南宋 佚名 傳李公麟 豳風七月圖 卷|Odes of the State of Bin

Unidentified artist

13th century · Handscroll; ink on paper · Asian Art

Composed more than 2,500 years ago, Odes of the State of Bin is part of The Book of Odes, one of the Confucian classics. The poem chronicles the annual cycle of activites in the countryside: the unfolding stages of the agricultural and sericultural year; preparation for seasonal changes; domestic activities; sources of nourishment; and requisite ritual acts. This scroll, a work in the baimiao ("plain drawing") style executed in the thirteenth century, uses a continuous narrative format; no text is included. Lacking illustrations to the first two stanzas of the poem, it opens with a scene of picking mulberry leaves for silkworms.

Artist

Unidentified artist

Date

13th century

Medium

Handscroll; ink on paper

Culture

China

Department

Asian Art

Credit line

John M. Crawford Jr. Collection, Gift of The Dillon Fund, 1982