classification
Painting
Department
Smithsonian Collection
Museum
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Credit
Gift of Charles Lang Freer
Accession Number
F1910.6
Tags
Charles Lang Freer collectionChinaChinese ArtMing dynasty (1368 - 1644)
About this artwork
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 mos...