Four Wooden Tablets in clerical script

Object Details

• Colophon

  Colophon by Zhang Heng (1914-1963)

• Label

  Before the use of paper became widespread around the second century A.D., Chinese texts were written primarily on narrow tablets or strips of bamboo and wood. The strips were bound together at top and bottom with cords so they could be rolled for easy storage. Most wooden tablets from the Han dynasty (206 B.C.--A.D. 220) have been discovered in the arid northwestern regions of China. The largest single group, consisting mainly of official registers, legal documents, letters, and military dispatches, was unearthed in 1930 at Juyan in Gansu Province, north of the old Silk Road. These four tablets, each originally part of a separate document, probably come from Juyan.

• Collection

  Freer Gallery of Art Collection

• Exhibition History

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

  Year of the Horse: Chinese Horse Paintings (February 24 to September 2, 2002)

  A Brief History of Chinese Writing (April 26, 2000 to February 9, 2002)

  Masterpieces of Chinese Calligraphy (June 7, 1994 to March 20, 1995)

  From Concept to Context: Approaches to Asian and Islamic Calligraphy (July 28, 1986 to February 6, 1987)

  Untitled Exhibition, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1971 (1971)

• Origin

  China

• Credit Line

  Gift of John M. Crawford, Jr.

• Type

  Calligraphy

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Name

  Zhang, Heng

• Place

  China

• Topic

  Art, Chinese Art, Semi-cursive script, Han dynasty (206 BCE - 220 CE)

• Culture

  Chinese

• Object Type

  Calligraphy (visual works)