The Mount Yi Stele in seal script and colophon in standard script

Object Details

• Artist

  Li Si (died 208 B.C.E.)

  Xu Xuan 徐炫 (916-991)

  Zheng Wenbao (953-1013)

• Label

  This modern rubbing was made from a stone stele carved in 993 during the Song dynasty. Its text was based on a rubbing taken from a stele erected in 219 BCE during the Qin dynasty, and the calligraphy in small-seal script was attributed to the famous statesman and calligrapher Li Si, who died in 208. The original stele, which no longer exists, was erected on Mount Yi in Shandong province during the First Emperor’s tour of the east in 219 BCE. According to the postscript written by Chen Wenbao in 993, his teacher Xu Xuan (916–991) made a rubbing of the stele in Chang’an (modern Xi’an, Shaanxi province), and Chen used that copy to recarve the stele’s inscription. (Today the recarved stele is housed in the Stele Forest Museum in Xi’an.) This rubbing was taken from the back of the stele. The front, showing the first part of the text, is seen at left. Although Xu Xuan’s copy does not reproduce the original small-seal script, his reinterpretation has played an influential role throughout the last millennium, as seen in the hanging scroll to the right that was created by a calligrapher and seal-carving master in the late eighteenth century.

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

  Chinese Calligraphy and Ceramics (April 18, 1977 to April 8, 1978)

  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

  900s

• Name

  Peking University

• Place

  China

• Topic

  Art, Chinese Art, Rubbing, Seal script, Northern Song dynasty (960 - 1127), Standard script

• Culture

  Chinese

• Object Type

  Rubbings