Inscription on the San Family basin

Chinese, 1835-1902

The earliest Chinese scripts, from the second and first millennia BC, were carved on oracle bones and cast on ritual bronze vessels. Their uneven structure and unpolished directness provide sharp contrast to the sophisticated calligraphy of later ages.

In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the primitive quality of these ancient scripts was much appreciated, and the style was revived as a major form of calligraphy. Wu Dacheng was one of its champions. Here he has transcribed a famous inscription that originally appeared on Sanshi pan, a bronze basin dating from the ninth century BC.

Ink on paper

Dimensions overall: 147.2 cm (h) x 32.5 cm (w)

Dimensions of Painted Image: 103.2 cm (h) x 29.7 cm (w)

Gift of Judith G. and F. Randall Smith in honor of Mimi Gardner Gates

96.106.4

Provenance: F. Randall and Judith Smith

Photo: Elizabeth Mann

Not currently on view

Resources

Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Seattle Asian Art Museum, Shu: Reinventing Books in Contemporary Chinese Art, Aug. 9 - Dec. 2, 2007.

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Pure Amusements: Wealth, Leisure, and Culture in Late Imperial China, Dec. 24, 2016 - May 15, 2022 [on view Jan. 3 - July 1, 2018].

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