The original pavilion depicted in this album leaf was erected during the early eighth century on the west gate of Yueyang, in Hunan Province, facing Dongting Lake. Over the centuries it was restored numerous times and entirely rebuilt in 1867. The most famous reconstruction was undertaken in 1044 by the local prefect Teng Zijing (991-1047), who two years later asked the eminent statesman and prose stylist Fan Zhongyan (989-1052) to compose a record of the pavilion to commemorate his efforts. Among the best-known prose works in Chinese literature, Fan's text was recorded on the painting in minute script by the fourteenth-century artist, Xia Yong, who also applied one of his seals.
Together with The Pavilion of the Prince of Teng (F1915.36h), this album leaf is a masterpiece of jiehua (ruled-line) ink painting, a term that originated in the Southern Song dynasty (1127-1279). Deriving from a long tradition of architectural drawing, jiehua is the only non-freehand style of Chinese painting. The brush was attached to a stick that could move smoothly along a groove in an ungraduated ruler called a jiechi, thus allowing the artist to draw regularly spaced and consistently even straight lines.
To learn more about this and similar objects, visit http://www.asia.si.edu/SongYuan/default.asp Song and Yuan Dynasty Painting and Calligraphy.
Provenance:
To 1915
Tonying and Company, New York to 1915 [1]
From 1915 to 1919
Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Tonying and Company, New York in 1915 [2]
From 1920
Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [3]
Notes:
[1] See Original Album List, pg. 48, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives. By at least 1917, Tonying and Company maintained business locations in Shanghai, Beijing, Paris, London, and New York, NY.
This object exhibits seals, colophons, or inscriptions that could provide additional information regarding the object’s history; see Curatorial Remarks in the object record for further details.
[2] See note 1.
[3] The original deed of Charles Lang Freer's gift was signed in 1906. The collection was received in 1920 upon the completion of the Freer Gallery.
Collection:
Freer Gallery of Art Collection
Exhibition History:
Tales of the Brush: Literary Masterpieces in Chinese Painting (July 28, 2007 to January 13, 2008)
Palaces and Pavilions: Grand Architecture in Chinese Painting (September 29, 2002 to March 30, 2003)
Masterpieces of Chinese Painting (III) (May 29, 1999 to January 30, 2000)
Chinese Art (January 1, 1963 to March 6, 1981)
Chinese Album Leaves (December 17, 1962 to April 8, 1963)
Previous custodian or owner:
Tonying and Company 通運公司 (established 1902) (C.L. Freer source)
