Wang Xizhi watching geese

ca. 1295

Not on view

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.

Artwork Details

元　錢選　王羲之觀鵝圖　卷
Title: Wang Xizhi watching geese
Artist: Qian Xuan (Chinese, 1239–1301)
Period: Yuan dynasty (1271–1368)
Date: ca. 1295
Culture: China
Medium: Handscroll; ink, color, and gold on paper
Dimensions: 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)
Classification: Paintings
Credit Line: Ex coll.: C. C. Wang Family, Gift of The Dillon Fund, 1973
Object Number: 1973.120.6
Curatorial Department: Asian Art

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7460. Wang Xizhi Watching Geese, Part 1

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