Calligraphy

Description Using clerical script, Wang writes: Shadowed by clouds, though with hope of surmounting them Facing the sun, though without the heart to reach toward it Perhaps this couplet was composed for a friend who was reluctant to praise the emperor (the sun) but who remained loyal and ambitious.

Provenance Sale, Christie's, New York, December 1, 1986, lot 61; Walters Art Museum, December 1986, by purchase.

Credit Museum purchase with funds provided by the Ambassador and Mrs. William J. Sebald Fund, 1986