Epitaph of Mu Shao (480-531) in standard script

Object Details

• Label

  At the time of his death Mu Shao (480–531), a native of Luoyang, Henan, was the governor of Jizhou, one of the nine divisions of ancient China. (Jizhou included modern Hebei in Shanxi province as well as parts of Henan and Manchuria.) By Chinese count, Mu Shao died at the age of fifty-two on the thirteenth day of the ninth lunar month in 531 and was buried later on the twenty-fourth day of the tenth lunar month (October 9), when this epitaph was mostly likely carved into stone. Weibei, the form of standard script used to carve text into stone surfaces during the Northern Wei dynasty (386–534), is generally characterized by the angular beginning, turns, and end of each stroke.

• Provenance

  To ?

  Peking University, Beijing, China. [1]

  From 1976

  Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Peking University, Beijing, China. [2]

  Notes:

  [1] According to the Curatorial Remark 4 in the object record, this rubbing was donated by Peking University, Beijing, China at an undetermined date.

  [2] According to Kate Theimer’s note from June 6, 1995, “This rubbing appears to have been given by the Peking University to the Freer Gallery of Art at an undetermined date prior to 1976. It was transferred from the Library to the permanent collection in 1976.”

  Also see object file, and the Freer Gallery of Art Purchase List after 1920, Collections Management Office.

• Collection

  Freer Gallery of Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  Writing, Carving and Rubbing: China’s Calligraphic Arts (April 4 to October 25, 2009)

  Chinese Art (February 18, 1983 to April 1, 1987)

  Chinese Art (March 15, 1982 to June 15, 1982)

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

• Previous custodian or owner

  Peking University

• Origin

  China

• Credit Line

  Gift of Peking University

• Type

  Rubbing

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

  There are restrictions for re-using this media. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page.

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  500s

• Name

  Peking University

• Place

  China

• Topic

  Period of Division (220 - 589), Art, Chinese Art, Rubbing, Epitaphs, Funerary, Standard script

• Culture

  Chinese

• Object Type

  Rubbings