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Landscape Depicting the Scene from “Essay on Delighting the Mind”

Landscape Depicting the Scene from “Essay on Delighting the Mind”

Original Language Title現代 徐邦達 樂志論圖軸
Artist Xu Bangda (Chinese, 1911 - 2012)
Date20th century
MediumHanging scroll; ink and color on paper
DimensionsImage: 35 1/2 × 11 5/8 inches (90.17 × 29.53 cm)
Mount: 95 × 18 inches (241.3 × 45.72 cm)
Credit LinePurchase: acquired through the Fortieth Anniversary Fund
Object numberF75-37
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Xu Bangda’s painting illustrates an ideal retreat with a spacious courtyard house set in a verdant landscape with paddy fields, mountains, and streams. Xu was inspired by Zhong Chantong’s (180–220 C.E.) “Essay on Delighting the Mind,” inscribed above the landscape. In the essay, Zhong yearns for retirement in the tranquil countryside, away from his busy life as a political and social critic. What would your ideal escape look like?


Provenance

Victoria Contag van Winterfeldt, Germany.

Inherited by her Daughter, Beatrix Freifrau Riedesel Zu Eisenbach;

Purchased from Beatrix Freifrau Riedesel Zu Eisenbach by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1975.

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