Wang Xizhi Watching Geese
Item
Title
Wang Xizhi Watching Geese
Description
After the fall of Hangzhou, the Southern Song capital, in 1276, the artist Qian Xuan chose to live as an yimin, a “leftover subject” of the dynasty. Painted in his deliberately primitive “blue-and-green” style, this handscroll illustrates the story of Wang Xizhi ( 303 – 361), the calligraphy master of legendary fame and a practitioner of Daoist alchemy, who was said to derive inspiration from natural forms such as the graceful neck movements of geese. In creating a dreamlike evocation of antiquity, the artist prevented a realistic reading of his picture space as a way of asserting the disjuncture he felt after the fall of the Song royal house.
Identifier
Creator
Date
Yuan dynasty (1271–1368)
Subject
Type
Format
Image: 9 1/8 x 36 1/2 in. (23.2 x 92.7 cm)
Overall with mounting: 11 x 418 13/16 in. (27.9 x 1063.8 cm)
Language
Rights Holder
Contributor
C. C. Wang Family, Gift of The Dillon Fund, 1973
