Introduction
The “Preface to the Orchid Pavilion” has long been heralded as the finest work of running script ever to emerge from a calligrapher’s brush. Ever since the Tang dynasty, it has been a classic model used by scribes to practice writing and to learn character structures. According to legend, the original work was so beloved by the Tang dynasty emperor Taizong (598-649) that he quite literally took it to his grave—it became one of the funerary objects buried along with him, so the story goes, never to be seen again. Another legend passed down through the history of calligraphy holds that the work’s author, the Jin dynasty master of calligraphy Wang Xizhi (303-361), wrote the preface while tipsy. According to this tale, after he sobered up he tried to rewrite the inscription a thousand times, but none of the subsequent versions came close to the original. These stories are undoubtedly among the reasons that this work has enjoyed centuries of undying popularity.
Countless calligraphy enthusiasts succumbed to infatuation with the “Preface to the Orchid Pavilion” all throughout China’s history. This exhibition focuses on nine renowned calligraphers and collectors, including emperors, influential government ministers, and erudite scholars who lived over a period of nearly a thousand years. What ties all of these distinct personalities together is that they all shared an extraordinary level of passion for the “Preface to the Orchid Pavilion,” and they all put their ardor on display in the modelbooks they collected, the copies they made, in their own original works of calligraphy, as well as in poetry and verse. In fact, Weng Fanggang (1733-1818), an important Qing dynasty epigrapher, felt that the term “Orchid Pavilion obsession” was the best description for the unique artistic and literary aesthetic that grew up around this timeless work.
So, what about you—are you one of the preface’s many devotees?