Wang Xizhi Watching Geese

Title (Dublin Core): Wang Xizhi Watching Geese
Description (Dublin Core): 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 (Dublin Core): Painting, Chinese
Creator (Dublin Core): Qian, Xuan, 1235-1301
Date (Dublin Core): Yuan dynasty (1271–1368)
Medium (Dublin Core): handscrolls; China paper; Chinese ink; color (pigment); gold (color)
Subject (Dublin Core): Landscapes
Type (Dublin Core): Painting
Format (Dublin Core): 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 (Dublin Core): Chinese (traditional) (language)
Rights Holder (Dublin Core): Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, N.Y.)
Contributor (Dublin Core): C. C. Wang Family, Gift of The Dillon Fund, 1973