Excerpt from the Preface to the Rhapsody on the Long Flute in running script

Object Details

• Artist

  Shen Zengzhi 沈曾植 (1850-1922)

• Label

  Translated, this scroll reads:

  "I am widely read in the ancient canons and odes, and am thoroughly conversant with numerical arts. Also, by nature I am fond of music, and am able to strum the zither and play the flute. Since I began working in the Bureau of Merit, I have had no pressing matters, and have been idling away my time alone in Pingyang Settlement in Mei Prefecture. There was a guest staying in the hostel who played on the flute the songs for instrumental accompaniment “Qi chu” and “Jing lie.” I have been away from the capital for over a year and, upon hearing this music, I suddenly felt both sad and happy over it.”

  Translation of "Preface" by David R. Knechtges, from Xiao Tong, comp., Wen xuan, or Selections of Refined Literature, vol. 3 (Princeton, 1996), 259.

• Provenance

  To 1998

  Robert Hatfield Ellsworth (born 1929), New York City, to 1998

  From 1998

  Freer Gallery of Art, given by Robert Hatfield Ellsworth in 1998 [1]

  Notes:

  [1]

  All Chinese calligraphy in the gift were published in Mr. Ellsworth's Later Chinese Painting and Calligraphy: 1800-1950, vol. 3 (New York: Random House, 1986) (according to Curatorial Note 4, Joseph Chang, May 19, 1998, in the object record).

• Collection

  Freer Gallery of Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  Virtue and Entertainment: Chinese Music in the Visual Arts (October 1, 2005 to May 29, 2006)

• Previous custodian or owner

  Robert Hatfield Ellsworth (1929-2014)

• Origin

  China

• Credit Line

  Gift of Robert Hatfield Ellsworth in honor of the 75th Anniversary of the Freer Gallery of Art

• Type

  Calligraphy

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1920s

• Name

  Ellsworth, Robert Hatfield

• Place

  China

• Topic

  Art, Chinese Art, Robert Hatfield Ellsworth collection, Modern period (1912 - present), Running script

• Culture

  Chinese

• Object Type

  Calligraphy (visual works)