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Alain.R.Truong
29 juillet 2009

Masterpieces du Minneapolis Institute of Arts: Studio de lettré

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China Ch'ing dynasty, The Studio of Gratifying Discourse, 1797. Architecture, Wood, ceramic tile stone, lacquer, tai-hu rocks. 216 x 226 x 528 in. (548.64 x 574.04 x 1341.12 cm) Minneapolis Institute of Arts. Gift of Ruth and Bruce Dayton, 98.61.2 ©The Minneapolis Institute of Arts. Photographe : Photography ©The Minneapolis Institute of Arts

This library and its attached rock garden are from a large Ch'ing dynasty residence located in the West Tung-t'ing Hills district of Lake T'ai in the village of Tang-li. A commemorative plaque in the garden wall dates the building to 1797 while an inscription on one of the ceiling beams names the library "The Studio of Gratifying Discourse." After the reception hall, the library or study can be seen as the most important room in an educated upper-class household. The library and its two small attached rock gardens featuring contorted stones from the Lake T'ai region offered a quiet spiritual sanctuary within an urban setting. It was here that scholars could read, write, paint, examine antiques, and converse informally with friends. The educated merchant class and scholars of the Chiang-nan region from which this room comes created an economic and cultural climate during Ming and Ch'ing in which the arts flourished. Private libraries and gardens were essential to the enjoyment and production of literati art.

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China 17th century. Standing Screen with Marble Panel. Furniture, Huang-hua-li, tie-li-mu, and ta-li marble, 84 3/4 x 70 1/2 x 41 1/2 in. (215.27 x 179.07 x 105.41 cm) Minneapolis Institute of Arts. Gift of Ruth and Bruce Dayton, 96.120.7a-d ©The Minneapolis Institute of Arts. Photographe : Photography ©The Minneapolis Institute of Arts

Large screens are probably the rarest category of surviving Ming style furniture. Solid panel screens were placed inside the main entrance to buildings where they provided privacy and protection from draughts while dispelling negative cosmic energy (ch'i) seeking to harm the occupants within. They were also used as honorific backdrops for the chairs or thrones of important individuals.
Monumental in scale and exceptionally well carved, this rare stationary screen with its original marble panel is considered by many to be the finest of its type in existence. The wooden members of this large frame are mortised and tenoned. The central marble panel is surrounded by an inner framework filled with perforated tao huan panels elaborately carved in openwork with hornless dragons. The extraordinary openwork carving is double-faced and cut from timber thick enough to impart a sense of three dimensionality. Marble panels from Ta-li in Yunnan province, evocative of mountainous landscapes in their natural figurations, were favorite panel insets for solid screens.

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China 18th century. Jade Mountain Illustrating the Gathering of Poets at the Lan T'ing Pavilion, 1784. Jade, Light green jade, 22 1/2 x 38 3/8 in. (57.15 x 97.47 cm). Minneapolis Institute of Arts. The John R. Van Derlip Fund and Gift of the Thomas Barlow Walker Foundation, 92.103.13 ©The Minneapolis Institute of Arts. Photographe : Photography ©The Minneapolis Institute of Arts

This mountain, apparently the largest piece of historic carved jade outside of China, was commissioned in 1784 by the Ch'ien-lung emperor (1736-95) whose own poem appears carved on the backside. The front displays a longer verse, the Lan T'ing Su ("Prelude to the Orchid Pavilion"), a famous poem composed in 353 by Wang Hsi-chi, perhaps the greatest calligrapher of the Far East. The occasion for the poem is illustrated by this jade carving, a literary gathering of poets and scholars organized by Wang at Lan-t'ing, the Orchid Pavilion. Several literati can be seen writing, drinking wine, and collating texts near the Orchid Pavilion at the foot of Mt. Hui-chi.

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China, Asia 18th-19th century. Scholar's Rock. Ling-pi (black sparite limestone), 17 x 20 1/4 x 12 1/8 in. (43.18 x 51.44 x 30.8 cm) (without stand). Minneapolis Institute of Arts. The Ruth Ann Dayton Chinese Room Endowment Fund, 2008.25

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