"this painting narrates a famous day in the spring of the year 353 when wang xizhi, later canonised as the sage of calligraphy, wrote what would become known as the greatest masterpiece of chinese calligraphy – the preface to the orchid pavilion collection. The occasion was the spring purification festival, when it was customary for men of the elite to gather beside water to bathe – to wash away evil spirits. In 353, wang invited his guests to the orchid pavilion on his estate at zhuji in zhejiang province. The painting opens to a view of wang looking out from a pavilion at some white geese. Famously he loved geese – not just to eat, but also because their necks inspired him to hold the writing brush in a new way. Copying the movement of their necks with his wrist, he pioneered an expressive style in which the brushstrokes thickened and thinned as never before. "
—chester beatty library. Date: Ming dynasty (1368–1644). Dimensions: 27.7 × 177.7 cm. Medium: ink and colors on silk. Collection: Shanghai Museum. Purification Festival at the Orchid Pavilion
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