The Hall of Three Rarities, an anthology of rubbings, is one of the monuments of cultural patronage sponsored by the Qianlong Emperor. Based on calligraphic masterworks in the imperial collection, this encyclopedic compilation, which establishes a canon of orthodox writing styles in standard, running, and cursive scripts, is a remarkable demonstration of eighteenth-century connoisseurship and craftsmanship.
In eighteenth-century China, the best technique for reproducing a work of calligraphy was to painstakingly make an ink rubbing from a stone engraving. After a tracing copy of the original was made, it was transferred onto a finely polished stone. Next, the traced design was engraved into the stone so that the characters were reversed. Paper was then laid over the stone, dampened, and pressed carefully into the engraved lines. Finally, ink was patted over the surface of the paper so that the recessed characters appeared white against a black ground. This anthology is notable for its precise carving style and the glossy black finish of the rubbings. The stones from which these rubbings were made are preserved in a special hall within the former imperial gardens of Beihai Park, Beijing.
Shown here is the final calligraphy in the anthology, a transcription of Eulogy for Ni Kuan (active late 2nd century B.C.) by Dong Qichang (1555–1636), a calligrapher greatly admired by the Qianlong Emperor. Dong's postscript to this text, written in large, cursive-script characters, states that his transcription follows an earlier rendering of this text by the Tang-dynasty court calligrapher Chu Suiliang (596–658).
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Enxiang 恩祥 (active mid-19th c.) Chen Enxiang yin (30 times) 臣恩祥印 Jia zai Weiyang Taiping zhi jian 家在渭陽太平之間 Ren zai Weichuan mu zhong (32 times) 人在渭川畝中 Yi he yi qin (4 times) 一鶴一琴 Qing du jiafeng (4 times) 清獨家風 Dazhang 大章
Zhao Huafu 趙華甫 (active late 19th c.) Guanzhong Zhao Xiaonong (32 times) 關中趙筱農 Xiaoxi shi (31 times) 筱西氏 Li Shen 李慎 (active late 19th c.) Li Shen jianshang 李慎鋻賞 Li shi Yixi (6 times) 李氏意西 Liaodong Li shi 遼東李氏 Xuexujing Shi 學須靜室
Sören Edgren , Carmel, CA (until 1983; sold to Weill); Marie-Hélène and Guy A. Weill New York (1983–84; donated to MMA)
Zurich. Museum Rietberg. "The Mandate of Heaven: Emperors and Artists in China," April 2, 1996–July 7, 1996.
Museum für Asiatische Kunst, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin. "The Mandate of Heaven: Emperors and Artists in China," August 3, 1996–November 10, 1996.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Embodied Image: Chinese Calligraphy from the John B. Elliott Collection," September 15, 2000–January 7, 2001.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Cultivated Landscapes: Reflections of Nature in Chinese Painting with Selections from the Collection of Marie-Hélène and Guy Weill," September 10, 2002–February 9, 2003.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Emperor's Private Paradise: Treasures from the Forbidden City," February 1–May 1, 2011.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Art of the Chinese Album," September 6, 2014–March 29, 2015.
Museum Rietberg. "The Magic Power of Characters: 3000 Years of Chinese Writing and Calligraphy," November 20, 2015–March 20, 2016.
Barnhart, Richard M., Wen C. Fong, and Maxwell K. Hearn. Mandate of Heaven: Emperors and Artists in China: Chinese Painting and Calligraphy from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Exh. cat. Zürich: Museum Rietberg, 1996, pp. 194–96, 227, cat. no. 39.
Karlsson, Kim, and Alexandra von Przychowski, eds. Magie der Zeichen: 3000 Jahre chinesische Schiftkunst (The Magic power of Chinese characters: 3,000 years of Chinese writing and calligraphy). Exh. cat. Zurich: Museum Rietberg, [2015], pp. 142–43, cat. no. 70.
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