Accession Number
1978/2.60

Title
Reading "The Book of Changes" at a Pavilion in Autumn

Artist(s)
Zhang Hong [Chang Hung]

Object Creation Date
1639

Medium & Support
hanging scroll, ink and color on silk

Dimensions
45 ⅜ in x 22 11/16 in (115.25 cm x 57.63 cm)

Credit Line
Museum purchase, Special Acquisitions Fund

Label copy
Inscription: … painted at Mr. Zhu’s Plum Hut Studio in the winter of 1639. Zhang Hong of Suzhou
Two seals of the artist
One collector’s seal
An artist whose career spanned the last years of the Ming dynasty and the conquest of China by the Manchus in 1644, Zhang Hong, a native of Suzhou, worked in the literati tradition but earned his livelihood from painting. Here he depicts a solitary scholar, dwarfed by the surrounding autumnal landscape, seated inside a pavilion as he contemplates the ancient classic, The Book of Changes. Studying this profound mystical text on divination in the melancholy mood of fall would be especially resonant.

Subject matter
An artist whose career spanned the last years of the Ming dynasty and the conquest of China by the Manchus in 1644, Zhang Hong, a native of Suzhou, worked in the literati tradition but earned his livelihood from painting. Studying the profound mystical text of The Book of Changes in the melancholy mood of fall would be especially resonant. Also, fall is a time for government exams, which this person seems unconcerned with.

Physical Description
Inscription: … painted at Mr. Zhu’s Plum Hut Studio in the winter of 1639. Zhang Hong of Suzhou
Two seals of the artist
One collector’s seal
A solitary scholar, dwarfed by the surrounding autumnal landscape, seated inside a pavilion as he contemplates the ancient classic, The Book of Changes.

Primary Object Classification
Painting

Primary Object Type
hanging scroll

Collection Area
Asian

Rights
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Keywords
Landscapes
autumn
bridges
bridges (built works)
buildings
figures in landscape
landscapes (environments)
mountains
pavilion
pines
trees
water
water (inorganic material)