The Wang River Estate

Object Details

• Artist

  Attributed to Song Xu (1525-ca. 1606)

  Formerly attributed to Wang Meng 王蒙 (ca. 1308-1385)

• Label

  Located in the foothills south of the imperial capital at Chang'an (modern Xi'an), Wang River Estate was the country retreat of the court official Wang Wei (701-761), a renowned Tang dynasty poet and painter. Wang once painted twenty of his favorite locations on the property and composed an accompanying series of short poems. While the estate encompassed many wild areas and was not a garden in the conventional sense, Wang's famous depiction inspired later generations to incorporate similar combinations of water and land, mountain and valley, and cultivated and uncultivated into their garden architecture. This long handscroll painting is an imaginative re-creation of Wang's composition.

• Provenance

  To 1909

  An unnamed Mandarin owner, to 1909 [1]

  From 1909 to 1919

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from an unnamed Mandarin owner, through Riu Cheng Chai, Beijing, in 1909 [2]

  From 1920

  Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [3]

  Notes:

  [1] See Original Kakemono and Makimono List, L. 666, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives. See also, Accession List, Collections Management office. 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

  Style in Chinese Landscape Painting: The Yuan Legacy (November 22, 2014 to May 31, 2015)

  Guests of the Hills: Travelers in Chinese Landscape Painting (August 23, 2008 to March 15, 2009)

  East of Eden: Gardens in Asian Art (February 24 to May 13, 2007)

  In the Mountains (January 31 to August 2, 1998)

  Chinese Gardens in Painters Imagination (February 1, 1997 to January 4, 1998)

  Studies in Connoisseurship 1923-1983 (September 23, 1983 to March 1, 1984)

  Chinese Calligraphy (May 9, 1980 to November 14, 1980)

  Chinese Art (January 1, 1963 to March 6, 1981)

  A Selection of Art Objects from the Freer Collection Exhibited in the New Building of the National Museum (April 15 to June 15, 1912)

• Previous custodian or owner

  Riu Cheng Chai (C.L. Freer source)

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)

• Origin

  China

• Credit Line

  Gift of Charles Lang Freer

• Type

  Painting

• Restrictions and Rights

  CC0 - Creative Commons (CC0 1.0)

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1570s

• Name

  Freer, Charles Lang, Riu Cheng Chai

• Place

  China

• Topic

  Charles Lang Freer collection, Landscapes, Art, Chinese Art, Ming dynasty (1368 - 1644), Gardens, Wang Wei, Wangchuan Villa

• Culture

  Chinese

• Object Type

  Paintings