Grasping Calligraphy through the Sword Dance, from the album Figures in Settings
Artist/Maker
Zhāng Hóng 张宏 / 張宏
(Chinese, 1577–1668)
Date1649
MediumAlbum leaf, ink and color on silk
DimensionsImage: 11 1/4 × 8 in. (28.6 × 20.3 cm)
Mount: 14 5/8 × 9 9/16 in. (37.1 × 24.3 cm)
Mount: 14 5/8 × 9 9/16 in. (37.1 × 24.3 cm)
Credit LineGift of Carol S. Brooks in honor of her father, George J. Schlenker, and R. T. Miller Jr. Fund
PortfolioFigures in Settings
Object number1997.29.14I
Status
Not on viewTitle inscription: 舞劍悟書
A woman dances with two swords while a group of scholars watches. One, standing behind a table as if about to write on a scroll, has flung his brush into the air in amazement. The painting illustrates a story about the calligrapher Zhāng Xù 張旭 (act. 8th century), who was renowned for a particularly expressive form of writing known as “wild cursive.” Zhāng Xù once saw the famous sword dance of the Lady Gōngsūn 公孫大娘 and—inspired by her graceful and powerful movements—brought his calligraphy to greater artistic heights.
Zhāng Xù was also one of the “elegant, dissolute, chivalrous, or unusual characters” that the painter Zhāng Hóng referred to in his introduction—one of a group of Tang dynasty poets, artists, and scholars known as the “Eight Immortals of Drinking” (飲中八仙 yǐnzhōng bāxīan).
Exhibition History
A woman dances with two swords while a group of scholars watches. One, standing behind a table as if about to write on a scroll, has flung his brush into the air in amazement. The painting illustrates a story about the calligrapher Zhāng Xù 張旭 (act. 8th century), who was renowned for a particularly expressive form of writing known as “wild cursive.” Zhāng Xù once saw the famous sword dance of the Lady Gōngsūn 公孫大娘 and—inspired by her graceful and powerful movements—brought his calligraphy to greater artistic heights.
Zhāng Xù was also one of the “elegant, dissolute, chivalrous, or unusual characters” that the painter Zhāng Hóng referred to in his introduction—one of a group of Tang dynasty poets, artists, and scholars known as the “Eight Immortals of Drinking” (飲中八仙 yǐnzhōng bāxīan).
New Acquisitions, 1996-1997
- Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin, OH (February 10, 1998 - March 22, 1998 )
A Century of Asian Art at Oberlin: Chinese Paintings
- Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin, OH (June 6, 2017 - December 10, 2017 )
Collections
- Asian
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