Artwork Page for Nine Songs

Details / Information for Nine Songs

Nine Songs

九歌圖

1361

Zhang Wo 張渥

(Chinese, active c.1336–after 1364)

Chu Huan 褚奐

(Chinese, active 1361)
Culture
China, Yuan dynasty (1271–1368)
Medium
handscroll; ink on paper
Measurements
Overall: 28 x 438.2 cm (11 x 172 1/2 in.)
Credit Line
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1959.138
Public Domain
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Location
Not on view
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Did You Know?

Divided into eleven sections, the scroll contains illustrations by painter Zhang Wu followed by a transcription of the relevant verse by calligrapher Chu Huan.

Description

Painted in the baimiao, or fine-line drawing style, this ancient work demonstrates the literati’s use of abstract calligraphic brushwork for self-expression. The subject of the “Nine Songs”—songs associated with shamanistic rituals in the ancient Chu kingdom—had traditionally provided artists with myths and legends that they could explore and reinterpret in their own works.
A handscroll features eleven fine-lined illustrations in black ink followed by verses in Chinese calligraphy. In the first illustration, a bearded person wears robes and holds a scroll. Then, armored people emerge from shrubbery. Next, a person rides a feline animal away from a tree. Then, a person rides a turtle over waves and a person stands on spiraling clouds. The remaining six drawings feature pairs of people standing on spiraling clouds.

Nine Songs

1361

Zhang Wo, Chu Huan

(Chinese, active c.1336–after 1364), (Chinese, active 1361)
China, Yuan dynasty (1271–1368)

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