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On Happiness, Calligraphy in Seal Script Style (zhuanshu)

Yang Yisun

1871

unspecified

From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art

Chinese Orthodox School Impressionism Realism Late 19th Century

Dominant colour

On Happiness, Calligraphy in Seal Script Style (zhuanshu) is a 1871 unspecified by Yang Yisun, a Chinese Orthodox School work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.

Who painted this?: Yang Yisun
When & what style?: 1871 · Chinese Orthodox School
Where can I see it?: Cleveland Museum of Art

About this work

You see a set of narrow scrolls with calligraphy in seal script style. The text on the scrolls reflects on a leisurely life in the countryside, written by a Han dynasty official. This ancient text is presented in a historic style, like those found on stone steles and bronze vessels. To learn more about similar artworks, check out the museum: The Cleveland Museum of Art.

The story of this work

Overview

Yang Yisun transcribed this ancient text on six narrow scrolls, starting at the top right and ending at the bottom left. Yang emphasizes the text’s historic nature by using the seal script style found on stone steles and bronze vessels. On Happiness features reflections of a scholar on a leisurely life in the countryside, composed by Han dynasty official Zhongchang Tong, who died the year the Han dynasty collapsed (AD 220). The idyllic life described in the text may be an evocation of the past in a time of national crisis. A decade before Yang wrote these scrolls, Anglo-French forces had…

Read the full account in the museum source.